#Sanders sides merman au

[muppenthings]

The final part of the Sanders Sides "Giant merman" au story. It is the end of the au.

First -- Previous

CWs: while everything is kept very brief the story does mention abandonment, injury, person being called monster, mentions of self-neglect, kidnapping, being tied up, and death.

Part 4

On the local morning news, a cargo ship was reported to have had an unfortunate run in with a supposed whale; the hull dented, propeller and rudder smashed. The ship drifted at sea before it was successfully towed back to safety by the coast guard.

Logan chokes on his morning coffee. No way a whale could manage that. And with the state of mind that Virgil left the beach in… Logan worries Virgil’s gotten hurt.

He calls Janus. There’s a long pause. “You don’t have to worry about him anymore. We’ve got him.” And he hangs up. Leaving Logan even more jarred. He tries calling him again, but he’s been blocked.

Roman calls him next, having seen the news too (Patton is still sleeping cause he’s not a morning person). They both rush to Patton’s place, calling in to get the day off their respective work.

The trio then tries to figure out what to do. Janus had straight up told them that the company had Virgil. So, he was at a mainland harbor or something similar. Did he go willingly? Only one way to make sure. They find a map and start plotting, locating all possible harbors. They’re not abandoning their friend! Meanwhile Logan feels responsible and quite guilty.

Scene changes to a mainland harbor, where the company is keeping Virgil.

Janus is staring up at his sleeping form, his gaze travels to the side of his tail, a large gash adorning it. An injury likely from smashing the cargo ship’s propeller. He’d call for someone to look at it. 

One of his team members walks up to him. Janus asks if the sedatives shouldn’t have worn off by now.

The former shrugs. Probably. The mer was exhausted before so he’s probably just catching up on some Z’s.

Janus frowns. This wasn’t how he wanted things to go.

Part 5

Flashback to before the capture:

Janus had explained to the company board about the three friends and his own plan of the giant coming willingly. They had agreed to it.

Since they already had placed a tracker on the giant, they were confident that the giant wouldn’t escape even if he declined the offer. ((Virgil must drink freshwater, there’s a stream that he frequents on the mainland. The “tracking team” could easily figure it out and wait for him to visit it, thus plant a tracker from afar on him.))

But the board had completely lost their cool after hearing that the mer had attacked a ship; Seeing the tracker’s location along with the location of the cargo ship… They put two and two together. (The company has their own ship at sea, keeping an ear on the marine radio channels. Just in case) 

The board gives the instruction to just go ahead with plan B; which is to sedate the mer and tow him into their harbor. The mer was growing too unpredictable for their liking, it’d be safer for everyone to just bring him in. What they’d do with the mer was still being discussed.

Janus opposes but the plan is already set in motion during the early morning.

While he waits for his team to bring the sleeping mer in, he receives a phone call from Logan; talking about the cargo ship on the news, worrying about Virgil. Janus tells him not to worry about Virgil anymore; they’ve got him. He then blocked his number; the three didn’t need to be weighed by company business anymore. Janus may also be a bit salty because the trio didn’t keep him updated on Virgil’s status; they didn’t hold their part of their deal so he’s not keeping his.

End flashback.

Part 6

When Virgil wakes up, he’s not very cooperative. He’s tied up, confused, scared and angry all rolled up in one. He refuses to let anyone approach or tend to his injured tail. So Janus does a “villain speech” and basically shoulders the full responsibility for Virgil’s capture (he’d rather have the mer angry with him only so that his team could tend to his injuries and hopefully feed him). This allows his team to work better with the mer, but Janus isn’t having a good time.

A week passes

Somewhere during this, Virgil learns about the fate of the researcher that created him. The person he viewed as a parent, that he still views as a parent. Learning that she unfortunately died in an accident shocks him, but there’s also relief in knowing that she never abandoned him. That he was never an unwanted creature; she was going to come back to him. He starts bawling; for the loss of a parent, for the years of solitude, for being stuck in a place with unknown people, for attacking the ship. And above all, missing his humans. 

Virgil is so miserable. Janus considers contacting the trio again as it’s just not working. What Janus doesn’t know is that Logan, Roman and Patton have been scouting all possible harbors where Virgil might be kept. 

The trio ends up finding the harbor just as Janus gets the green light to get the trio involved again. He calls Logan, the ringtone echoing loudly in the back area, effectively getting them “caught”.

Virgil initially doesn’t want to greet them, recalling his actions towards Logan on the beach prior. But the two have a heart to heart and reconcile. Logan also addresses his guilt from not noticing the bad state Virgil was in.

Everyone has a talk. It’s eventually decided that Virgil can swim freely in the ocean again and spend time with Logan, Patton and Roman like they used to. But he has to return to the harbor for health checkups and to eat; so he doesn’t impact the area's ecosystem as much by staying in it.

In the end, Virgil is free and can spend his time with the people that he loves. He mends things with Janus too. Getting another human friend. And they lived happily ever after. :)

[monkeythefander]

Meet Me at the Bottom of the Ocean

Summary: Logan was scuba diving to take underwater photos, when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. Was that a merman?

The title of this fanfic is lyrics from the song “Infinity” by Jaymes Young. This oneshot is based on a Logince Mer-AU drawing I made and posted on my Instagram and Tumblr (monkeythefander).

Content warning(s): None that I’m aware of, but let me know if I missed anything.

Click below the cut to read the fic

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Logan was currently scuba diving in the middle of the ocean. He took his boat out to this spot in hopes of getting nice pictures of the creatures under the sea. Logan worked as a photographer and typically took photos of people, so this different photo setup was enjoyable whenever he found the time to go scuba diving.

He was taking photos of a school of fish when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Logan turned in the direction of the movement to see something he couldn’t believe. There, trying to hide behind some coral was a merman. The merman had long reddish-brown hair that was styled in a braid. His hair had a white seashell in it. The merman had heterochromia; the left eye was green and the right one was red. There were freckles scattered across his face and bare torso. Lastly, there was a beautiful white tail with dark red fins.

Surely Logan had to be imagining things, merpeople weren’t real. He hadn’t ever imagined anything like this before though, and he wasn’t a super imaginative person anyway, so this must be real. He could try and touch the merman, just to be sure. If anything, this merman would just be scared once he realized Logan saw him and go away, allowing Logan to forget this ever happened.

Logan reached out a hand in the direction of the merman, and saw the merman’s eyes widen in surprise once he realized he’d been spotted. Instead of swimming away though like Logan hoped, the merman slowly approached Logan and held out a hand as well. When their hands touched, Logan couldn’t call this his imagination anymore. This merman was really here, and he was now smiling at Logan. The smile was the prettiest smile Logan had ever seen, and he felt himself blush. No! He can’t think like that. Having a crush on a merman is not a good idea. Nothing would ever come of this crush anyway, so he should just go.

Logan quickly pulled his hand out of the merman’s and swam up towards the surface. He got some photos so he could go now. Logan was tempted to look back at the merman, but resisted the urge to do so. No, he couldn’t let this crush happen. It wasn’t realistic.

Once he reached the surface, Logan swam the short distance to his boat and got onboard. He took off his scuba diving mask and flippers and sat down on the deck, taking calming breaths. He just saw a merman. Merpeople were real, and very attractive. He couldn’t process all this right now. Suddenly he heard something land on the deck of his boat. Logan got up and walked towards the sound to see a seashell. He then walked over the side of the boat and looked down to see the merman looking up at him from the water.

“Hello, fair human. I’m sorry if I scared you, I’ve never interacted with a human before and you offered me a hand…”

Logan felt flustered at the “fair human” comment. Was this merman flirting with him? Not only flirting, but he was apologizing, even though Logan was basically the one invading his space.

“Uh, it’s okay. I should apologize, after all the ocean is your home, not mine.”

“You’re okay too, I’m used to humans showing up every so often. I usually try to stay away, but you seemed interesting. What was that black object you were holding?”

“Oh, you mean my camera?” Logan held up the camera in his left hand. He had this camera for a few years now. He got it when he first became interested in underwater photography, since it was made a decent size and waterproof.

“Yeah. What does it do? I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Oh, it takes photos of things. I could show you how it works if you want.” Logan said, surprising himself. He was supposed to be avoiding interacting with the merman to try and ignore any possible feelings. This merman was so curious though, which was a trait Logan appreciated in people.

“Really? I’d love to see how it works. Do I need to get up onto your boat somehow?”

“Uh, do you need to stay in the water at all times? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“No, I can be out of the water for a bit. There’s some rocks over there if you want to sit over there with me.” The merman pointed towards a bunch of rocks a short distance away from the boat.

“Sure, that would work.” Logan smiled slightly at the merman and put his flippers and goggles back on, making sure he had a good hold of his camera before jumping into the water. Logan then followed the merman over towards the rocks and they both sat down.

“So, let me just set up the camera.” Logan said as he set the camera to take a selfie. The merman leaned a bit closer to Logan to get a look at the screen and smiled in amazement at the moving image of the two of them on the screen.

“That’s so cool! Is this a photo?” The merman asked curiously. Logan found himself fighting back a smile and blush at the merman’s joy and proximity to him.

“No, this is just the camera’ view of us. It will take a photo once I click this button, so if there’s a certain pose you want to do you can pick one now.

The merman nodded and wrapped an arm around Logan’s shoulders, smiling at the camera. The human felt flustered and almost forgot what he was supposed to be doing, but pulled himself together enough to click the photo button on the camera.

“Wow, it’s us. This photo looks amazing. You’re very talented.” The merman smiled softly at Logan.

“Thanks, that’s very kind of you to say. You look very nice in the photo.” Logan admits quietly.

“Are you calling me pretty, human? Oh, I should probably ask you for your name now. My name is Roman.”

“Oh, I forgot we didn’t exchange names. I’m Logan.”

“It’s nice to properly meet you, Logan. Since you seem to think I’m very pretty, and I happen to find you to be rather handsome, would you want to go on a date sometime? I could show you around the ocean, and you could get more photos along the way.”

Logan’s heart skipped a beat at this moment. Roman was asking him out? Should he say yes? He really wanted to say yes, despite them being from two different worlds. This arrangement might be unrealistic, and not work out in the long run, but he wanted to give it a try. He wanted to keep spending time with Roman. He wanted them to be curious and explore things together.

“Yes, I’d be happy to go on a date with you sometime. Would meeting up in five days work for you?” Logan asked hopefully.

“Yes, that works perfectly for me. I have to get going now, so I’ll see you then, my fair human.” Roman took Logan’s hand and kissed the back of it before going back into the water and swimming away.

Logan sat there for a moment, too flustered to say anything. Roman had kissed his hand. Logan probably won’t be able to take his mind off that kiss for a while now. He can’t wait to see the merman again.

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Endnotes: Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this oneshot please consider leaving a like, comment and/or a reblog. The next fics in this Mer-AU series will probably be the first dates for Intruality and Logince.

-Monkey💜

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Links

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56120290

Logince Mer-AU drawing: https://www.tumblr.com/monkeythefander/751095311131361280/logan-goes-scuba-diving-and-sees-a-merman-he

Previous Mer-AU Oneshot: https://www.tumblr.com/monkeythefander/751234181902761984/i-hate-the-beach-but-i-stand-in-california-with

Next Oneshot: To be added

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: Virgil wants exactly two things out of life: Doctor Sanders’ advice on his dissertation and the freedom to pursue his research in peace. He thinks he’s gotten both of these things, and then he finds a wounded merman tangled in a net on the beach. he rescues him, because of course he does, and that’s not so bad. Then the others show up, and man, they are NOTHING like Disney led him to believe. At least one of them’s cute, right? (OR: the analogical mermaid!au that exactly one person asked for)

Author: @teacupfulofstarshine

Note from submitter: HOLY DHIT ONE OF MY FAVES EVER also hi teacupfulofstarshine if you see this i freaking love this fic <3

[dailysandersdoodles]

Daily 95#

Clownfish Patton for some mermay 👀👀👀

Btw can you tell I don’t know how to draw chubby people? As I was sketching it that thought occurred to me but I tried anyways so here we are.

[invisiblesketches]

Ok so I made some 'merman ' AU Demus inspired by the song Siren by Kailee Morgue

I'm pretty proud of how it turned out

@bexxbeauty

[manglechanbluh]

It’s been a while since I asked but here my takes on mer!Roman and mer!Logan from @teacupfulofstarshine awesome fanfic: Lovely, dark and deep ! It was super fun ! ( let’s pretend Roman’s one is not too overwhelming... )

[ashs-random-writing]

All Bottled Up

~~~~~

Janus was completely fine. He loved being trapped in a bottle from human littering, in fact, it was one of his favourite hobbies. He especially loved when the currents and tide started dragging him towards shore, leaving him ready to be discovered by a human, or a bird or something similar. Either way, he was screwed.

You’re probably wanting context right now, huh?

~~~~~

Janus was completely fine. He loved being trapped in a bottle from human littering, in fact, it was one of his favourite hobbies. He especially loved when the currents and tide started dragging him towards shore, leaving him ready to be discovered by a human, or a bird or something similar. Either way, he was screwed.

You’re probably wanting context right now, huh?

The first thing to say is that it was absolutely not Janus’ fault, no matter what may have been said. He did nothing wrong. Someone had insulted his tail, he had a right to attack them! The only problem was that this person happened to be about ten feet long, to Janus’ three inches. He didn’t even scratch them that much, just on the eye, and they had another one of those!

They didn’t seem to see his point of view, for some weird reason, and instead chased him closer to shore than he ever really wanted to go, and stuffed him into a plastic bottle that a human had thrown into the sea. He had been there for a few hours, and was starting to get hungry. If a predator didn’t kill him, hunger was sure to at some point.

His beautiful fanned out tail was uncomfortably scrunched in the bottle, and he was starting to get claustrophobic. The currents picked up, and the waves above got rougher in what Janus recognised as a storm. Just his luck, so many things tended to get thrown to shore during storms, and he would very likely join them. Just as he finished thinking that, the currents picked up and he was pushed up into the waves above. He could see the dark sky, covered in clouds, in between getting violently thrown around in the bottle.

Water was spilling out, and then filling back up from the waves. Janus wasn’t scared when he started thinking about how, if he got deposited onto the beach, the water could spill out and might never fill up again, leaving him to dry up.

Luckily, that’s not what happened. The tide left him in between a few rocks, and, while he passed out on impact, he didn’t die. The bottle stayed mostly upright, and he woke up to a human’s face staring down at him. He darted to the bottom of his plastic prison and stared up.

They said something, but he wasn’t listening. This could very well play out smoother for him if he pretended that he wasn’t sapient. He would rather be silently studied than interrogated any day. The human grabbed the bottle around the top, near the opening and Janus was lightly thrown into the plastic

The walk back to what was presumably the human’s house was tense, the human seemed nervous if the steady shaking of their hand was any indication. Janus sat in the bottom of the bottle and stared up. The human looked down at him as well, some sort of emotion on their face. He couldn’t decipher if it was concern, pity or curiosity.

None of the options really bode well for him, the first two would likely lead to them keeping him because of worrying that he could get hurt again out there in the world, and the third probably meant constant observation and studying, maybe dissection. He just let his fear show on his face. It wasn’t hard to pretend that he didn’t know what was going on and that he was just a simple animal, he just had to let instincts take over. They had to believe he was a dumb animal, they had to.

Their hands were shaking as they fumbled to put a small metal thing into their door, before going in. He immediately froze upon a sound that he had only ever heard described by other tiny mer. Large merfolk always seemed to roll their eyes at the fear of the creature, but based on the way the bottle was hastily raised in the air upon the predator’s arrival, the human knew the danger it posed

“No, bad kitty, down! This isn’t for you!” The beast jumped onto a countertop near him, taking a swipe at him with its paws. The human held him higher and yelled at the cat.

They put his bottle on a high up shelf, before going somewhere with the cat. The cat didn’t return with them, so he let himself relax just slightly. The bottle was picked up and set down on a lower surface whilst the human leant down to look at him

“Sorry about that, little guy, Sock gets a little excited around new things. My name’s Patton!” Janus just stared blankly, still letting his fear show.

The human- Patton- just frowned slightly “Can you understand me?”

He stared still, never taking his eyes off of them. They weren’t as big as some of the people he knew, but Gods, were they very large. Also, what sort of creature walked on two legs? Not even Crabs did that. It was mostly birds that did that, and he didn’t really think that humans were birds, to be quite honest.

They grabbed the bottle with an apologetic face, and Janus darted to the bottom. He was taken into another room, with a large tank full of water. Janus stared at it, floating lower in his own water. Was the human going to put him in there? He didn’t really know how to get out of his bottle, he had gotten slightly bruised just from getting stuffed in, and he had tried so many times to try squeeze himself out before the storm.

Patton set him down on a table, as they looked through something. They came back holding something sharp. Janus tried to figure out what that would be used for, a sense of dread welling up in his throat. They got closer, and Janus bared his teeth at them, crouching at the bottom of the bottle.

Patton frowned “I’m just going to use this to cut the top of the bottle away so you can get out, okay? No need to worry” Their voice was calming, but Janus wasn’t very reassured, all it would take was one wrong move...

He pushed himself into the ‘floor’ and hissed at the approaching object. Patton stopped for just a moment before carrying on with sawing at the plastic, occasionally pausing to check on him. Janus pretended not to notice, instead staring at the knife with a (mostly) faux fearful expression, though he still kept a watchful eye on the human in his peripheral vision

They eventually managed to saw it off, before picking up the bottle and going towards the tank

“I’m just going to pour this in here, and you can stay there a while, okay?” It wasn’t much okay to Janus, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He was slowly poured into the larger tank and immediately hid from the giant in some plastic plants.

He could still hear the human, though slightly muffled through the glass. They were talking into something like they were having a conversation, and Janus made the startling revelation that they were somehow talking to another human and telling them to come and see him.

He stiffened. Getting out of this may be harder than he first anticipated. He could swear he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, in the room next to his tank, but when he looked out again, nothing was there. Another human soon arrived, immediately going to the tank

“Oh My Stars..” They were staring at him with excitement in their eyes. Janus went further into the fake plants, baring his teeth at the human. They leaned closer, nearly pressing their face into the side of the tank

“You really found a miniature humanoid creature, and it seems to have adapted to aquatic life, which would definitely explain how we’ve never found something like it before..” They carried on rambling, and Janus mentally cursed to himself

Of course the human called a scientist. Although, their ramblings did make Janus think. Did humans really only come in one size, no larger humans and no tinies? Now, that was strange. He had assumed that his fish half would be the only interesting part of him, but apparently not

Eventually, the humans left him alone and in the darkness of the night. The only light was coming from a lamp a few metres away, and that was rather dim compared to the lanterns under the sea

He heard a sound to the left of the tank and turned towards it quickly, scared that the cat could be back. What he saw confused him, as he had already concluded that such did not exist, or at the very least, regular-sized humans didn’t seem to know of it.

A him-sized human was getting closer to the glass prison. He watched them curiously as they climbed to shelf next to the top of the tank and looked down. He swam up there, and peaked his head above the water

“You know, you can stop the act now, the humans are gone” They were talking with a small grin on their face

Janus grinned back “Well, why would I do that? It’s so much more fun to pretend to be a mindless animal. Besides, you are human, are you not?” he leant his arms on the lip of the tank, displaying his sharp teeth in a smile

They smiled back, still looking exactly like a tiny human

“I’m not, actually. I’m a borrower! Humans don’t know we exist, but we have to stay in human houses to survive, and borrow food and stuff from them, hence the name”

Janus nodded “Speaking of names, what happens to be yours?” he asked, leaning a little closer.

“I am Roman” They stated, bowing from their shelf “And you?” They turned their attention back to Janus

Janus grinned “Such a nice name, bit of a shame that I won’t tell you mine” He watched them sputter for a moment, before carrying on

“I mean, if you keep visiting me, I might just consider it. I imagine it will get terribly boring, having no one to talk to until I manage to escape” He floated backwards lazily, looking up the few inches to where Roman was staring at him. Their face broke into a grin

“Well then, I might just have to carry on visiting. Until then, what can I call you?”

“You may call me-” He was cut off by the sound of human footsteps a few rooms across, getting closer. Roman immediately hid, and Janus went back under the waves and pretended to sleep. He kept his eyes open just enough that he would still know what was going on, but anyone watching him would think they were closed

It was the second human, he noted, not Patton, and they appeared to be writing something down, mumbling to themselves

“At least it’s not nocturnal, that would be a pain. It would be really annoying if we couldn’t observe it... it seems to have the lower half of a betta fish, and the top half appears sufficiently human, though it does have gills.. We may have to perform tests to find out what it can and cannot safely consume and how long it can stay out of water” They carried on rambling to themselves, and Janus was left wondering if they would ever leave.

A quick glance to Roman’s hiding spot showed that they were still as stone, barely even breathing whilst the human was in the room. Janus was very glad that there was more peace between small merfolk and the larger merfolk. He couldn’t imagine having to hide every time a larger-mer swam near him, but he was pitiful of Roman. He understood why they hid, however, humans were known for their hatred of the unknown.

Even if a human didn’t hate a non-human, that didn’t mean they were safe to be around. Not with their curiosity and want to know more. In a way, he was doing the same thing as Roman, hiding behind a disguise instead of behind a picture frame. After about ten more minutes of the human studying him, they left and Janus got back up and swam to the top of the tank

“I thought they’d never leave, now, what was I saying?” He leant back on the edge of the tank, staring up at Roman with a smile

They smiled back, though a little more nervous, eyes flickering to the door again. Suddenly, they got a mischievous glint in their eyes

“You were just about to tell me your name” They looked smug at their attempt of tricking him

“How about no. But you did remind me, I was gonna give you a nickname to call me by, but how about you think of one” He didn’t want Roman to figure out his name before he could dramatically reveal it

Roman turned from him in mock offence “Well, since you are so rudely withholding your name, I shall dub thee Deceit!” Janus rolled his eyes, leaning closer

“Why are you so dramatic?” They held a hand to their chest with a gasp

“Me? Dramatic? Never!” They were failing to conceal a grin and Janus pushed himself backwards into the water, feeling himself about to yawn

“Alright, I’m gonna go to sleep for real now. Remember to visit if you ever want to know my name” He said, as they opened a hole in the wall and walked through it.

For the second time, he woke up to a human face staring at him. He hid in the plastic plants again. He didn’t even like the plastic plants, they felt like a mockery to him

First humans pollute the ocean with chemicals and plastic, and then, when they had fish, they refused to even use real plants, only the same things that were killing aquatic life. The human was Patton this time, looking at him with concern

“Hey there, lil’ guy, don’t be scared, it’s just me. I brought food! I don’t really know what you eat, so it’s just fish food, but I hope you like it! I know you probably don’t understand me but I do want you to be safe”

Janus held back a scoff, still staring at the human as they sprinkled something vaguely food-smelling into the water and gently encouraged him to eat up. He hesitantly grabbed one of the flakes and took a bite, only to drop it in disgust

How could anyone ever eat that? He swam away from the foul attempt at food and crouched in the plants, hiding again. His brain started wandering to his underwater friends.

Remus was a ‘regular-sized’ octopus mer, and absolutely loved grabbing him from behind to freak him out, either with his tentacles or hands

Virgil was a shadow mer, meaning he had magic. He could conjure storms sometimes, only in highly emotional moments and when doing spells, and he could change his size. He couldn’t really get smaller than Remus, but he could get bigger, about 60 ft tall. When he was that large, Janus was barely noticeable against him, and could rest on the very tip of his finger, although Virgil always proclaimed that was ‘too dangerous’ because he was too small to be noticed and could get hurt

In such cases, Remus would hold him and tell Virgil what he was saying, the size difference making him too quiet to be heard by the giant mer. Janus definitely preferred him at normal size, and he was pretty sure that Virgil preferred it as well.

Janus was pretty sure that, if Virgil found out who stuffed him in the bottle, the mer who condemned him to this fate of glass walls and fake food would get what was coming to them. Remus would likely try to strangle them and Virgil would likely strike them with lightning or such.

Patton sighed at his lack of co-operation as the food-flakes sank to the bottom of the water. They went to the other room, where human no.2 was sat down. Janus could only hope their notes would never spread

--

Roman didn’t expect to see a merperson in real life. He thought such only existed in the movies Patton and Logan would watch together, and even then, those mermaids were human-sized. He was both upset and overjoyed when Patton walked into the house with a borrower-sized fish person

On one hand, the mystical creature he was so fascinated by was *his size*, but on the other, they had been captured by a human; a fate worse than death. They were pulling the same trick that he was taught, playing dumb, faking that they weren’t sentient

He could admire that they could keep up the act even with the humans staring at them all afternoon. It was nightfall, and after he had checked that the humans were either sleeping or otherwise preoccupied, he ran towards the mer

They talked for a while, Deceit (very rudely) refusing to give over their name, before they both went to get some sleep. Roman borrowed some bread crumbs before that, though, and watched his new friend float in the water from a small hole in the wall

It had been so long since he had had anyone to talk to, and now there was someone trapped behind glass, but still seeming to want to be his friend. They had actively told him to come back to see them. Sure it was more ‘I’m gonna withhold information if you don’t talk to me’ but it still counted

Patton, immediately upon waking, went to Deceit again, giving them fish flakes. Roman grimaced in sympathy, he had tried those before, they didn’t taste that nice. Logan was in the other room writing notes and Roman turned his attention to him

There were pages upon pages of notes, which Roman didn’t think was a particularly good thing, especially given Deceit’s obvious reluctance to give important information to the humans. Both humans would be leaving to go to ‘work’ soon enough, leaving Roman and Deceit in the house alone.

With the cat, unfortunately, but that beast was being kept in Patton’s room as long as Deceit was in the house. That was another good thing that came from their arrival; he could borrow without getting attacked. About an hour later, both humans had left the house, and Roman set out on a quest to Logan’s room, where the notebook was being stored.

There were a few things he could do to destroy the notes if he wanted, but he eyed the inkpots on the shelf that his exit lead out to and grinned to himself. The notebook was in perfect range to get ‘lightly splattered’ with a full pot of dark blue ink

The notebook was closed, so if he was to do it right at that moment, the ink would spread over all the pages and dry them permanently closed before Logan got home. And, the best part was, that it would look like an accident. It would seem like Logan’s fault for leaving such valuable notes under a shelf full of ink. He pried the inkpot open and tipped it over, watching it cover the galaxy patterned notebook, before running back into the tunnel system he lived in, and navigating to the living room, back to the shelf where he had talked to Deceit the night before

They immediately swam to the surface to greet him, leaning on the edge of the tank

“Hello, Roman. Could you just not get enough of me? You saw me just last night” They had a teasing grin on their face as their tail swished through the water

“No, I just thought you should know that Logan no longer has any of his notes on you, courtesy of yours truly” He bowed, before looking back up and grinning. Deceit looked shocked, which was quite a change from the relaxed, calm façade they usually wore

“Really? How’d you manage it? I assume the humans might have a hard time figuring out what happened if you were too over-the-top, but I somehow doubt you were, as dramatic as you appear to be” They tapped their chin in thought, tail swishing in the water behind them

“I just staged a small ‘accident’ involving an entire pot of ink and his notebook” He grinned back, sitting down

“Weren’t you worried about the humans coming back and finding you before the ‘accident’ was done?” They were seeming concerned for him, as they leaned closer

“No, they’re gonna be gone for a few hours yet, and we have the house to ourselves. Now, do you want some better food than those fish flakes?” Deceit nodded, looking down at the fallen flakes distastefully

“Oh, absolutely, but first, why don’t we just talk for a while?” They started floating lazily, looking like they were checking their nails

“Sure! But what should we talk about?” he wasn’t very used to being able to talk to people, he had moved out from his parents home ten years prior and hadn’t met any borrowers since. Deceit was a surprise he had ever seen one, even if they weren’t exactly a borrower

“Anything, say… what do you do in your day to day life?”

Roman proceeded to explain the life of a borrower, and explaining how risky it could be and times he had nearly gotten caught. He started explaining how the cat made it doubly dangerous, to which Deceit winced in sympathy, before the sound of the door cut him off and he had to run and hide.

He forced his breathing to shallow out for the second time as Deceit dropped back into the tank with an audible splash. Roman’s heart dropped. The human had probably heard that and would probably start investigating why Deceit was trying to get out of their tank, leading to Romans’ discovery

Luckily, that’s not what happened, instead Patton, as he was the one who walked in, just walked over to the fish tank and sat down, leaving Roman to fret about the possibility that the human may be able to see him. This wasn’t like the night before, when it was dark and his own silhouette would be nearly indiscernible from the picture frame he was hidden behind

Patton may very well notice him if he stayed there any longer. But... he could also get noticed if he moved. He felt tears well up in his eyes and blinked them back. He hesitantly peaked over to Deceit’s tank, seeing them hiding again. At least they had that in common.

The human sat there for too long, forcing Roman to stay still as the figurines on the shelves. It was maybe half an hour later when Roman was able to move again, immediately dropping to his knees and crying. Deceit swam up to the top of the water again

“Roman, are you okay?” they whispered, eyes flickering to the open door that the human had gone through. Roman shook his head, trying to steady his breathing out as it was getting harder to do so. Suddenly he felt himself get splashed with cold water, and snapped out of his dilemma. Deceit was staring at him, looking concerned

“Roman, get a hold of yourself. I can’t have you dying of stress on me, okay? I-I think you may have to leave for now, just until tonight, it’s too dangerous” They quickly went back to their relaxed, ‘don’t care’ attitude “And, I can’t loose my one source of entertainment whilst I’m stuck here, of course. That’s the only reason,”

Roman nodded emptily, waving slightly before opening the entrance to the wall. Once he was out of the open, he slumped against the wall, and started crying again. He could hear the human walk back in a few minutes later, muttering something about a storm outside and sounding confused

Roman didn’t know why he was talking about a storm, their little device in the kitchen was saying that it was supposed to be sunny that day, and for the rest of the week. Storms weren’t mentioned. Just as he thought that, a clap of thunder sounded. Roman wondered what that was about, the humans’ device was almost never wrong.

He walked back to his home, finding it was the same lonely, depressing place he had left it. He had tried to make it homey, but he didn’t have many materials at his disposal. He had borrowed some lost fairy lights, and strung them up in his home, and the sections of the wall surrounding it, but they didn’t do much other than adding a dim glow to the dark walls. He had borrowed some paper and coloured pencil lead, and hung some drawings up next to his bed for a splash of colour, but they got irritating after a while

He sighed, listening through the wall to see if the humans were close. Patton was probably still with Deceit, and he couldn’t really imagine how they must be feeling, getting so closely observed by a human.

He slumped down on his bed, a single small blanket he had managed to sneak into his home, and started thinking. Would the humans start looking for tiny non-mers? Would they try and find him? What if Deceit finally cracked and told them everything, including Roman’s existence?

He shook his head, Deceit wouldn’t do that to him. He started drawing, first a snake, then a mer-person that looked suspiciously like Deceit. The picture was hung above his bed, and he laid down and stared up at it

--

Virgil was Furious. Janus had not come back from his swim around the reef all night, which, naturally, made him worry. Then, a mid-size mer came back into the reef, clutching at their eye. Virgil recognised them as having only moved nearby a week before, so they were immediately a suspect

Everyone else already knew not to mess with Remus or Janus. He swam over to them, feigning concern for their injured eye

“What happened? Are you okay?” Remus was trailing after him, looking ready to strangle them if necessary

“Some stupid little betta-mer tried scratching my eye out. Got ‘em back though”

They seemed way too smug for having done something to someone not even a tenth of their size

“Oh, and how, pray tell, did you do that exactly?” He subtly started growing his body about an inch every few seconds, pretending to be interested and supportive of whatever they had done

“Stuffed ‘em into a bottle and let ‘em float to shore. Probably got washed onto the beach with last night’s storm, eh?” They were laughing. They were laughing about hurting Janus. He felt a low growl build in his throat as Remus snuck behind them and restrained them. Virgil grew to full size, voice distorting

“You shouldn’t have admitted to that. You hurt my friend, and now I’m gonna hurt you,” He grabbed them as Remus let go of them.

They left with a few bruises and possible broken bones, and Virgil was confident that they wouldn’t have the audacity to come back. He cried for a while, before surfacing slightly at nightfall. There were no humans on the beach, luckily, but there also weren’t any signs of Janus.

A quick spell showed that he was there for a few hours at least, earlier that morning. Luckily in a rather deserted portion of the beach, but he wasn’t there anymore, which meant that he had been found. Virgil reported back to Remus, who was looking around underwater

“Nothing?” they both shook their heads, and Virgil went back down to normal size, sitting on the sand

“What if we never find him? What if- what if humans are torturing him right now and we won’t be able to help because they’re on land and we’re too big to be transported unnoticed-” Remus cut him off, wrapping a tentacle around his mouth

“It’s only been a few hours, he can’t be too far” Virgil pried the tentacle from his mouth

“Humans have him, Re, what are we meant to do?”

Remus thought for a moment “Do you know any spells that can show if someone has been near someone and how recently? Would that work?”

Virgil thought on that “yeah… yeah that might work”

The next morning, a giant Virgil went close to the surface, but far away from the beach itself. He started muttering the spell, Remus perched on his shoulder, and there was a small purple glow as a storm started above him, travelling to where dozens of humans were previously enjoying the sun and warm weather. He blacked out for most of the next hour, whilst the storm was still going on, but Remus filled him in on the fact that there was a lot of lightning and that his eyes were glowing a neon purple.

And that he looked powerful, but that was practically a given for a shadow mer. Once the storm was done, humans started flooding the beach again, and Virgil discreetly watched from a distance, at normal size. He helplessly scanned the beach and all the people on it, but none of them were glowing.

He stayed there for a few more hours, him and Remus looking around. A flash of light caught his eye in a mostly empty portion of the beach. He turned towards it to see one singular human looking around where Janus was presumably found. Based on how they were glowing, they were likely looking for more tiny mers.

They had been close to Janus sometime in the past three hours, and here they were snooping around to try find more tiny mer. Virgil, after pointing the specific human out to Remus, grew to full size and swam closer to them, staying carefully under the waves, before he was sure that this human was the only one that could see him

Once he was sure, he started rising, baring his teeth at the human, who was attempting to back away and instead tripped on a couple of rocks on those stupid two legs they walked on

“Where. Is. He?!” He demanded, slamming his hands down on the beach next to the fallen human as Remus crawled on the beach in a similar fashion, scowling

The human stared and stammered a few moments before speaking “I- who?”

Virgil growled, leaning closer “I think you know exactly who I mean, human. I know you have him”

They paled, starting to sit up “He- I don’t know what you are talking about” Remus crawled to behind them and restrained them, starting to drag them into the ocean

They struggled, eyes going wide and panicked. Virgil followed the two under the waves and seized hold of the human, concentrating his magic into their body. Their body accepted the magic, desperate to not drown, which meant the human was now Virgil’s and would have to do everything told of them. Virgil wasn’t very comfortable using such types of magic, but he would use any means necessary to bring Janus back

“I shall ask you one more time, where is he?”

They held their mouth closed with one hand and used the other to hold wire frames on their face. Remus used a tentacle to try and pry away the hand, but failed. He turned to Virgil

“Why don’t we take their breathing for a few seconds, get them really scared?”

“That could work, but if they drown then what are we gonna do? They’re our only lead on him, Re”

Remus grinned “That’s the thing, they have absolutely no reason to withhold this information from us unless they’re protecting another human. We have someone else to threaten if this one doesn’t co-operate”

The human’s eyes widened at that “Okay- I’ll talk. My roommate found your friend on the beach in a bottle and brought him back to help get him out, but I requested that we keep him in our home as I wished to study him”

Virgil growled “What is your name, human?”

The name fell out without the human meaning for it to it seemed “Logan. I am Logan”

Virgil put on a sickly-sweet smile “Well, Logan, I have a question for you”

Logan nodded, albeit hesitantly

“What made you think you were allowed to do that?”

“Wh-what?”

“You heard me, what made you think that you could ‘keep’ someone, simply for your own curiosity? What made you think that was an okay thing to do?”

The human struggled to keep their mouth closed, but Virgil glared and barked out an order to speak, squeezing their torso slightly.

They shook and explained that they were simply too curious and how they ‘had never seen a tiny person before, let alone one that was half fish’ and how Janus was ‘an important discovery for the scientific community’

Remus looked seconds away from wrapping his tentacles around their neck and squeezing until the life left their body. Virgil was doing the same

“Do you really think that justifies keeping someone captive, or are you just spouting any excuses you think may save you?” He released his grip on them, letting them float in the water. They, smartly, didn’t attempt to swim away, though Virgil did catch them looking upwards a few times

They stammered for a few moments before staying silent. Virgil could feel a small section of their emotions and rage bubbled inside him again. Guilt was on the forefront, but fear was still present. Virgil didn’t think they had the right to feel guilty, simply because someone had called them out

Virgil doubted that they would feel as guilty as they did had he not threatened them. Virgil was snapped out of his silent anger by thunder overhead and realised that he may not have regulated his anger very well

Remus had perched himself on Virgil’s shoulder at some point and the human was staring at him. Virgil glared back, baring his teeth at them. They flinched, and Virgil made sure that he didn’t feel guilty; this was the person who had taken his friend, after all

He grabbed the human once again, going up towards the surface, and depositing them on the now-empty beach. He didn’t really understand why humans didn’t enjoy storms, but he was certainly thankful for that little oddity. Virgil smirked down at them

“Here is how this is gonna work, okay? I will make me and Remus here look human, and you will take us to your home, we will collect Janus and you will tell no one that you saw us, or of our existence, you understand? If you are cooperative, I might consider relinquishing control of your soul. If not, then, well, pray you’ll never have to find out what I can do” He left the threat open to interpretation, hiding the fact that he didn’t actually have a threat in mind

They shuddered nonetheless, although did ask a question

“Am I allowed to tell my roommate? This would be rather hard to explain otherwise” They smoothed out the fabric dangling from their neck, which was now extremely soaked, just like the rest of them

Virgil and Remus looked at each other, before turning their attention back to the human

“You may tell your roommate and no one else. I suggest you start getting your explanation ready in your mind” He added a bit of command to his order of only telling the roommate. He didn’t need his secrets exposed to the whole world.

As an afterthought, he added “And I strongly suggest you don’t let your roommate share what you tell them. I wouldn’t take very kindly to that, as you might possibly guess. And, I don’t think that would be very good for you. If I relinquish control, I can seize it right back if you do the wrong thing, you know” He added force into his words, emphasizing his point

Logan nodded, not making eye contact.

Virgil put his hand to his shoulder and let Remus climb onto it, before channelling magic into his friend and changing his tentacles into a pair of human legs. He then did the same to himself, shrinking down and scowling at the feeling of two legs and the fleshy, soft texture of them.

Once Virgil gave the word, Logan started leading them towards their house

--

Logan didn’t enjoy the merfolk's company very much. First, they threaten him, and then they drag him underwater. He could admit that it was partially his fault for not giving them the information they wanted, but he didn’t want them to hurt Patton.

When he got dragged underwater, his body and mind went into a state of panic, which he was pretty sure was their plan because then he had no choice but to accept the magic that was offered if he wanted to survive. Even though he could breathe after that, his chest was tight and it was extremely difficult to disobey the giant mer. He had to physically restrain himself from answering their questions right away, but that seemed to just annoy them.

The octopus mer tried ripping his hand away from his mouth, but Logan remained stubborn. They suggested taking away his ability to breathe underwater, and Logan tensed slightly, until the giant mer denied that idea. That was good, they hadn’t figured out that he wasn’t the only human involved.

Until they did. Logan would like it to be clear that he did not forfeit information because he feared they would realise that he was disposable to them, but because he was scared that they would hurt Patton. They clearly had some way of finding out who had seen their friend, if the way they singled him out was any indication.

He stuttered out an explanation, making it clear that he was to blame, not Patton. Patton had only wanted to help, after all. They growled at him, forcing him to share his name against his will. He really didn’t like the feeling of his body obeying to an outside force instead of his own mind. He stared up at them, as they now showed a terrifying sharp-toothed, very obviously fake, grin

“Well, Logan” They said his name in a sort of mockery, and the feeling in his chest tightened, almost suffocating. He had a feeling it was their magic keeping him in check. “I have a question for you”

He nodded, swallowing thickly

“What made you think you were allowed to do that?”

“Wh-what?” He didn’t expect that, more on the lines of ‘how would you like to die?’ but, then again, they probably wouldn’t be able to find their friend without him alive, unless they waited for Patton to show up, and they already had control over Logan.

“You heard me, what made you think that you could ‘keep’ someone, simply for your own curiosity? What made you think that was an okay thing to do?” He tried to keep his mouth closed, without a direct order to answer, it was a lot easier, until the giant ordered him with a quick squeeze of his torso

Logan started nervously rambling, not really listening to what he was saying, but needing to make an excuse. No matter what he said, the mers seemed to get angrier. The octopus mer seemed quiet in a way that made Logan think that they may have been planning a murder

The giant mer let go of him, but he didn’t swim away. He doubted that they would very much like him escaping

“Do you really think that justifies keeping someone captive, or are you just spouting any excuses you think may save you?” Logan looked down and the mers stared at him for a few seconds

The giant one was looking extremely furious, eyes glowing and mouth twisted into a snarl. The octopus mer floated up and latched onto their shoulder as thunder boomed overhead, above the waves. The giant snapped out of their seeming trance, and glared at him. Logan flinched, trying not to think about all the things they could do to him

They grabbed him, taking him to shore and ordering him to take them to his and Patton’s home. He made sure he was allowed to tell his friend, but he was rather unsettled by the threats they used against him. While his main goal was to make sure Patton was safe from them, he would very much also enjoy getting rid of the magic swirling around his soul and forcing him to do things

Once they told him to start walking, he could not stop until they commanded him to, which they did just about halfway through the journey.

“Tell me, human” They spat the word, but it was better than the tight, suffocating feeling in his chest when they used his name. He shuddered “Do you regret your actions. Before you get any ideas, I now command that you can’t lie to me”

Logan looked at them, finding them only marginally less intimidating now that they were a reasonable height

“I- I really do..” he stuttered, not looking at them. The octopus mer seemed quiet, which for some reason seemed weird.

Logan got close to the house and started unlocking the door, hearing Sock’s insistent meowing from Patton’s bedroom window. He tuned that out in his mind, not regarding it as important until the octopus mer grabbed his arm

“Don’t tell me that’s what I think it is” They warned, and Logan stayed silent for a few moments

“It’s a cat...”

They both stared at him with varying degrees of anger

“You have a cat, and you have been keeping a tiny mer in the same house?! Just when I thought you couldn’t get any worse” The, previously giant, mer glared at him and then at the white-footed cat in the window, baring sharp teeth at the creature

Logan just lead them into his house, immediately getting greeted by Patton, who seemed worried about his absolutely soaking wet clothes and self, before noticing the two behind him

“Oh, who are they?”

“Patton, may I talk to you in private?” He cast a nervous glance to the mers, who were both glaring at the humans with malice

The octopus mer was the one who gave permission

“Oh, go ahead, just show us where he is, and then knock yourself out. Preferably not metaphorically” Logan pointed them to where the tiny mer’s tank was located, shaking slightly and trying to smooth out his wet clothes

“Logan, who are they?” Patton sounded a little more forceful, and Logan cast a nervous glance to the doorway

“Patton- their friend- we- we took their friend, Patton- they want revenge and they- they did something to me, Pat, I’m scared” He was whispering and he wrapped his arms around himself like a frightened child. Patton put a hand on his arm and looked at him with a concerned expression

“What did they do to you?” Patton’s voice was soft and full of concern, a nice contrast to the harsh words and tone used by the mers. Logan shook his head, he didn’t even know where to begin. The fact that they gained possession of his soul? The fact that they were threatening to kill him? The fact that they could make him do anything and he couldn’t do anything about it

His roommate pulled him in for a hug, and Logan, for once, didn’t pull away. They could hear the mers in the other room conversing, sounding different, not threatening at all. Just sounding like worried friends. He couldn’t hear their words. He looked down.

In the mers minds, he had probably deserved everything they did to him; he had stolen their friend away from them, and had tried to keep information on his wrongdoings away from them

-

Janus had been floating for a while after Roman left. It was terribly boring with no borrower to talk to. Patton had been in and out of the room holding his tank, and in between human visits, he would catch glimpses of a figure wearing a red cloak, running along ceiling beams and going in and out of tunnels in the walls.

Janus didn’t call attention to that, he understood Roman’s need for secrecy. When the second human, ‘Logan’, finally arrived back at the house, there were other people with them. Janus froze, until he heard a familiar voice and two familiar faces walked through the door

They immediately ran over to him and fretting

“Oh, thank the stars you’re okay, I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t” Virgil leant down to look at him in the tank

Janus smiled, before frowning

“You both have legs”

Remus grinned “Don’t worry Jan, my beautiful tentacles will be back the minute we get back to the sea”

“How did you guys even find me?”

“We used a sort-of tracking spell, to see which had been near you and how recently, and we used some... persuasion to get Logan to bring us here” Virgil explained, wringing his hands anxiously. Janus raised an eyebrow

“What exactly do you mean by persuasion? Last I checked, you could barely talk to a person to help you with something, let alone persuading anyone of anything” He teased, splashing him

Virgil winced “...You know that dark magic I was researching the other week?”

“You didn’t”

“He did!” Remus nodded enthusiastically

Virgil put his hands up, face going red “I know, and I’m not proud of it but I did what I had to do to get you home. They wouldn’t give us any information, and what was I gonna do? Politely reason with a human for however long it would take, whilst you could’ve been, I don’t know, tortured or something?”

Janus nodded, he could agree with that. If he had the power to help one of the other two whilst they were in trouble, he would use any means necessary to get them back

Patton walked in with an obviously forced smile “Well, I think it’s time you should leave. I’m sure you’ll want to go back to your homes, and, uh, stuff” They seemed in a hurry to get the mers out, likely nervous that what horrible thing happened to Logan would happen to them too

Virgil gathered some the water surrounding Janus into an orb and hovered him above his hand. Janus floated idly, as his friends and him walked out towards the ocean

Janus’ thoughts started to wander to the borrower who still didn’t, and never would, know his name. His mood got a little more sombre at that. The miniature human would still have to scavenge for food in a human house. Janus had achieved his own happy ending, but would Roman?

They got under the water and Janus allowed himself to swim freely through the reef with his family.

A few months later, a human woke up without the tight feeling he had grown used to being in his chest, and felt free for the first time since that day, whilst a borrower looked mournfully at the ocean through a window.

Everything was back to normal.

~~~~~

Taglist: @a-chilly-pepper 

[hiemaldesirae]

painting practice of a prinxiety (or maybe anaroceit; havent decided) soulmate au i may or may not write

i hate painting

[pizza-box-raccoon]

@muppenthings

Happy Holidays! Hope you’re doing okay. Just ‘What young mer Virgil would think seeing a Christmas tree for the first time’ might be like. Thank you for being so kind. Stay safe out there.

[6marixiram6]

Fanart for @muppenthings I love this boy and he is precious, I can’t wait to see more of him uwu I had more to say but it was all deleted for some reason, art is of course by me and the boy of course belongs to muppen, I also really like your art style and I hope that you like this fan art (this is my forth time doing this because tablet stupid so henlo compooter-)

[muppenthings]

Announcement for all who follow me for the TS!

With the Sanders Sides giant merman au wrapped up, I'm taking a bow and leaving the Sanders Sides fandom "officially". I've barely been making anything with it the past year and a half anyway and I'm shocked if there's anyone still following me for it!

But I still think I'd make a post about it to be fair to anyone who does!

Thank you for the interest and love that my aus recieved. I'm grateful to the fandom. It made me want to be creative again after losing the will to be after years of depression. Thank you.

Be fantastic! ✨

[monkeythefander]

I Hate the Beach, but I Stand in California With My Toes in the Sand

Summary: Patton thought he’d never like the beach as much as he used to as a kid. It turned out that a handsome merman was about to make the beach much better.

The title of this oneshot is lyrics from the song “Sweater Weather” by The Neighbourhood. This oneshot is based on an Intruality drawing I made for mermay. Although the drawing is of Intruality when they’re officially boyfriends, so this oneshot is basically how they met. You can find the drawing on my Instagram and/or Tumblr (monkeythefander).

Content warning(s): None that I’m aware of, but let me know if I missed anything.

Click below the cut to read the fanfic

———————————————————————

[Patton’s POV]

Patton was currently walking along the beach close to the water, looking for seashells. It was early in the morning, so nobody else was around yet. The sun wasn’t up fully, so he wore a sweater, white t-shirt, and gray shorts. He left his shoes in his car so he wouldn’t get sand in them. The morning breeze blew his short, blonde hair as he walked. Patton didn’t particularly like the beach, or at least not as much as he used to. As a kid, he enjoyed coming to the beach with his family during the summer and making sandcastles. As Patton got older though, the sandcastles became less fun to make and he lost interest in going to the beach. He preferred pools anyway because having to deal with seaweed in the ocean was a bit annoying.

Despite this lack of interest in the beach, Patton was determined to collect as many seashells he could find. He needed the shells to make necklaces with the kids at the summer camp he worked at. There were some white and pink shells scattered across the sand, so Patton began picking them up and placing them in a plastic, ziplock bag. As he was doing this, he heard a splash come from the water. Patton looked towards the ocean but didn’t see anything, so he continued his task.

“Whatcha doing, human?!”

“Ahh- who are you?!” Patton shouted and jumped in surprise and slight fear at the new presence.

There in the water was what appeared to be a human man, except he had some unique characteristics. The man had reddish-brown hair with a gray streak in it that fell a bit past his chin, a mustache, pointy ears, a bare torso and what appeared to be a black tail with a bright-green fin sticking out of the water slightly. There were probably more interesting features on him, but the man wasn’t close enough for Patton to see.

“I’m Remus! What can I call you, and what’s an angelfish like you doing here by yourself? I usually see a lot of humans here.”

Patton flustered a bit at the nickname, but answered, “My name’s Patton, and I just didn’t come here with friends. I just wanted to get some seashells quickly and leave. Are you an actual merman?”

“Yeah, this tail is very much real.” Remus stuck up his tail more as he said this, and the rising sun reflected off his scales nicely. “If you’re looking for seashells, I’ve got a bunch I can give you. I’m a bit of a collector.”

“Really? I don’t want to mess up your collection, especially if it’s very important to you.”

“I don’t mind. I have a lot of the same shells, and I’d love to help out a cutie like yourself. I’ll be back, don’t go anywhere.” Remus replies before diving under the water and swimming off somewhere.

Patton stared in shock for a moment, feeling more flustered. Did Remus just call him cute? Not only did he meet a real-life merman, but he met one who has a crush on him. Remus was very handsome, but Patton couldn’t get caught up in these feelings. He just met the merman after all, and he didn’t visit the beach often anyway so any possible connection between them wouldn’t last.

After fifteen minutes of waiting, Remus returned holding a bag in his left hand. He pulled himself onto the beach and sat down, his tail still slightly in the water. The merman then held out the bag to Patton.

“Here you go, angelfish.” Remus grinned happily at the human.

Patton sat down next to Remus and took the bag. The human opened it to find a bunch of seashells in a wide variety of colors. Patton smiled.

“Thanks, Remus. This is perfect.” Patton looked up at Remus and finally got a good look at him. The merman had heterochromia; his left eye was green and his right one was red. He also had scars and freckles on his face and torso. If Patton thought Remus was handsome before, now he truly thought the merman was breathtaking to look at. The human felt a blush appearing on his face.

“You like what you see?” Remus smirked at Patton.

“I-I’m sorry for staring! You’re just really handsome!” Patton covered his face with his hands out of embarrassment. The human then felt hands gently grab his own, and he was face to face with the merman again.

“It’s okay, I think you’re very handsome too. And your flustered face is adorable.” Remus smiled and winked.

Patton blushed more and glanced down at their conjoined hands. The merman’s hands felt rough compared to his own. Then Patton noticed the time on his watch and realized he’d have to get going soon if he wanted to get to his job on time.

“I’m sorry, but I have to get going now. It was nice meeting you.” Patton reluctantly pulled his hands out of Remus’ and stood up.

“Oh, okay. It was nice meeting you too. If you’re able to visit the beach again sometime, would you want to go on a date with me?” The merman asked with a hopeful look in his eyes.

Patton stopped to think for a moment. He never thought he’d be interested in being at the beach for long periods of time again. His childhood fondness of beach activities was gone after all, but he really wanted to spend more time with Remus…

“Okay. I’d love to go on a date with you. I’ll be able to come back here around this time in four days, if that works for you.” Patton said with a smile.

“Yes! That works just fine with me. I’ll see you in four days then, angelfish.” Remus grinned and blew a kiss towards Patton before pushing himself back into the water and swimming away.

Patton watched Remus swim away with a fond look on his face. The human couldn’t wait to see the merman again. The beach might just end up becoming one of Patton’s favorite places again after all.

—————————————————————

Endnotes: Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the oneshot, please consider leaving a like, comment, and/or a reblog. I’m planning on making this Mer-AU a series, so there will probably be a oneshot made of Intruality’s first date. And since this au is based on mer-au art I’ve made, I also want to make oneshots based on the other ship I made art of for mermay (which is Logince). So that would also be included in this series.

-Monkey💜

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Links

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56106010

Intruality art I made for this au: https://www.tumblr.com/monkeythefander/751119253115207680/patton-went-to-visit-his-merman-boyfriend-remus

Next oneshot in this series: https://www.tumblr.com/monkeythefander/751293954083979264/meet-me-at-the-bottom-of-the-ocean-summary-logan

[izzyfandoms]

Ok so I don't usually send in prompts, but um, intrulogical or analogical with a pirate/mer au?

Analogical - Ship

GENERAL TAGLIST: @quillfics42 @aj-draws @phantomofthesanderssides @phlying-squirrel @sly-is-my-name-loving-is-my-game @because-were-fam-ily @imtryingthisout @a-creepycookie @emo-disaster @littlestr @spooky-scary-virgil @fuyel @mimsidoodles @soupgremlin @aroaceagenderfluid @birdsbookshiddeninrealbirdsskin @quirkalurk @gingers-trashy-stuff @iinyxtello @justaqueercactus @melodiread @mrbubbajones @glassferns @pun-master-logan @gayturtlez @k1ngtok1 @yourneighborhooddisaster @alexxander-the-gay @full-of-roman-angst-trash @selfcarejanus

Masterpost

Logan could recognise Virgil's ship from any distance. Of course, he had far better eyesight than any human's - though it was rather weak compared to other merfolk - but that was only part of the reason.

He visited that ship as often as he could, and though he rarely actually climbed into it, he spent a lot of time around it. To be specific, he spent a lot of time talking to him, the Captain of this ship.

It was never too difficult to find - he had magic, of course, all merfolk did - and he could swim even faster than that ship could sail: with a large, shiny, dark blue tail, more beautiful than most others. And he sought it out often.

He whistled loudly when he reached the ship, and it only took a few moments for Virgil to peer over the side of the ship.

"Logan," he said, placing his elbow on the edge and his chin in his hand. "You're here early."

"I... I wanted to see you," Logan admitted, feeling his face warm. "My apologies if it is inconvenient."

Virgil shook his head. "Not inconvenient. Do you wanna come up?"

"Alright," Logan said. "Give me a moment."

He reached for his necklace, feeling the charm between his thumb and finger, before he twisted it. His tail began to warm and tingle: a little uncomfortable, though the transformation was worth it.

Soon, his tail was replaced by a pair of legs.

Then, he flicked his wrist, and suddenly he was on board the ship. He stumbled, still unused to having legs instead of a tail, and he would have fallen to the ground if he hadn't been caught by Virgil.

"You good?" Virgil asked, helping him regain his balance.

When Logan was finally standing properly, without risk of falling over, Virgil let go of his arms. But instead of moving back, he took Logan's hands in his own and squeezed them.

"It is good to see you, Virgil," Logan said, with a small, fond smile.

Virgil smiled back. "Likewise."

For a momemt, the smile turned almost into a smirk, and then he lifted Logan's hand to his lips and kissed it.

Logan could immediately feel his face warm, and by the amused expression on Virgil's face, he was sure that his cheeks were reddening, too. Some other member of Virgil's crew wolf-whistled, and it made Logan even more flustered.

"Virgil," he hissed. "You cannot be so affectionate with me in public," he said, despite the fact that internally he was not complaining.

"Can't I?"

[dailysandersdoodles]

Daily #92

So, I’ve been drawing things for mermay and have been completely forgetting to post them here. Be ready for a small art spam whoops

[blogsamm56641me]

Now in color

[manglechanbluh]

Some pieces of wreck brought seaweeds to the midnight zone

Two (2) drawings for mermay ! But yer sketches for my cookiecutter remus design because I really love it !