#catch-mer? i don't know

[fazcinatingblog]

No YOU'RE deciding at 10pm on a Monday night which Italian brooch to get

Also is it pronounced brooch (rhyming with hooch), or "broach" (rhyming with cockroach)

[magdaclaire]

this and other insane things i've said to my best friend

[all-purpose-dish-soap]

59 / 3.4k / part 3 of shark mermen Gaz and Soap with human!reader <3

kinktober keywords: dubcon, monster mermen, monsterfucking, teratophilia, overt predator/prey dynamics, hypnosis/hypnokink, praise

...

"You gonna behave?"

You bite your lip and keep your arms tightly wound around your upper half. "I thought I was."

The movement catches Gaz's eyes. They darken. "Don't do that."

"Do what?"

He reaches out, catching your bottom lip between his thumb and forefinger. He pulls it gently lower and lets it snap back into place, and your lip stings with saltwater. "That."

You squirm in his hold.

Gaz keeps his grip, but lets you keep moving. His gaze drops again to your lips and keeps getting lower until it's obvious that he's staring at your neck. Even if he weren't a predator sensitive to the quick heartbeat and rushing blood of startled prey, he'd see the nerves all over you. He draws closer.

"You're so small," he murmurs.

You press back, but it does no good.

"And weak," Gaz continues. The clawtip of his index finger presses into the damp flesh of your stomach. "I could crack you open like the shell of a clam. Can I touch you?"

Before you can answer, Soap's hands wander up your legs again. You tense. Gaz's tail tightens under you in response.

"Bit late to ask if you can touch her," Soap says in their mer-tongue.

Gaz ignores him. "Stay still," he murmurs, his tail tightening. Not quite enough to crush anything, but enough to restrict more of your movement. "I won't hurt you."

As Soap makes a grab at one of your wrists, the coldness of your skin and the quickness of your pulse sends a small thrill down his spine.

You try to still your movements and steady your breath. It seems like the more you squirm and protest, the more it snags their interest. You're pretty sure by now they're not going to eat you, but their interest in you has taken an unmistakably carnal tilt.

"See?" Gaz says. "You can be good." He drags his claw lightly over your belly again, and you feel all the muscles of your midsection tense. If it weren't for him squeezing you so firmly, you'd almost be lifted out of the water.

"Good," he murmurs again.

"What do you want to see? I already showed you my legs."

"Everything else."

It's a blunt, straightforward answer. The way Gaz says it seems almost disinterested—matter-of-fact—but his gaze is fixed intently on your belly. He wants to see every inch of you, the softness and the curves and the hollow spots and the sharp dips.

Soap's hands find your waist, and he pulls you closer in in a way that forces you to arch your back, bough toward him, and spread your legs wider over Gaz's tail.

You steal a glance down at the glass-sharp rocky sand and the cold waves rising in. "Here?"

They don't bother to answer. Gaz shifts your hips up his tail, contorting you further. Soap stares openly down at your tits through your wet shirt as he drags his massive hands down your thighs and back up in an exploratory motion.

Gaz's scales push up against the crotch of your shorts. Your brain skips. This can't be happening right now and you can't be feeling kind of hot under the collar about it. No, nah, nope.

You plant your hands against Soap's shoulders and push him back. "I said not here! Take me somewhere nice." No, that's not quite right. "Somewhere private."

nsfw ⬇

Gaz digs his fingers into your hips and pushes you further up his tail. The movement grinds you into him like he's starting to feel you get warm and wet.

"Yeah?" Soap purrs, letting you push him away. There's no way you could throw him off unless he lets you, but he does. "Where d'you want us to take you, little human?"

"Somewhere soft and dry."

The two merman trade looks with one another. Gaz tilts his head down at you and narrows his dark eyes. "I know a place."

You swallow. "You do?"

"Mmhm." His tail shifts beneath you. "Have you ever seen a merman's bed?"

"No..."

Gaz’s tone drops to something just above a murmur. "It's carved out of sloping reef rock and lined with the softest, sun-warmed sand. Perfect to lie in."

Despite his attempt to soothe you, Soap's claws catching the hem of your torn shirt make you even more tense. You grab his hand and push it down. A muscle in your jaw jumps with irritation.

Soap stops pushing, but there's a look in his eye that you don't like at all. He knows he's bigger and stronger than you. All he has to do is pull back a little too hard, and he could easily yank you off Gaz's tail and into his own arms instead. He can make you do whatever he wants, and he knows it.

It makes you all the more aware of the strength of his body between your knees. He could pin you down so easily—he could crush you with the sheer size of him—and you'd never be able to do anything about it.

Before either of you makes a move, Gaz growls at Soap in their mer language. Soap's eyes snap up to Gaz's. His face tightens. His hands loosen and slide slowly out from under your shirt.

You watch it happen with an unsteady glare. But now they're watching each other rather than you. It only holds for a moment before Soap pulls his gaze away. He looks almost bored as he lets his hands drift back to your thighs.

"Fine," he murmurs. But the look in his eyes still leaves you with the uneasy feeling that he isn't entirely done with you.

Fine is the only word of it you understand, but you still feel the agitation in their tone and the subtle shifts of muscles in Gaz's back and shoulders against your chest. Still, he seems fine with Soap's hands on you as long as he's not agitating you further.

You look down at Gaz's claws. His grip on you stays tight. He isn't rough, exactly, but his hands are big and his touch is insistent and slightly possessive. His hands drift lazily over your hips, up your ribs, across the tops of your thighs. It feels like he's keeping track of every inch of you he's already felt.

You squeeze your legs together stubbornly when he gets close to your inner thighs.

His grip is like iron. You feel the muscles of his tail working beneath you as he shifts to get you just right again.

"Let me in," he murmurs.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"And why not?" His hands wander up and down the seam of your legs.

You get the impression that he can smell you getting wet when you when you're squished up close against him like this. Does he think you're putting out crazy pheromones or something? A twinge of shame makes you look away. "Because we're mismatched."

"Mismatched?" He snorts and pulls you forward so you're leaning further back and against his chest. It exposes your neck to him and his eyes darken. "Your kind has a real obsession with categorizing everything, don't you? We can be matched just fine."

"But we're not, like, physically... you know... it would be weird. It's like having sex with an animal."

"I don't think humans are animals," Gaz murmurs. He draws his claws over the outside of your thigh--not causing pain or leaving marks, but stimulating the nerves under your skin with small jolts. "Besides in the literal sense. But then we both are."

You say nothing. His fingertips brush up the backs of your knees, and a shiver of awareness travels all the way down your spine to your toes. His voice is low and soft as he speaks to Soap in their language again. He rubs his thumb in tiny circles on the back of your knee.

If you knew what he was saying, you'd realise that he's telling Soap that you're nervous.

"It would be weird," you say again.

Soap scoffs. "You keep saying that word. Weirrrd," he repeats in a voice edged with disdain and mimicking your accent. "Why does it matter? There's no one else here."

Gaz tilts his head down in an attempt to catch your eye. "You're not even a little bit curious? You humans are always so desperate to know why and how things work. You used to poke and prod us. You're usually curious about stuff like this." His voice drops lower. "About new experiences. What if I told you that this could feel good?"

"It's still wrong." Even as you say it, you're starting to wonder. You're already pretty sure they won't hurt you. They would have already if they didn't care, right? But you can't bear to think about how disgusted people would be if they knew you were seriously considering this.

"You think it's wrong?" Gaz’s voice takes on an edge. "Humans have a lot of strange rules that don't make any sense. Do you really think we're that different?"

"Yeah."

His gaze drops to your lips. "That's what you humans get so wrong. You think everything means something. Rubbish. Sometimes things can just feel good. And this" --he strokes the sensitive skin of your ankle-- "could feel so good. If you let me in, you'll be warm and safe. That’s what you want, yeah? To be looked after?"

"I don't... I don't know."

Gaz hums and rubs your ankle. Your skin is softer than the salt-smoothed calluses of his hands, and your leg is so small. He feels like he would barely have to squeeze to break it in two. "It's okay not to know, you know," he says. "You've been through a lot. Can I tell you more about us?" he asks, voice low and soft. "About our kind?"

His voice seems to soothe your ragged nerves. "I guess so."

"Good human." He leans very close, his mouth against the shell of your ear. His hands tighten on your thighs again. You’re at his fingertips. You’ll be his in no time. "We're not so different. We hunt and we play. We fight and we... enjoy things." He traces his claw along the line of your legs again. "We can feel things other creatures can't. Sounds too quiet for other prey, smells under water, under the salt. We like the smell of other creatures. What do humans like to smell?"

"Um... flowers, I guess. And food. Baked goods."

He huffs a laugh. "What a waste of your senses." He slides his claw along the outside of your calf. "You humans like things to be clean, huh? Nice warm water and soap. So many rules and little rituals with your cleaning."

"Yeah, so?"

"But then you spend half of your time dirtying each other again. Fighting and rutting and making messes. Humans are strange. Your rules get in the way of your senses."

"We need rules to protect ourselves."

"You need rules to limit yourself," Gaz says. "No wonder you act so fragile. If you'd let yourself enjoy things, everything wouldn't seem so dangerous."

Soap watches you steadily. He can smell the way you're reacting as Gaz's voice washes over you and the way you melt slightly every time he touches you.

You huff. "That's easy for you to say."

"Humans keep themselves vulnerable. No claws, no callouses," Gaz says as he runs his free hand over your upper arm. Your skin is so smooth, he can feel the tiny hairs standing up as his hand passes over them. You really are like a seal—all big eyes and soft give everywhere and no bite to you whatsoever. Except your words, maybe. " How do you defend yourself like this? How do you hunt?"

You don't reply.

His hand finds its way into your hair, claws tracing lines over your scalp. "Do you know what it is to hunt by yourself? Taking charge when something catches your interest. Taking things that you want."

"Not really."

"It's thrilling."

"To be stronger and faster?"

"More than that. Feeling another creature's pulse beneath your teeth, hearing the crunch of bone as it gives way. Knowing you've caught your prey." Gaz strokes the hair back from your ear. His voice and fingers send pleasurable tingles down your spine. He pulls you closer to himself as he speaks so you can fully feel his large frame cradled around yours. “We don't have many possessions," he says. "We like having something that's ours."

"Oh."

"And humans are small," he murmurs. "So soft and small." He rubs circles into your scalp, and you feel his voice as much as you hear it. "So warm and pliable. Easy to hold and keep."

You catch Soap grin and realize you've been staring at him.

"See somethin' you like, hen?"

You flush and look away.

Gaz shifts to comfort you. "Don't look away," he murmurs. His big hand comes up and catches your jaw to make you look up at Soap again. "Watch his eyes. Listen to my voice."

You blink at Soap. Your mind feels sluggish. But Soap is nice to look at. And Gaz is nice to listen to. His voice is low and soothing. His hands drift. The fingertips of one hand trace your collarbone and the other strokes the softness of your throat. Your eyelids are a little heavy.

Gaz watches you for a moment before leaning very close. "Good," he whispers, and Soap's eyes darken. "Easy to hold. Just like I said."

You feel the vibrations of his voice in his chest. His voice soothes you so completely that the old legends about sirens enticing humans with their hypnotic voices surfaces briefly in your mind. Then it disappears.

His hand continues, and the soft, slow touches lull you further. Your stress ebbs away grain by grain. It’s replaced by anticipation. He rubs the soft skin of your cheek with the pad of his thumb, and you feel the calluses on his hands.

"That's a good human." He keeps using that low voice to praise you. Soft warmth and anticipation curl low in your belly. "Just keep looking." He slides a hand down your spine and across your lower back. Your muscles and your mind unwind slowly like a fraying rope. "You remember when I was telling you about a merman's bed, yeah?"

"Mm."

"That's good. Now pay attention. I want you to hear what I say. They're comfortable," he murmurs. "Warm and soft, all lined with sand that's been warmed in the sun. Perfect to lay in. To writhe in. To sink into." As if to show you, his hands slide under your wet shirt and press against the small of your back. He rubs the warm softness of your skin, and goosebumps rise where his hands pass over. "Imagine it. Imagine sinking in. Sinking in. Sink with my voice."

Your eyelids droop even more. You're sleepy.

"You're doing so well." Gaz feels how relaxed you are—the tension out of your muscles and how your limbs feel like they're melting into his. "Sink with my voice," he repeats. "You don't need to struggle anymore. Everything's alright. You're safe with us. Just let yourself… drift."

A sweet, heavy, warm softness like sinking into a hot bath. Like sinking into the sand under his hands. He guides you into a light doze and continues stroking your back and murmuring praise, your body growing heavy and lax beneath his warm hands.

"Shh," Gaz says. You're sinking deep. He guides you down into a soft, warm haze full of quiet, soothing sounds. Even Soap is watching you with a soft, rapt interest, not wanting to ruin the moment. They're taking care of you right where you belong. Deep. Safe. Warm. Comforting.

"What do you see in that bed with you?" Gaz murmurs. "One merman? Two?"

"Hmm?"

"Can't think straight, can you? You're so relaxed." He moves so his hands slide around your waist again. He knows you can't escape this time, even if you wanted to. And you look so sweet and soft. He knows you're almost asleep, almost floating away from him. "I know. Keep listening. Can you tell me what you see yet?"

"Blankets."

"That sounds so nice, doesn't it?" Gaz murmurs. His hands shift again, one drifting all the way to the back of your neck. His voice is as quiet and warm and comforting as a blanket over you. "Just sink into my voice. Keep listening. What else is in that bed with you?"

"Stuffed animals."

Gaz laughs, but it's low and soothing. "Like a child has? That's cute. But it's not like you need them."

You huff, your hypnotic trance vaguely disrupted by his words. "You asked me."

"And I got my answer." Gaz's hand slides up your neck to rest on your jaw. He strokes your pulse point again. "You're getting a little too close to falling asleep. You need to stay awake for this."

Soap has drifted closer, his dark eyes watching you. He looks hungry, but Gaz doesn't push you towards him yet. Not while you're so out of it. "Fine, fine." He rubs your neck again, and you feel your muscles melt under the pressure. "What kind of stuffed animal?"

"Hmm..."

Gaz hums back, his voice deep and soothing. Your eyes are already so heavy, your body is so relaxed in his arms. Your breath is slow and steady, and your skin feels warmer to his touch. Gaz can smell the change in your scent, your body's response to him—to all of this.

"I'm curious now." His voice is low and dark against your sensitive ear. "If you're going to have stuffed animals in your bed, I want to know what kind."

"Octopus."

"An octopus?" He murmurs. "So you want something with so many arms to wrap around you? Something tight and big?" He's so close to your ear now that his lips brush it. "You want to be wrapped up and covered and surrounded?"

"Mm... maybe. Yeah."

Your voice is heavy with drowsiness. He keeps you skirting that line between consciousness and sleep. Your body in his arms is puppet-like.

"You want to be surrounded by so many arms. Maybe even pressed against us with no space to move, yeah?" He slides a hand down your stomach.

"Mmhmm."

"Mm. So you want to sink into a nice bed, surrounded by an octopus with its big, plush arms. Surrounded on all sides with soft, soft tentacles that cover you. You want something big and soft and heavy on top of you--resting between your legs and keeping you warm and safe." His hands slide around you again. "Would that make you feel safe and protected?"

You murmur an affirmation.

"And do you feel safe and protected here? Now?"

You murmur another one.

Something like a smile curves Gaz's mouth. It's sweet that you're answering without thinking. "Mm," he hums, and he slides both hands down your thighs. His claws trace little circles on your sensitive skin. "Very good. Hold onto that feeling as you come up, human." Gaz lifts his eyes to Soap's. "We're just curious. We won't hurt you. We just want to see what you feel like. Is that alright?"

"What I feel like?"

Soap looks down at you. You barely open your eyes. Barely even react, even though you can feel his claws grazing your thigh, even though his eyes are dark and his lips parted slightly. Your eyes are so heavy, your brain so slow.

"Mm," Gaz murmurs again, and his chin brushes your ear. "Your skin's soft. Soft and warm. We want to feel you." His hands slide up your chest again, your breath shuddering at their passing, and he holds you up so your back is against his chest but your legs are still spread over his tail. He smiles. You're so close to sleep, but he doesn't want you to miss this. "Shh. You'll see. You just need to let us touch you, okay?"

"Oh." You let your legs slide to the sides of Gaz's tail and into Soap's waiting palms. "Okay."

...

part 1 / part 2 / [part 3] / part 4 / part 5

more Gaz / more Soap / more mer au / masterlist

[witherby]

Human!Damian x Mer!Reader

Damian, one of the newest employees at Gotham Aquarium, forms a fast bond with its only mer inhabitant.

Content includes: Fluff, pre-relationship, language barrier

You crack an eye open when you feel movement in the water. The rhythmic swish, swish, swish coaxes you from the bed of seaweed you were curled up in and you drift to the source of the disturbance in your habitat.

Surfacing, your gills flex and twitch briefly as you adjust to breathing air, and you chirp at the creature perched on the lip of your tank, one hand still swishing the water. His vibrant, green eyes and small smile never fail to make you happy.

"Good morning, Princess," the creature — Damian is his name, your mind supplies — greets you warmly. He lifts up a bucket with your breakfast, and you trill and reach for it eagerly, webbed fingers curling around the metal and brushing against his own, dry digits briefly. "You've got two shows today. The usual one at noon, and then a private birthday party this evening. These money-hungry cretins refused to listen when I told them it would disrupt your routine and irritate you, but they don't care. I apologize in advance."

You click and whistle at him as you shovel a fistful of eel into your mouth, chewing happily. It was difficult to understand the land creature, but you weren't terribly upset. You got the gist — something different was happening today. When different things happened, you tended to get more snacks, especially if you huffed and fussed a bit, so it was fine. You hope Damian will stick around and play after you finish your meal.

"Good job, Princess," the land creature says when you show him the empty bucket. You know what those words mean, and you preen and coo giddily. You like the title he calls you, too. "Princess" is not your primary identifier; it's not what the other land creatures call you, only Damian. He calls you something different, which feels special. You like that you're special to him, because he's your favorite handler and therefore special to you.

You slip under the water briefly to wet your gills, then break the surface again with a flick of your long, iridescent tail and reach for him, chirping. Damian gives you a considering look, head slightly tilted like he wants to hop into the tank with you, but ultimately pulls away and rises. You croon sadly after him, slapping the water.

"Later," he says, "I promise. We'll play later, when there's time. Right now, the tours are about to start. You know that."

You chuff. You do know that. It's almost Attention Time, which means more land creatures walk through strange tunnels that cut through the bottom of your large habitat to stare at you, and you get to stare back. If you do enough tricks, you even get snacks and toys. You like the attention; you're a beautiful mer and deserve to be admired, but you wish the creatures would actually come into the water instead of the large, weird tunnels you can't reach.

Slipping under the surface again, your tail propels you towards the larger section of your enclosure, where the tunnels are, and you don't have to wait much longer before the first group of land creatures comes through to admire you. To your endless delight, Damian is leading them. The other caretakers know that you're the most active when he's the one guiding the tours, so you make sure to do all the flips and twirls you've been taught for him.

When you catch his eye, Damian smiles a little again, just for you, and you trill with joy.

-----

Thanks for reading! Reblogs encourage me to write more!

[pomefioredove]

Can I make a request for Floyd x reader yuu, where Floyd tries to confess to the reader in every way, even using mer courting methods, but they don't realize that, not that I'm not in love with him, it's just that the reader isn't good at understanding romantic advances? Just a fluffy request :)

this is such a cute prompt!! I got the worst writer's block when I started it, hopefully you're still here anon

summary: floyd confessing to an oblivious reader type of post: headcanons characters: floyd additional info: romantic, reader is gender neutral, reader is not specified to be yuu author's note: this totally got me to rewatch the little mermaid, I also tried studying eel mating patterns and apparently scientists don't know how eels mate???

the change is... noticeable, to say the least

Floyd has been humming lately, skipping through the dorm, picking flowers and leaving them around the lounge

Jade finds it amusing, Azul is a little annoyed

after all, he's supposed to be working, not sprinkling little pink flowers all over Azul's desk

it becomes painfully obvious to everyone that Floyd has a thing for you

...everyone except you, that is

you suppose the company is nice

you've even gotten used to the way he hovers around you, watching everything you do as if it's the most interesting thing in the world

maybe you've even grown fond of it

after all, there's never a dull moment with Floyd around. he's as interesting and unpredictable as they come

so, you don't even bat an eye when he starts leaving little trinkets around for you

a fork here, a pair of glasses there, a few gadgets and gizmos...

you can't seem to figure out why, so you just call it Floyd being Floyd and don't read too much into it

one day, you get flowers

...although, when you ask Azul, he just grumbles something about Floyd leaving flowers all over the lounge

you're also not sure why everyone keeps giving the two of you odd looks when you're out together

or why Floyd is suddenly so insistent on being near you all the time

you catch him following you more than once

and he'll take any excuse to put his arm around you

your thought process is mostly sure, why not? whilst everyone else is already rolling their eyes at the PDA

if you ever get the hint, you might ask Azul and Jade if they think Floyd is into you

"Into you???" Azul says. "We thought you were already dating!"

[singswan-springswan]

ficlet under the cut

The crate tipped with a sudden lurch and broke open on the ground. Zuko spilled unceremoniously with the motion. Inelegant. Graceless. Normally his movements held much more regality, but he'd been kidnapped and stuffed in a scratchy box and out of the water for some indeterminable length of days, so cutting himself some slack here felt appropriate.

It wasn't much brighter outside the stupid box. His scales were dry, his head was killing him, and the floor held a pleasant cool against his mounting fever. He really needed water soon. Every part of his body felt... scratchy. Discomfort would escalate into pain, and then asphyxiation. He would suffocate if he dried out. Idly, he wondered how long it would take. The humans seemed to know. They hadn't acted worried yet.

"Our latest bounty." The voice looming over Zuko was muffled in weird places. "I thought it might spark an interest. You collect fire fish, isn't that right?"

Zuko bit down a hazy groan and fumbled to prop himself up. The loss of the tile's cool against his cheek was one he mourned, but there would be time for relaxing when he found a way out of this mess. He could barely think straight. The humans—the pirates who'd ransomed him from the girl in blue—were standing guard around him now. He could see their boots. They were facing all the same direction, same way the voice was talking towards, and Zuko turned to observe.

The surrounding space was large, a room, and very dimly lit. This wouldn't normally be an issue, being that he was a mer, but his headache made his eyes lazy and bad at adjusting to the dark. If he squinted, he could see the ripple of light along the walls. Blue. Weird. In the direction of the pirates' attention, something like the outline of a table was visible—as large and imposing as the room itself. A single shadowy figure occupied a seat on the far side. He looked weird with the backlight. Zuko's vision was getting spotty.

He didn't get much chance to scan the rest of the surrounding space, because the pirate captain decided to be a jerk and grab his hair. It'd long since escaped its neat topknot, now bunching and sliding strangely in dry heat. The pain and the change in angle made Zuko rapidly lose sight of the shadow man.

"This one's quite a specimen." The pirate tilted Zuko's head back, baring his throat—maybe as a joke; it was always hard to tell if humans knew the significance of such a display—and lifted him enough to catch the light. So their potential buyer could get a better view.

Zuko would like to rip the pirate's skin off and feed it to him, but he was weak with dehydration, and his previous struggles against the man's crew had left him exhausted. All he managed was a low hiss. If humans could understand mer speech, he’d be cursing them as soundly as possible. Someone was standing on his tail. Not that it made much difference. He doubted he could have swung it if it wasn't pinned.

"I've seen a lot of the fire mer in my day, but this one's real pretty. Don't feel bad turning the offer down. We'll keep 'im if you won't." His crew laughed. Bastards. Zuko could hear the leer in the pirate's voice. It made him dizzy with anger.

Then a low grind echoed softly, and the humans cut their chatter short. Zuko distantly registered the shadow at the table moving. What made that noise? Was it his chair? He stood, rounded the massive table, and drew closer. All Zuko could see was a dark, unfocused blob. Vaguely humanoid.

"Yeah, don't be shy! Come get a closer look!"

The fist in his hair tightened. His scalp burned. The fins all down his back shuttered, and a stinging ache began to form in his gills. He needed water. He needed to get out of here. He shouldn't have wandered so close to the shore, even if that pretty girl in blue seemed so friendly at first glance. She did sell him out to these pirate scum. He should have known way better.

Even standing an arm's length away, the lighting continued to cast shadow on the pirate's potential client. It could be reasoned, then, that Zuko and the humans around him were washed in the room's best luminance. Certainly his scar could be seen clear as day. Maybe his tail was pretty, but there were parts of him imperfect. Maybe the stranger wouldn't want to buy him for that. Maybe Zuko would be stuck with these idiot pirates forever.

A smooth voice came from the stranger. "Release him."

"Sure, sure."

The pressure on Zuko's scalp vanished. He collapsed to the cool tile with no more grace than before, even further disoriented, and with a worse headache. He grit his teeth in frustration. That bastard was still on his tail.

Cool fingers tilted his chin up before he could lift his head on his own again; he hadn't seen the shadow man crouch down. Startled, Zuko yanked back and hissed a second time. He made sure to reveal far more fang and fan far wider with his fins; he just wanted these stupid humans to stop poking and grabbing him however often they pleased. Was that too much to ask? He wasn't an ornament. And he sure as heck had no intention of being a pet.

The stranger's face was close, and shadowy, and out of focus. Zuko's head was killing him. The room spun.

"The shape of the fins—” The stranger’s voice began.

“Really something, isn’t it? Never seen a mer so fancy before.”

There was a beat of silence, then the cool fingers returned to Zuko’s jaw and held him firmly in place. He growled. It didn’t make a difference. He was exhausted and hot and vulnerable, and everyone could tell. There was no way to stop them from doing as they pleased. 

“There’s a scar.”

“Wasn’t us, mate. Looks like the beast’s had it for a while. I think it adds to the aesthetic, don’t you agree?”

Zuko glared. It was the sort of one-sided remark he’d only accept from Uncle Iroh, though Azula had made attempts to express similar sentiments in that weird way of hers. He’d always hated the scar. At least the monster who put it there was dead now.

The stranger gave no comment. He reached another hand out and pushed Zuko’s hair aside, away from his eyes. Zuko did his best to meet the unfamiliar gaze as steadily as possible, despite the awkward backlight. He was being stared at. He refused to show how unnerved it made him. His trembling and fever didn’t help much in that regard.

Finally, after a dreadful length of scrutiny, the shadow man spoke. “How much do you want for him?”

Zuko could hear teeth in the pirate’s smile. “How much are you willing to pay?”

“Ten-thousand.”

Zuko didn’t know how humans calculated their currency. He’d assumed mer in general to be expensive, but they called him a stupid something fire fish, and it sounded like exotic. Even so, the pirate captain seemed shocked. He let out a high chuckle.

“Well! Show me the gold and you’ve got yourself a deal!”

The stranger waved an uninterested hand over his shoulder, and another grinding sound reverberated through the floor. Zuko couldn’t see the source of the sound with multiple different shadows clouding his vision. Judging by the pirates’ hushed tithering, their payment had been offered.

“Excellent! Pleasure doing business with you, as always.”

“Zaheera will see you out.”

The group broke formation around Zuko and floated away, whispering excitedly. Though they’d been awful to him, he couldn’t help a flicker of fear at their absence. At least with the pirates, he knew they’d avoid causing permanent damage. He knew they’d want to sell him for the highest price possible. Now, he had no idea what to expect. This stranger could have any number of sinister plans in mind; Zuko had certainly heard the horror stories. All young mer were warned about the brutality of humans, and now he was at the mercy of someone who really wanted him. This was bad.

The stranger let him go, and the world tilted as Zuko crumpled. He was very dizzy. And angry. And he really wanted to sink his fangs into human flesh.

But when he turned (against his better judgment) to snap at his new captor, a firm hand was already pushing down the back of his neck. The same way one might handle an unruly pup. Zuko was too tired to be insulted by the gesture. He wasn’t a pup anymore, but a move like that with the human’s advantage was enough to subdue even a full-grown mer.

“Watch out with that one!” The pirate’s faint voice called back. “Quite a monster at full strength. He killed two of my men when we—”

“Get out.”

The heavy thud of the door confirmed their absence, though the human didn’t seem to pay any attention to it. He ducked another snap of Zuko’s teeth, and ignored his crackly snarl, and slid his arms beneath scratchy scales. The world tilted again. Zuko would consider puking if he wasn’t so close to blacking out. The human was carrying him. Impressive. Zuko was heavy outside the water. His fins trailed the floor as they moved, but he was very much in the air, solidly in the man’s grip. Almost cradled, even if he was too big for the pup-hold to have effect a second time. The use of such familiar techniques should have rung a bell in his mind. Zuko’s headache and exhaustion wouldn’t let him dwell on it.

After a dizzying stretch, something wonderful happened. Zuko heard water. The noise was still muffled, and it faltered clarity with every stray tilt of his head, but Zuko knew what water sounded like. He’d been fantasizing about it for the past few days.

There was a splash, and with distant elation, he felt his fins trail. He wasn’t lucid enough to hold back the happy trill.

“I know.” The man huffed, and it rumbled through his chest. “I know—those bastards.”

The water rushed up around him, deliciously cool, salty, clean. It took Zuko up to his gills to realize he’d been lowered into a pool of some kind. It was shallow, but not cramped. He drew a deep breath. That felt very nice. The hands were gone. 

He didn’t bother confirming he was alone before passing out soundly.

<~><><~>

Zuko was alone when he came to, and his headache had finally retreated to the realm of faint discomfort. Incredible what a good long sleep in water could do for one’s health. The pirates hadn’t put him in a tank. They were mad about what a fuss he caused the first time they brought him aboard, and they’d rightly concluded he’d be easier to handle if he was dehydrated and exhausted and dizzy. They’d doused him with lukewarm buckets every few hours, just to keep him from dying. Zuko was relieved to be back in water now. Even if trepidation about the uncertainty of his new circumstances wouldn’t let him relax.

The pool he’d been placed in was shallow; he couldn’t move without some part of his tail skimming the surface. It was still comfortable in spite of that. The edges spanned a decent length, so he could turn with ease, and the basin interior was cut from smooth, white stone. His fins shone stark against it. The pool itself seemed to be laid into the ground, flush.

Zuko scanned his surroundings while he waited for something to happen. He still seemed to be indoors. The walls here weren’t as high as the one from before—from the sale pitch—and most of them were made of a clear material. It shone with sunlight from outside. The rest of the space was occupied by greenery. The taller ones reaching the ceiling had been planted in beds in the ground, surrounded at the base with bushy, leafy shrubs, and brilliant flowers, and crawling vines. The faint sound of water also trickled through the maze, but Zuko couldn’t see the source of it from where he was. It was peaceful. Uncle would love this place.

But Zuko hadn’t forgotten how he ended up here, and he had no illusions about being treated fairly, even if he’d been left undisturbed in such a pleasant area. He had to keep his guard up. He was being held against his will. He was trapped on land with no way to escape or get home. He didn’t have much experience with humans, but so far they’d only beaten him, used him, or treated him like a pretty ornamental object, and he had no reason to believe this behavior would change soon. He had to be prepared for the worst.

In truth, he really wanted to murder someone. The urge had become so intense during his captivity with the pirates, and he hadn’t had a real outlet, being close to dying of dehydration. Now that he was rested, his jaw nearly ached to bite through bone.

He spent the time waiting for an opportunity by pacing around the pool. The space didn’t allow for much more than tight circles. Still, it was better than sitting around stewing in all his problems. 

Mother was probably worried by now. Him being an adult with a life of his own didn’t stop her from worrying that he wasn’t home every day. Azula didn’t feel the same. Azula would kill for him though; she’d done it before.

Eventually, after what seemed like an hour of thinking to himself and going crazy for it, the faintest vibrations thrummed through the water, and Zuko froze. Footsteps. Someone was approaching. 

He lifted his head above the surface. The sound drew closer, brushing through the plants with a practiced gait. Zuko coiled his body. There was deliberation in the person’s movement. They knew he was here. They were coming to see him. The likelihood that he’d be attacking an innocent servant or something alike was low, and that brought him a hint of reassurance.

When the human came into view, bathed in green filtered sunlight, stepping out to the pool’s edge, Zuko took an entire second to appraise the figure. Tall. Male. Dark hair, luxurious silk robes in green and pale yellow. When he spoke, it was the same smooth voice from the shadowy stranger that paid for him.

“Hello.”

Zuko didn’t wait any longer. He launched himself at the human with a vicious snarl. His vision was red. His heart was pounding. How dare they treat him with such contempt? He wasn’t some prized bounty. He wasn’t an ornament for some rich knave’s garden. He wouldn’t take this insult and abuse lying down, and if these humans continued to assume so, they were in for a shock.

To some degree of satisfaction, the man did seem shocked to be bowled over. The air left his lungs in a massive wheeze, and his eyes went very wide. He was also—however—quick. He reflexively shoved Zuko’s head away when Zuko tried to bite, and he managed to lurch free enough to dodge an elbow to the face. 

“Wait!” The man yelped.

But Zuko had a size advantage, and the man was on his back, and Zuko really wanted him dead. He slammed his shoulders into the grass, pinned his legs with his tail, made another attempt to remove the throat with his teeth. This time, the man brought his arm up in a hasty block. Zuko was too busy biting down to be upset he’d missed his target. Blood and the creak of bone filled his mouth.

There was a shout of pain. “Wait wait—Zuko, stop!”

The words pierced his hazy red anger like ice through fresh snow. Zuko froze. Even being slightly feral at the taste of blood and festered indignation, he rapidly came to his senses and dropped the arm. His mind spun. 

How did this man know his name? The pirates didn’t know. The pretty girl in blue didn’t know. And he wouldn’t be able to tell them if he wanted to (which he very much had not). It wasn’t a lucky guess. No one shared his name that he’d ever met. So why—how could a random human—

“Get off!” The human fumbled to shove Zuko’s face away. His sleeve was ruined, and rapidly turning red.

Zuko slowly obliged. The man didn’t seem angry. He only seemed annoyed, even as he bled profusely from an arm that might be broken. There was something unnervingly familiar about the twist of his scowl. He shuffled sideways and sat up.

“Spirits, kid, you’ve got a strong jaw.”

“I’m not—” Zuko cut himself off before he could complete the retort. The human wouldn’t understand him. The human knew he wasn’t a kid. Zuko was very obviously a full grown mer. 

“You could have let me explain myself before trying to kill me.” Why did his scowl look so familiar? The man untied a sash of his fancy outfit and wrapped his arm with clinical efficiency. Then he looked up to meet Zuko’s eye, and his scowl faltered. “Are you okay?”

What.

Zuko stared. Was he seriously… asking if Zuko was okay? There was blood in the grass and in his robes and he might have a concussion and his ribs might be bruised and Zuko would at worst have a sore jaw. He shifted back warily. In his experience, crazy men often did cruel things. 

When he made no move to respond, the man sighed roughly and looked away. “Guess I should have waited on that tea. Zaheera will be by with some shortly.”

“What?”

What on earth was he talking about? Tea? Of all things? How did he know Zuko’s name and why was he so relaxed about the bite on his arm and why did the slope of his nose look so familiar and why was he talking about tea in the blood and the grass?

“You were always more civil with it around.”

Okay, now Zuko was thoroughly weirded out. He wished he had an exit. An escape route. He was stuck on land in an unfamiliar house and the closest thing he had to sanctuary was a fake pool of water barely deep enough to sleep in. This was freaking him out just the slightest.

“You’re nuts.” He said. Just to say it. The man wouldn’t understand the words or the insult in them, but Zuko was sick of just sitting around not saying anything, waiting for stupid humans to come to the right conclusions.

For his effort, he was rewarded with the faintest thaw of the man’s grumpy expression. It looked amused somehow. “And why is that?” He asked.

What.

A trace of alarm made Zuko flinch. “...Because you’re… talking to me.” He probed. Just to see. Humans weren’t supposed to understand.

“Why would that make me crazy? You’re real, aren’t you?” He glanced at his sleeve, now mostly red. “I’m pretty sure you are.”

Zuko blanched. He considered backing away, back into the pool. The safety it offered was purely psychological, but it would be something at least. It’d be better than lying vulnerable on the ground next to a crazy person. His fins twitched.

“What—but—you understand me?”

“Of course.”

“But humans aren’t supposed to understand.” From what he’d heard, humans interpreted mer speech as primitive and animalistic: nothing more than a series of harsh vocalizations strung together. Zuko had demanded an explanation for the phenomenon when he was younger. After all, mer understood human speech just fine. No one was able to give him a satisfactory answer.

“Well, I’m not human.” The human said. “Technically.”

“Then what are you?” Possibly a witch? Zuko had heard of their strange abilities. Or maybe he was a spirit. In which case Zuko was screwed. He probably couldn’t get away with attempted murder on a spirit; he’d totally be cursed or something. It could also be a shapeshifter of sorts, from the myths.

But the man quickly dispelled any outlandish theories. For the first time that Zuko had seen, a flicker of hurt crossed his features. It made him look older than he likely was. Haunted.

“Wow Zuzu, you don’t remember your favorite cousin?”

No.

No, he definitely didn’t mean that. Zuko didn’t have any cousins. Not for eleven years. And there’d only been—one. Just one. Now there weren’t any.

But looking closer, Zuko could see why the scowl looked so familiar. He saw the same face in the mirror. And this man wasn’t human, clearly, even if he had legs in place of a red streaming tail. In place of the gold ribbon fins their family shared—that he must have recognized when he first saw Zuko. 

He knew Zuko’s name. Zuzu. Azula tried to call him that—maybe out of nostalgia—but it belonged to them both, and Zuko hated to hear her say it because there was only one person who tried to bring them together like that, and hearing her say it reminded him of… of… a dead man.

Except he couldn’t be dead. He was right here. His blood tasted very real.

“Lu Ten?”

He looked so much like his father when he smiled. “Yeah.”

Zuko gaped. That felt like the only appropriate thing to do. Maybe the dehydration actually got to him, and this whole series of events was an elaborate hallucination. Maybe Azula spiked his tea with a psychedelic for her weird sense of humor, and he was hallucinating. It was too strange. This didn’t make any sense. Zuko’s cousin was dead, and if he wasn’t, wouldn’t Uncle know? Would Uncle have cried so hard so many private times if this was real? It felt so real.

“How did you get that scar?”

“How are you not dead?” Zuko’s head was spinning, though thankfully not from dehydration. He wasn’t sure if this was worse, actually. “Uncle thinks you’re dead.”

The comment earned him a flinch. “There’s actually a good explanation for that.”

“Which is?”

“I’m cursed.” Lu Ten squinted into the middle distance, looking uncomfortably close to being emotional. “To live as a human. And I can’t… go near the sea. I tried. It almost turned me into sea foam.”

Zuko dropped his head into his hands and groaned.

[mochinomnoms]

Half asleep past midnight ramblings because I saw a pirate AU mentioned and I know you like Jade so like

Yuu drops stuff off the edge of a ship and into the ocean by accident - maybe some kinda mushroom-shaped pendant idk. And jade ends up catching it and misinterpreted the exchange as a courting gesture somehow. And now Yuu keeps on getting dragged out to deck by the rest of the crew because this bigass mer with bigass teeth keeps jumping aboard and snarling at anyone who approaches him except for Yuu for some reason

And Yuu just keeps having to drop what they're doing to nudge what seems, to them, like quite a placid merman off the deck and back into the ocean, wondering why they specifically have to do that and not believing the rest of the crew when they describe Jade as 'A hissing monstrosity that tried to take a chunk outta my arm!' etc. etc.

Anyway they have a collection of random ocean trinkets that Jade keeps giving them or something. And also Jade saves them from drowning. Floyd follows Jade to the surface once and then there's an issue with TWO mermen tryna hang out on deck but only tolerating two specific crew members and one is the angry redhead who ends up looking super amusing trying to drag a slippery, troublesome eel to the edge of the boat so he can get back to whatever he should be doing

Sorry about the rambling - and sorry if it isn't coherent. My brain needs something to do since I can't get to sleep rn lol.

I don't know a whole lot about pirates other than what I know from my video game...but from I am aware! They spend at least weeks if not months out at sea! I like to think that it takes Jade sometime to watch and actually fall for someone, while Floyd is the one more prone to love at first sight fight

When you guys are around at sea, slowly making your way to the next port, you're not super surprised you've been followed by a pair of merfolk.

They're known to be curious, but unless they're sirens, they're likely to keep to themselves.

But these two have been following the ship for quite some time now, like they're after something specific.

They're practically identical, just a few things like their gray strands of hair and their bi-colored eyes that help with differentiating them. The more excitable of the two seems to be most invested in chasing after your boat.

You can't understand the clicks, chirps, or squeals he makes, but you do notice how excited he gets when your friend Riddle, a crewmate who ran off from home, is on the deck. Riddle seems annoyed and will often yell at the merman, telling him to go away and stop following.

Though the big guy just looks so happy to see Riddle that you think he isn't able to understand human speech. If you had to guess, you think he was following after Riddle. Not sure why though.

You almost forget about the other one, with how quiet he is. You encounter him after dropping a cute little mushroom pendant that you got from a port shop a while back. The moment it plopped into the dark water in the dead of night, you were absolutely devastated. You even took some spare rope and wrapped it around your waist in a tight knot before scaling the side of the ship to carefully make it down to the water.

Hoping and praying to whatever sea god lorded over the current waters you were in that the water was shallow and pendant not lost to the deep, you failed to notice the soft teal aquamarine glow emerging from the water.

When you finally do turn to look at the water, you just about screamed at the upper hand of one of the mermen's face staring at you. Pressing yourself against the wooden hull of the ship, you stared back at him, not even daring to blink, as if he would suddenly lunge at you if you looked away.

Not an unwarranted fear; you and the rest of the crew had seen the way those sharp teeth and claws torn apart large tuna and annoying seagulls.

You think this is the more quiet of the two, based on the lack of reaction and the strand on his left. He seems more quizzical than playful, compared to whom you think is his brother. His eyes flicker down to watch the way your chest moves up and down as you try to calm your breath. He stares for a bit before flickering back up to your eyes, where he resumes his chilling stare.

What felt like hours, but was probably minutes, passed as you two played what was essentially a staring contest. Eventually, made due to boredom, or maybe he was satisfied after studying you so long, his right hand came up from the water clenching something. He gently opened his hand to reveal the golden mushroom pendant, complete with your gold chain and everything.

"Oh! You got it, uh, can I have it back?" You asked, pointing at the item in his hand.

The merman slowly rose up the lower part of his face and upper chest now visible. Looking at him up close, you could understand why they cautioned sailors to keep their distance from all sea folk.

Such pretty faces, it's no wonder people willingly drown themselves just in an attempt to be with one.

The teal colored merman watched as you carefully reached for the item in his hand, only to jerk it away and make a laughing sound. You think it was laughter, based on the smirk and squinted eyes he gave you. You huffed, reaching for it again, only for him to swam back again. His laughter was growing louder, seems that he was just as mischievous as his brother, just sneakier about it.

It almost sounded musical to your ears, too bad you were too focused on getting the pendant back to admire it. Eventually, the creature was far enough out of your reach that you were barely touching the ship with the tip of your toes. It seemed like he wanted you to fall into the water as he playfully splashed at you with the tip of his tail. You knew he was playing, if he really wanted you in the water, that tail had more than enough strength to wrap around you and drag you in.

But still, you wanted that damn pendant back! He seemed fascinated by the mushroom itself and the detailing on it. His claws kept tracing over the ridges and he was studying it intently when he wasn't staring at you. He's probably never seen one before. That's when a brilliant idea popped into your head!

Gesturing him to wait, you climbed back up the rope, turning back every time to check and see that he was still there. The big guy seemed a bit annoyed, disappointed even, that you were leaving. No matter, you'd be back soon enough with a bargaining chip.

It takes a moment for you to finally make your way back up, huffing and your arms straining from pulling your self up. Riddle, bless his heart, had rushed out after hearing your scream earlier and was pacing around the deck waiting for you to return.

"There you are! I saw you with one of the mermen, did you get hurt? Do you need medical attention? Come to the infirmary, I'll check you up—"

You waved him off, struggling to undo your knot, blurting out something about you being fine and needing to trade. Finally managing to stumble into the sleeping quarters and to your cot, digging against your blanket and bags to finally find a small pouch.

Smiling at your victory, you ran back up to the deck to find Riddle struggling with the rope and one of the mermen. You're pretty sure it's the other one: his strand is on his right side and he's a lot more vocal as he tried climbing up the side of the ship using the rope and digging his claws in the hull.

Poor Riddle was struggling to get the merman's arms off of his, the latter's grasp tightening the more he struggled to get out.

"Damn it Floyd! I told you! Leave!" A kick. "Me!" An inhumane yelp. "ALONE!"

The merman looked almost disappointed as Riddle finally managed to kick him in the face and crawl away from his grasp.

Riddle was heaving as he glared at the pouting merman, watching as he finally lost his claw grip in the wood and slid back into the water with a loud splash. You helped your friend up, checking him over for any stratches or bite marks.

"So it is you that they're following! I'd been wondering way they were so focused on our ship, but how do you know his name?"

Riddle sighed, nodding his head. "I apologize. I was hoping that he wouldn't remember me from our childhood, it's been so long, but..."

He dragged his hands over his face in exasperation. "He has a perfect memory when he wants to. He used to visit the reefs near my hometown, I ended up meeting him there when I was younger. He was so annoying! Liked to poke and prod at me anytime I visited the beach, I thought I finally managed to get rid of him when I left home, but it seems that he's found me."

"How can you understand them?"

"Ah, they can speak and understand common tongue. They just choose to feign ignorance." Riddle muttered to himself as he slipped off his now soaking jacket.

You watched your friend as he wrung out the water in his clothes from who you now know is Floyd. Pursing your lips, you looked toward the rope, now splayed across the deck, and move toward it.

"Do you know the other one's name?" you asked, tying the rope back to your waist.

"Hmm? His twin? I think it's Jade, why do you want to—what are you doing?"

Riddle suddenly stood watching in horror as you slipped over the ledge of the ship once again.

"He's got my pendant, gonna get it back—"

"No! You going down there is how Floyd got up, get back here!" Riddle marched over, stomping his foot and reaching for you just as you jumped. "I'll get you another, one with rubies in it—HEY!"

Using the momentum from the fall, you planted your feet against the hull as you landed against it, looking down at the water again. This time, both mermen were watching you as you climbed down, though the one you though was Floyd looked upset and bored, swimming up to the hull to make small crying noises to Riddle, you assumed.

As you got closer, the one called Jade came closer, apparently interested that you returned. Once you were finally within each other's reach again, you gestureed for him to come closer.

By this point, his brother was behind him watching curiously as you held up the pouch in your hand, opening it and revealing a white button mushroom.

Jade perked up, looking between your pendant and the mushroom in your hand. You pointed at the pendant in his hand, before remembering what Riddle said.

"Oh yeah, he said you could understand me." Jade didn't betray that he understood you, though his ear fins twitched as you spoke.

"Uh, if you give me that—" you still pointed to the pendant, just incase he was wrong. Though Riddle rarely was. "—then I will give you this!" You pointed back to the white mushroom in your hand.

Jade looked excitedly at the mushroom, nodding as you two traded. Sighing in relief, you pulled the chain over your neck and tucked it into your shirt. You readied to climb back up to the ship again before glancing at Jade.

He was poking at the mushroom, turning it round in his fingers. He seemed almost childlike in his wonder with the fungus, it was almost cute. Right up until he tore it in half and dropped it into the water, watching it float.

"What, no!" You whined, startling him as you gestured between him and the mushroom.

"No! No, no, no! That's a waste of a perfectly good mushroom! Do you know how hard it is to get those at ports? You're supposed to eat it!"

Exasperated, you opened your pouch again and handed another to Jade, though this time he eyed your hand warily.

"...What? Do you think I'm gonna posion you? Look—" You tore it in half, like he did earlier, and popped one half into your mouth. "Shee? Yummy!"

He still looked doubtful as you chewed. Rolling your eyes, you extended your arm out to his face, making him jerk away again.

"Just, try it! Come on!" You pushed against the hull again, on your tiptoes, as you held out the mushroom towards his lips.

"I'll even feed it to ya! Say 'aaaah'."

Jade looked at your open mouth and, you swear on your soul, blushed before looking away. He thinned his lips, eyes flickering back at you again with an almost shy expression. Floyd, in the background, was staring curiously, before making a chirping sound. Jade made a similar sound back, before looking at you between his lashes and bashfully taking the mushroom from your fingertips.

You tried not to jump from his teeth scraping you and his cold lips brushing against your skin. Instead, you stilled yourself, holding your breath as he chewed.

"It's good, right?"

Jade paused swallowing and slowly nodding before opening his mouth.

"Yes, it's quite...nice." You were surprised how smooth and human his voice was. It as almost soft, a stark difference from his sharp ends and edges. Pleasant.

You shook your thoughts from your head. You refused to be one of those lovesick sailors.

"Right...well, thanks! I'll be, uh, heading back now."

You actively chose to not look back as you climbed up, though perhaps you should have. You could have seen the way Jade watched you, like your were Aphrodite emerging from the sea foam to the land.

"What I tell ya Jade?" Jade continued watching you climb up, eyeing the way Riddle dragged you to the boat, though he flicked his ear fin towards Floyd. "I told you that the lil shrimp was just your type!"

Floyd giggled as he swam on his back, circling his brother. He paused to listen to the way Riddle was yelling at you. So cute.

"Aren't you glad you joined me? I get my Goldfishie, and you'll get a little Shrimpy out of it! Mama and Pops will be so happy when we bring them back home!

"Yes...we'll have to do it soon though." Jade smiled as he watched you and Riddle peer over the edge. You waved at him, and he back at you. His smile grew as you excitedly waved even harder speaking to Riddle before your friend dragged you away.

"The farther we get, the less time we have to return to Azul. His water-breathing spell will only last so long."

"And whose fault is that?" Floyd scoffed, flicking water at his brother in annoyance. "I wanted to take my mate and his friend since day one, you're the one who wanted to 'study' them and stuff. I know you best, if I tell you that the shrimp is perfect for you, you oughta listen!"

Jade glared at Floyd, who stuck his tongue at him, before softly laughing.

"You're right Floyd, of course you know me so well." Jade stared back up at the ship, as if his gaze alone would beckon you to return to him. "The water's warm, there's a storm coming from the east, where they've been traveling."

Jade dove into the water, his brother following him.

"The storm is large and coming soon, and the wood over here is damaged." Jade gestured to a part of the hull that was starting to rot, water slipping in. "If we cause the ship to take in more water, it will sink. They only have a few of those smaller boats, and much too many crew."

Floyd grinned as he caught on to what his brother was implying.

"Everyone will probably be scrambling to get on them boats—"

"Precisely, and with the chaos of a storm, will be much too busy to notice two of their crewmates snatched by a pair of mermen."

The twins shared a conniving laugh, following the ship into an unseen storm in the dark of night.

Something that few people ever mentioned, as it was quite rare, was that once a merperson fell for someone, they also were determined to drag them into the deep, never to be seen again by the people of the surface.

[tinydefector]

Marine Centre- merformers AU

Multiple x human reader

Word count: 1.5k

Masterlist

Next

_________

Yawk-yawk Marine Rehabilitation centre. Its home to many injured Oceanides or as many liked to call them mers. It was also leading research into the way the oceanides socialised and lived, the large centre bordered on the ocean side where many Of the oceanides would gather due to the safety it gifted them to raise their young, care for injured. 

Oceanides themselves were rather elusive creatures, and could become hostile easily. A Lot of humans had them listed in the same category as dolphins, they had amazing memories, and could remember the faces of those who have hurt or helped them. And that's what led many of them to the centre's waters. Many different pods frequent, letting the vets and marine scientists within reasonable range to study them.

Footfall echoes across the broad walk making many of the oceanides heads snap towards the sound, some slinking back into the water of the cove. thrills of delight echo out from many as the human continues walking across the walk towards the water. “Yes, yes I know it's dinner time!” They call out with a laugh watching the oceanides eagerly swimming around. 

They continue to cart the large barrels of fish towards the jetty. A beautiful gold and black Oceanide is the first to emerge from the water as the familiar human approaches, powerful fins slicing gracefully through the waves as he gets to the jetty a loud snarl and hiss leave him impatiently. “Oh don't you start up Shimmer!” They huff out before mimicking his hiss. He lets out a grumble before darting back under the water with a splash. 

Two other oceanides are at the jetty following Shimmer. Both chirping and cooing when they see their feeder. The human eyes land on the silver-grey Mer before they call out. “and you Slip!, if I catch you in the Turtle tanks again I'm not gonna be happy!” They call out which only gets another loud thrill and show of fins.  

a dark grey and Red Oceanides pushes himself up partly onto the jetty as he calls out sweetly trying to catch the humans attention. Their eyes drift to the Mer as his wide eyes watch them. “Yes, hello sweet boy, I know it's food time” they hum only for him to call again. They let out a soft sigh before slowly walking towards him. “don't nip me Angelfish” they warn in a stern voice. They run their hand over his he'd crest which has him chafing lightly as he leans onto the touch. 

It's Only the sound of splashing and scratching which makes their head snap Back to the barrel to see a Red and Orange Mer alongside Slip. “Oi!” They shout which earns them a wide eyed stare from the two as they snag fish and take off. “ I swear you two!” They yell out while making their way back to the barrel. “Bloody pest” they huff. 

They move the barrel to the edge of the jetty, tipping it and letting the fish scatter quickly the moment they hit the water. The fish knew full well they were prey,  thrills and calls of voracious hunger leave the many Oceanides which dart into the water to chase down a meal. some grouping up to gracefully weave through the impromptu hunt, coming up with bountiful mouthfuls to share among the gathered pods. 

From the shadows of the lagoon, a deep rumble echo's as the massive blue and red mer slowly drift to the surface from his resting place amongst the sea weed, crooning soft as he looks towards the human. They smile as they see the large Red and blue oceanide. His scales looked better than they had a week before, the wounds he had sustained had healed well.

"Hey there Big blue" they call out grabbing one of the other fish, this one had a mix of medications in it to help the big mer heal. "Even brought you a treat " they hum, walking towards him with the large Barramundi, they hold the fish in the water for him as he swims over and bites into the fish, taking it with him gently. 

The human leans down and lightly drags their hand across the frills of big blues head, checking the fresh healed wounds. He was one of the more docile Oceanides, despite being one of the bulls of the pods he was very docile. The sound of hissing and snarling is what breaks them out of their checking Big blue. “Oi! Quit it!” They shout at the two Oceanides bickering. One flicks Water at the other as if to end The argument before thrilling in what they could only assume was laughter.

______

The soft footsteps had them alert them. Eyes looking up to see their feeder making their way to the water's edge. The sound of fish had  many of them slipping back into the water, moving towards the feeding grounds. Sunstreaker, Rodimus, Jazz and Bluestreak all watch the Walker as they cart what they know too well is fish. Sunstreaker is the first to emerge from the water as the familiar human approaches, a deep rumble leaves him. “took your fragging time lander!” he growls out. It earns him noise back from the human before they hiss back at him. He grumbles as he sinks back into the water as Rodimus and Jazz laugh at him. 

“awww did someone get hisses at?” Rodimus teases only for Sunstreaker to slap him with his tail. “Hey the Frag!” Rodimus chirps back at him. Jazz appears, flanking them. “Ay quit it, you two, it's hunting time” he calls back to them. Bluestreak peers up from the water moving towards the jetty. Wanting to get the softskins attention. 

Jazz laughs as he swirls around while the soft skin calls out at him angrily. "Primus, Jazz, what did you do this time?" Arcee ask as she makes her way over for the hunt. 

"You'll bring their wrath down upon us all with your tricks, glitch."

Jazz merely trills mischievously, fins undulating in a careless shrug. "Ah, they love me really. Little softskin adores me, may have broken into the Turtles again." He hums while brushing past her. 

Still, Sunstreaker emits a low rumble in annoyance, in truth he was getting angsty,  Sideswipe was in the facility and he couldn't see him. His ice blue eyes locked on the mammals every movement. “sweet skin!” Bluestreak calls out while lifting himself  up enough hoping they would come over, chirping happily and sweetly at them. He nearly melts as they walk over running their small hands over his face as a purr leaves him. 

Rodimus takes the opportunity while the human's distracted. “Jazz!, softies distracted!” he calls and Jazz moves just a quickly, both of them pushing themselves up onto the pier. Claws hands delving into the overly full Barrel of fish. But when the human shouts they both dart back into the water with their score. 

Mirage can't help a laughter escaping him at the human's exasperated cursing, as they glare at Jazz and Rodimus innocently smug looks as they chew on their fish.  Bluestreak coos sadly. “Come on! You two ruined it!” he grumbles before sinking back into the water patiently waiting for the fish to be dropped into the cove.  

Mirage purrs softly, as he swam up to Bluestreak soothing him while brushing against him. “aww don't worry Softie will give you more cuddles later you puffer fish” Bluestreak huffs in annoyance “I'm not a puffer”  

All arguments cease the moment the fish hit the water, hunting instinct taking over, as the fish scatter quickly. They each gracefully weave through the impromptu hunt, grabbing fish and ripping them to threads as they eat them. The commotion is what wakes Optimus from his place resting at the bottom of the cove in the sea weed. 

“hello little one” Optimus rumbles softly as he sees their feeder. His eyes light up as they bring over the rather large fish for him. He knew it was most likely filled with the medication that they were putting into him to heal but the large fish was still a treat, it wasn't often he got to feast on this fish. 

Sunstreaker snorts while watching. "Pit, can you believe this, Fleshie has made him soft" he grumbles out while tearing though his own fish and swallowing it still seething as he watches the large bull Oceanides. "Next thing you know, he'll be taking one as a mate like some wet-behind-the-fins first seasoner."

Rodimus smirks, fins fluttering dismissively. "Jealous, much, want the little softskin to yourself." Beside him, Jazz breaks into peals of trills at Sunstreaker's indigent snarling, spinning graceful loops through the water. "Aww, is Sunny jelly he ain't getting special treatment like the big Bull?" he teases.

Sunstreaker lunges at the slippery speedster, only for Jazz to evade with mocking ease. "Frag off, glitch! As if I'd want those walkers to touch me," Sunstreaker snaps, though his field radiates grudging envy despite himself. 

The others continue to tease him, he responds with hissing and snarling, Jazz and Rodimus finding it playful and amusing. That's until the humans yelling breaks them out of it. Sunstreaker slap his tail onto the water splashing them before sinking back down into the water, having had enough of them. 

In truth he didn't mind their feeder, he could leave at any time, he wasn't being held here, but it didn't feel right leaving when Sideswipe was hurt and the humans were caring for him. 

______

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[rosedere]

Aquamarine (Floyd Leech x Fem reader)

CW:Forced Transformation (human), Drugging(magic), Attempted non con, Forced mating, Mer marking.

“So if I jump, your for sure going to catch me” You crossed your arms, looking once more down the rocky embankment that was littered around the small island the school resided on.

You were already on edge because of the whole rule about not being allowed to roam off campus; let alone being caught in your skimpy swimsuit. It would be social suicide if anyone caught you with this much skin out.

Or if you were caught with Floyd.

Since you were a girl...

He was the only one who knew you were a female anyway; everyone assumed you were like Epel, a feminine boy from another world. It wasn't like anything bad would happen if anyone knew in theory…

Everyone already would let their eyes linger a little too long on your school uniform ranging from a few of the housewardens and some of your closest friends enough to where it would make you feel uneasy; news spreading about you being a girl would only exacerbate their stares or worst.

it’s why you trusted Floyd as a Confidant and friend here in the otherworldly school.

”Come on (name) the potions about to kick in,” Floyd's nasally voice called from below in the deep, dark blue water below the cliffs edge.

”You didn't answer my question at all!” You huffed, crossing your arms around your chest. “Plus, I hate this bathing suit you brought me—why couldn't you have found an old shirt or something?” you shouted from the edge of the cliff.

Your head was spinning as you saw the distance from the cliff to the water and the rocky, jagged landforms poking out below. Squatting, you sat down with your legs dangling over the vertical ledge, still covering your chest from the merman, only mischievously looking up at your trembling legs.

”I won't answer them until you jump in~”

The sound of his nasally laugh was all you could positively hear from the ledge.

You only looked down at him with unamusement, he knew you hated swimming this was just torture.

”Fine, wait there—“ He sunk into the water, only leaving his face fins treading the waves passing over him.

It was true the potion he gave you was still on you; you didn’t swallow any of it. 

But you could take the glowing green liquid in the noculious shell bottle. 

Or jump in and not fall for his prank he was going to play on you.

Whatever it may be...

”Fine! I will—“ you chortled to yourself as you let your dangling feet hang on the other side of the cliff.

His eyes only stayed in their usual frumpy, lopsided position as he looked over the water rushing to collide with the tall cliff. You smugly looked down at him, pretending you were going to jump, only backing away, watching the mer get annoyed.

“You didn't drink it, did you (Name)”

“No, I took a whiff, and it smelled like you,” you teased.

You were expecting him to come back with a playful insult.

But he was dead serious as he looked up at you from under the waves.

“Well… I guess I'll just have to tell everyone about your secret”

You only laughed this off, his webbed face growing shriveled with annoyance at your playful attitude.

“I mean it (name)” 

His voice sounded a bit more aggressive, feral even.

“Get in”

Finally realizing he was actually angry, you looked down at the vial.

“Why do you want me to drink this Floyd?” You furrowed your brow, feeling the bottle's curves once more.

“It's so you can help me with something,” he vaugly added.

“Why can't you get Jade to help you?” You frowned. “You know I don't know how to swim.”

“Because you're a human, it'll be easier for you to do it,” he bobbed in the water.

You looked down at the vial. You already knew you weren't going to like how it smelled and looked radioactive: The fishy seaweed smell was overwhelming coming out of the small plugged glass. You glanced back down towards Floyd, seemingly waiting.

“Fine, but if this thing kills me, Im going to haunt your slimy ass forever,” you huffed.

"Nah, go ahead (name)”

“Drink it”

This time you bring the vial closer to your face, opening the small cork taking a whiff of the potion.

You retched a bit as you kept it away from your face.

“How much do I need to drink?”

“All of it~” Floyd happily replied below.

Grabbing the vial with your right hand, you breathed in.

Just get this over with so he leaves you alone for the day.

You pinched the tip of your nose before throwing the vial's contents in your mouth. Feeling the warm liquid slide down your throat, leaving the vial empty, you tossed it to the side of the rocky surface you were sitting on.

“Jump in shrimpy,” Floyd swam back and forth.

“Hurry before the potion mixes.”

Silently looking down at the waves, you swallowed your nerves. Getting up on your shaky legs, you decided to get a running start before jumping.

Lunging, you let yourself jump over the edge.

In only seconds, you felt yourself be enveloped by the cold water. Only once you hit the bottom of the sandy shoals with your feet did a large, long shadow appear over you in the murky water.

Pushing up from the silty sand as you'd been taught, you felt your feet glide through the water.

Until you felt a harsh grip grab the back of your neck with sharp talons.

Claws, the points reminding you of a raccoon as it digged into your flesh. You wanted to scream, but you only had a little air left. Fighting against the creature that was pulling at you, trying to keep you from surfacing, kicking into the meaty tail of the creature, frantically grabbing it's finned muscular arm's reaching around wrestling with you.

Suddenly, when you kicked one of the times trying to connect with the teal tail in front of you, however...

Your leg wasn't moving like normally, feeling as if your leg fell asleep. You worried you were about to lose circulation in then from how hard the creature was wrapping itself around you.

Looking down, your eyes almost bulged from your sockets as you saw what was in front of your body.

Long golden and red scales enfused with your skin, your feet now replaced with a long flared tail, golden shimmers and sparkles were all that was left on the bottom.

You temporarily forgot the fight, only looking down at your new legs. 

“Aww shrimpy, your tail is beautiful,” you heard Floyd's voice coming from your aggressor.

Finally twirling around, you saw who it was behind you. Floyd was in his true mer form, the bioluminescent spots glowing under the dark waves his face fins trilling in the water.

“What did you make me drink?” you gritted your teeth, “Change me back, now”

“Yeah, I'll change you back (Name)” Floyd swam around you, letting his long tail entertwine with your finer tip one.

“Once you help me with this small task,” he smiled, Suddenly the water felt warm; initially,  you assumed it was because you were both next to each other as the current swept around your skin.

Floyd suddenly unhinged his mouth at you.

It looked to be a yawning motion, but as he did this, he would hit you with his tail before doing the motion.

Confused to all hell you only copied him, wacking him in the tail with your smaller one before you opened your mouth in a yawn.

The smile that crept onto his face was an eerie one, seeing the sharp, blunt-shaped teeth mouth.

“I'm glad to see it's mutual, Shrimpy.”

You were about to question him, the words on the tip of your tongue.

Until he violently lunged at you once more.

You could only gasp as you felt his teeth sink onto the side of your neck; the crunch of the new scales adorning your collarbone was all you heard. You thrashed, but it was pointless since his tail was still entertwined into your shimmery one.

Sinking down towards the sandy bottom as he kept biting harder, you thought he was trying to kill you. Only as he kept biting you started to feel woozy, almost like a drunk state. You felt like up was down and down was somewhere.

Your mind feeling like it was in a washing machine. Floating helplessly as Floyd began to intertwine himself further around you, squeezing the top of your hips.

The pain from his biting was subdued, though you couldn't even notice he was clawing violently around your mer form, only feeling sensitive around your tail area.

After a while of rubbing your tails together, you felt his clawed paws rub up and down your sides.

His face was annoyed as he kept repeating the motion.

“Aww, what a bummer, Shrimpy doesn't lay eggs yet,” he growled, “A shame, I thought our species would be compatible; I've seen different types of carp mate I thought it would work.” His tail was still wrapped around you, feeling it slither around the bottom of your sensitive tail. You were too dazed to reply, only blinking.

“At least I was able to mark you, Better to do it before we mate anyway so you can't run from me,” he tickled your navel with his lone claw.

“Besides where I'm taking you, there's too many mers that would love a mate with a desirable tail like yours.” 

He was rambling to himself—something about a sea witch he found that could make the transformation permanent.

Floyd wrapped up in his fantasy; your eyes glassy with sorrow as you were carried on his black as he rode the current, your tail fanning behind him, taking you into the depths of the deep ocean.

-

Note: This was requested by: Boo_Its_Poochie_Roo on AO3🩷

(also shh don’t mind me just finally catching the blog up with my AO3 bc I’ve been LAZY)

[sweetbunpura]

Stolen Jackets: Floyd, Camp Vargas

Part 2 with his Dorm Jacket later on today.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Henchhuman, c'mon!"

Grim's shout could be heard from downstairs as Yuu dug through her closet in search of a jacket to combat the rain falling outside. Throughout her time in NRC, she had gained a number of outfits from events happening at the school and yet somehow she never managed to get any jackets. Grumbling to herself, she tugged at clothes towards the bottom of the closet and managed to grab something. Yuu pulled it free and paused, staring down at it with blinking eyes. It was a large white, green, and blue windbreaker... how did this get in here?

"What the- wait..." She turned it over as she remembered who it belonged to. "Hopefully he doesn't mind." She put it on quickly, ignoring how it swamped her, grabbed her bag and headed for the door.

She and Grim managed to enter the classroom before the bell rang. Grim hopped onto the desk and shook himself dry while Yuu rolled up her sleeves and sat down. Her hood was up and before she could pull it down, Ace sounded behind her.

"Whose jacket is that?" He leaned over his desk and tugged on the back of the hood. "It's not yours, it's too big."

"Found it. I don't have one so, I'm borrowing this one at the moment."

"Oh, if you didn't have a jacket, Yuu, I would've gladly leant you one." Deuce chimed in with a smile.

"Thank you, Deuce." She smiled back.

Ace narrowed his eyes and leaned in closer. "Is that Floyd's jacket? I remember him having this during the whole shit with Vargas' Camp."

"Eh?" Grim blinked and looked at the jacket. "Is that why it doesn't fit you?"

"You two are way too focused on a piece of clothing." Yuu huffed out.

"I agree." Came Trein's voice, catching all four of them and jerking their attention towards the teacher. "Now, if you'd be so kind as to focus on the board..."

Trein continued teaching as they apologized. The rest of the school day continued on, with no sign of Floyd.

"You haven't returned it to him?"

The last class let out as Yuu met up with Deuce and Ace.

"I haven't seen him at all. Thinking about calling Jade and asking where he is." Yuu sighed.

Ace leaned against the pillar. "He'll end up finding you. You know he always has that freaky sixth sense for his-"

"Shrimpy!"

"Speak of the eel." Yuu turned to face Floyd as he came rushing towards her with arms open and a smile on his face. "Hey Floyd."

"Yo-" He paused, mismatched eyes staring at her as he looked at what she was wearing.

"Oya, Miss Yuu." Jade came up behind Floyd. "I had no idea you said yes to Floyd's proposal."

"Huh!?"

"What proposal?"

Jade smiled, teeth visible. "Oh, he didn't tell you? Floyd wants you to be his-"

Suddenly, Floyd put him in a headlock, cutting off anything he was going to say.

"You sure are talkin' a lot, Jade." Floyd glared at him.

"I was making conversation, Floyd." The shit eating grin hadn't left Jade's face. "It would be impolite not to."

Floyd huffed and looked at Yuu before looking away. She could spot a faint blush dusting the mer eel's cheeks.

Yuu started to pull off the jacket. "Let me at least give it back."

"Keep it." He bluntly said. "Don't need it." Floyd dragged Jade away, leaving the trio of first years to watch them depart.

"That was weird."

"Yeah, it's almost like he couldn't look at you anymore, Yuu."

Yuu watched them leave with a smile on her face. Floyd looked cute all flustered like that and if wearing his jacket caused that, then she'd have to be wearing it all time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~OMAKE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Floyd flopped down face first onto his bed with a groan. Jade hovered above him with his hands behind his back.

"Another day goes by without telling Miss Yuu how you truly feel. How shameful."

"Shaddup." He moved to kick his twin, who swiftly moved out of the way.

"And you froze like prey in open water when you saw her." Jade smirked.

Floyd, without looking, tossed one of his pillows at Jade, who caught it.

"As mush as I like to tease you, dear brother, perhaps it's best if you tell her how you feel before someone else comes along and snatches up your precious 'Shrimpy'."

Floyd muttered something that was muffled by the bedsheets, Jade leaned in.

"Hmm?"

"She looked really cute in my jacket. It was too big for her and all, I couldn't say anythin'."

Jade sat on the bed and patted Floyd's back. "Sadly, it's in our nature..."

"To be cowards..."

[mikimakiboo]

Sansnautica AU - Learning To Trust, With Love

Bad Sans Poly ! ( mtt x Nightmare, Cross isn't there yet )

The Sansnautica AU belongs to @ancha-aus ! :D consider this an early Christmas gift friend •w•

This is my little interpretation of how the gang met Nightmare and started the first part of the poly, which is obviously inspired by our rambling in the notes ( btw the boys' designs are linked in her master post so go check them out because I don't know how to describe them )

Also I still know NOTHING about subnautica except for the fact that it's underwater so please ignore the inaccuracies, even tho I tried to keep it quite vague as to avoid them lol

I started proofreading this at like 1:30am and finished at like nearly 2am so there might be mistakes left lol

How did all of this happen ? How did Nightmare allow this ? He never allowed it before. He liked being alone. At least he thought he did, but then they showed up, and he let them stay.

Well, they didn't "show up", he did remember saving one: Killer.

He was out hunting, roaming on his territory, when he heard noise. If at first he wouldn't have paid attention to it, it quickly became apparent that the noise was coming from his side of the frontier, which meant, whatever was making such noise, was trespassing, and he wouldn't tolerate that.

So Nightmare got closer, ready to chase off any intruder, until he saw what it was: the aliens that were invading the ocean, hunting a boneshark mer who obviously looked quite tired already. They were hunting. These aliens were hunting on his territory, they were hunting a mer. Mers belonged to him, he was their God. That wouldn't do.

He launched upward to where the noise was coming from, appearing in all his height in front of the boneshark and the aliens, putting a stop in their course as the mer crashed into the reef, having tried to avoid hitting the leviathan.

Nightmare watched as the aliens gestured to each other, swimming backward to try and flee, but the God was faster as his hand moved forward, picking them as if they were seaweeds. He bared his fangs, feeling terror emanating from the aliens as he brought them closer to his opened mouth. The terror didn't last long, it faded rapidly after the first bite. There was nothing left when he swallowed them.

He turned to the shark against the reef, seeing as he was still shaking with a fish tightly pressed against his chest, seemed like he too was out hunting. The two stared at each other for a while, before Nightmare turned his back to leave without a word. He had eaten, he could go back to his hideout. He hated being outside for too long, not that he was scared of anything, he just preferred the intimacy of his nest.

He wouldn't have thought the boneshark would follow him, and even worse, refuse to leave when Nightmare stopped to tell him to go back to where he came from. No, instead he followed him to his cave and laid on a flat stone to munch on his fish. Nightmare could have chased him, but he was feeling the fright residues coming from the mer, and decided to be merciful and let him rest for a while.

The next morning the mer was gone, Nightmare thought he went back to his own nest, but instead he came back two days later with two new sharks: a sand shark and a stalker, both mers, both as tired looking as the first one. The sand shark was the first to approach him, a large prey in his hands, that he put down in front of him before backing off. An offering it seemed, a silent demand to be allowed to stay in exchange for some of their catch. Nightmare looked at them silently for a while, he didn't want to have anyone in his nest, he didn't want his tranquility to be disturbed, but the aliens were still out and they were chasing mers specifically... he inspected the offering, it seemed to be a rabbit ray, a fresh catch. He grabbed it between two fingers to take a closer look, sensing the anxiety of the three mers rising, and finally swallowed it whole, accepting the offering and, by extension, allowing them to stay.

They had introduced themselves, the boneshark that Nightmare saved was named Killer, the sand shark that had offered him the ray was Horror, and the stalker was Dust. They seemed to be bounded, as these species didn't usually mix and travel together. Nightmare learned soon after that they were in fact mates.

Their presence wasn't insufferable, Nightmare wouldn't say he enjoyed having them around, but he had to recognize that having a little bit of life in his nest wasn't the worst. Having noise, someone talking to him even if just to tell him about the hunt of the day, was something he didn't think he had missed so much. He wouldn't say he liked them, but he would be a little pained if they left. He did find it amusing, however, that after a few days these three started to try courting him. They weren't the first to try, and he had always found comical that such small creatures thought they had a chance with him, so he let them do so, wanting to see for how long they would try before giving up like all their predecessors.

All was well, truly, fish was abundant in his territory and the small shiver usually wasn't out for too long with the aliens roaming around. But still Nightmare had to leave the nest to make sure no one tried to mess with his borders.

He should have been more careful. He was watching, looking out for any alien, so focused on their potential presence that he didn't hear the screeching noise in time and was hit on his side by a ghost leviathan as big as him. He could fight back, of course, he was strong enough to make this leviathan get out of his territory, but the surprise combined with the sudden sharp pain slowed him in his reflexes and he was hit a second time before he managed to attack and push the ghost leviathan away with more struggle than he would have liked it. Luckily for him, it wasn't another mer.

The wounds were bad. Very bad. He couldn't stay outside like that and most importantly: he couldn't stay this size or he would never heal. Well, he would, but incredibly slowly, and he couldn't afford that. He had to switch back to his smaller form, the healing would be long too, but much less long than in his current big form, as his body wouldn't need as much energy. But he had a problem: he wasn't alone anymore in his cave, there were three sharks that Nightmare knew would be bigger than him once he would turn small. He would be a prey to them. They were courting, yes, but they were courting because he was a massive leviathan capable of protecting them, but once they would see him small and hurt, unable to fight them three at the same time ? They would have the perfect opportunity to kill him and claim his territory with all the resources it contained. They wouldn't think about courting him anymore, that Nightmare was sure. But still he had to go back, he couldn't stay in the open.

He switched back to his small form as to lose less blood as he swam close to the ground, one arm around his wounded waist and the other using the branches and rocks on the ground as holds to give him the impulsion to move faster, trying to stay focused on the noise around him, praying he wouldn't attract any predator with the smell of blood.

When he arrived at the entrance of his nest he was panting, his vision blurry and whole body aching. He slowly looked inside but didn't spot anyone. They must have been out hunting. Good. He didn't want them to see him. He quickly, or as quickly as he could, dived into the deeper part of the cave, looking for a dent in the wall in which he could hide. He found one hidden behind seaweeds and moved them slightly to the side to sneak inside the dent. He laid on the moss on the floor, exhausted and shaking, his whole body in pain. He needed to gather food and materials to heal the wounds, but his body was refusing to move and his vision was becoming darker... he needed to stay awake, he had to, he couldn't sleep now, but he felt so, so drained...

He opened his eye when he heard his name being called. Was the shiver back from their hunt ? Nightmare curled up a little more on himself, not answering. He heard them swim around for a few seconds, and the weeds masking the entrance of his dent were moved aside as Horror appeared in front of him. Nightmare tensed, baring his fangs and curling two tentacles around himself to hide the wound as the others were ready to strike. Horror looked at him for a while without talking, but clearly analyzing him as he frowned, turning back to call the other two. Nightmare tried to get up, not wanting to seem weak in front of them. "Don't move" Horror told him with the same firm but gentle tone he used when Dust or Killer hurt themselves on hunting sessions and wouldn't stay still as he healed them. The two arrived rapidly, Killer's arms still full of fish, and both stopped to stare at the small leviathan. They had smelled blood when entering the cave, and they apparently weren't wrong.

Killer got closer, Nightmare growled, and he stopped, slowly taking a fish to hand it to him, but Nightmare didn't move, his gaze planted in the boneshark's. Killer put the fish down at the entrance of the nest and pushed it towards him, repeating the maneuver with three more fish before finally backing off. Dust wasn't here anymore, Nightmare hadn't seen him leave, focused on Killer. "You should eat", he said, "Dust went to fetch some large weeds to make bandages" he added when seeing his, almost frightened, gaze going from Killer and Horror to the spot Dust was previously in. They were truly stupid if they thought this "pretending to care" would make him lower his guard.

Dust came back with the weeds, but didn't dare approach when Nightmare growled at him. He put it near the entrance, and joined the other two a little farther. They had established a new small nest closer to the dent but still far enough to leave him some intimacy. He hadn't touched the fish yet, not feeling like eating. Why didn't they attack yet ? He couldn't move much, his body stiff from the pain, and couldn't turn back to his more massive form as he was in a way too small dent to do so. He was at their mercy, truly, and yet they were chatting a few meters away like nothing happened. Maybe they were waiting for him to fall asleep to kill him without risking getting bitten ? But how would he manage to stay awake for so long ? He was still so tired... he would wait for them to fall asleep first, and then he would take small naps after small naps, see if it helped...

It didn't help. He felt so tired still. Horror was in front of him, outside the dent, but still looking at him, the other two were outside. "Eat" he ordered him, and Nightmare barely had enough energy to growl back, not liking his tone of voice, but he knew he had to eat or else he wouldn't heal. He slowly reached out to grab one of the fish, munching on it without much conviction despite the hunger. He almost fell asleep with the half-eaten fish in his mouth. Horror didn't move from his spot, only turning his back when he had finished the fish, seeming satisfied. No one attacked him this day either.

He kept taking small naps, but each time he looked they hadn't move from their sleeping pile. Still, Nightmare was cautious. No one attacked him the next day, Dust tried to approach him again but backed off when seeing his gaze. Horror and Killer both frowned at that, but Nightmare didn't care. He didn't want them near him.

The few days that followed were roughly the same: Killer went out, Nightmare didn't know if it was for hunting or something else as he often came back without any catch, Horror made sure he ate at least one fish by staring at him until he gave in, and Dust tried to approach him only to fail and back off. Neither of them tried attacking him and Nightmare started to doubt they would do it one day. Why wait after all ? Why make sure he ate and try to bandage his wounds if they wanted to kill him ? It wasn't logical. None of this was logical, from Dust and Kiler spending so much time outside only to come back without fish to Horror never leaving the front of the dent like a guard. Nightmare didn't understand. He didn't understand what they were trying to do. "Dust and Killer patrol on your territory, since you're not in the right condition to do it yourself", Horror had answered when Nightmare asked him where they were going everyday. They were patrolling ? Protecting his territory ? He didn't need someone to protect his territory. At least not before. Now... he appreciated the help. He didn't need another leviathan claiming his lands while he was away. "And you ?" Nightmare had asked, "I stand guard here, make sure no one tries anything", he had answered, but Nightmare wasn't satisfied, "why not stand guard outside ?" He had asked again, "you're not outside" Horror had said. Nightmare didn't answer.

Dust tried to approach him again this day. Nightmare didn't growl, he looked at him for a while before resting his head on the moss and letting the stalker come closer. The three sharks exchanged a surprised look, and Dust grabbed the weeds and entered the dent, slowly getting closer to the injured leviathan. He looked at him again, to make sure it was okay, and grabbed some moss to clean around the wounds. Nightmare tensed, and Dust stopped. They stared at each other for a while, but as Nightmare didn't move, Dust went back to cleaning, carefully, slowly, he then wrapped the seaweeds around the wounds. Nightmare looked at him work, seeing how delicate he was, how patiently he had been waiting for the authorization when he could have given up right from the start, or simply not try at all. And yet here he was, after maybe a week or more, Nightmare had lost count, cleaning his almost infected wounds and wrapping them in weeds, before leaving again once the job was done, not wanting to invade his personal space for too long. Nightmare kept watching the bandages for a while before grabbing one of the fresh fish Killer had brought him after their hunt. He didn't understand them.

Dust kept coming back every day to check on the wounds, always waiting for Nightmare to authorize him to approach before moving.

And so Nightmare was here, in his dent, thinking about everything that had happened in these past weeks, in these past days, how he let them near him and how they never once tried to take advantage of his situation, instead guarding his territory and bringing him food, keeping his wounds clean as to heal better. He looked at Horror, he was laying down a few meters away, his eyes were closed but Nightmare knew he wasn't sleeping, he was always listening for any suspicious sound, making sure no one, except for his two mates, entered the nest.

Nightmare felt a warmth spead in his ribcage when looking at the sand shark. The other two were outside, he was alone with him, and didn't feel in danger. He felt... safe. He couldn't explain it, but he felt safe despite his condition.

Horror stood up and turned to look at him, having heard a low noise. Nightmare heard it too, but he didn't understand why Horror turned to him. He wanted to ask him, but the noise became louder when he opened his mouth. He had felt his throat vibrate. Was it coming from him ? Was he making this sound ? It was an unusual sound for him, but he had heard the others make it too... he was purring... he hadn't purred in years...

Horror smiled fondly, swimming up to him and stopping before entering the dent. Nightmare didn't stop purring.

- Can I come in ?

Horror asked in a soft tone. Nightmare hesitated for a second, before slowly nodding, watching as the shark swam into the dent and around him to lay down, facing the entrance still, but this time surrounding Nightmare with his tail like a barrier.

Nightmare looked up at him, refraining a yawn.

- You can sleep, I'm not moving.

Horror reassured. He wouldn't move, both from here or to try anything, he would stay still and stand guard just as he was doing everyday in front of the dent, only this time he would be inside.

Nightmare kept staring for a moment, before slowly drifting into sleep, only moving slightly to press his back against Horror's side, feeling his warmth as a reminder he wasn't alone.

He wasn't alone anymore, and he wouldn't be alone ever again.

Once healed he would swear loyalty to them and to protect them from any threat, to offer them a safe place and to never doubt them ever again. They deserved it. They deserved his trust.

They deserved his love.

[all-purpose-dish-soap]

ok, i know it’s not may any more, but could we please have more mer au. ghost preferably, i just want to shake him around in a bag like that one little girl from finding nemo.

hands you a carnival prize plastic bag with a goldfish-sized mer Ghost inside. feed him twice a day. plastic shipwreck not included. he might look lonely but don't let him convince you to put your fingers in the bowl :)

take the first half of this thing too:

36 / 1k / shark mer Ghost tolerating remora mer reader

...

Ghost doesn’t look back at you as you swim meekly after him. You have to whip your smaller tail twice as fast just to keep up, and you're getting winded already. He makes it look so easy to glide through the water.

"What now?" he mutters.

"Nothing. I didn't say anything."

“You’re thinking it.”

"I was just--" A huge yawn overtakes your reply. You sink in the water for a moment, scrunching your eyes closed, before huffing and darting after him again. "--Just going this way, too."

He knows you've been following behind him since dusk. You should’ve given up some time ago, but you never learn. He slows imperceptibly, just long enough for your catatonic ass to catch up, and then veers to the side so that you--rubbing your eyes with sleep--bump into him. You rest your hand against his tail instinctively and stick to him with the suction pads on your palm.

Satisfied having you in tow, he speeds back up. "You’re not a very good liar, sweetheart."

You mumble under your breath and hand-climb up his back until you're nestled between his shoulder blades instead.

Lazy little thing. Pain in his ass.

Despite grumbling, he does nothing to dislodge you from your spot. You seem to be having a difficult day, and he’s primed to make it worse. You’re the perfect target. When he has the energy--like now, at night--bullying you is his small pleasure of choice.

Then again, he can feel the way you’re pressing up against him, small and clingy and cute as hell. It takes all his willpower not to roll over and stow you against his chest instead.

You remain blissfully unaware of his inner turmoil. You’re more concerned about the emptiness in your stomach.

"You're going hunting, right?" you mumble against his shoulder.

 “Trying to,” he says.

You’ve been tagging along on hunts for days, but you haven’t managed to snag any good scraps in a long while. But maybe tonight, when it’s just you and Ghost. "Mkay."

He keeps waiting for you to get in the way and then pout when he inevitably brushes you off. Instead, you’re silent. It’s bugging him.

Then, scanning the coral, he catches sight of a perfectly tasty-looking snapper. He puts your attitude out of his mind and instead tenses up to begin his hunt. You’re with him, so why worry. Watch and learn.

You peer past his shoulder curiously to see him work. His back muscles tense and shift as his eyes track every one of the fish’s movements. Then he bolts forward faster than the fish can dart away. It whips around in reflexive panic right as he snatches it in one fluid movement.

You watch over his shoulder as he kills it with a practical snap of the spine and begins to disassemble the creature piece by piece, eating the flesh and letting the bones and fins fall to the ocean floor below.

His focus is intense: attention trained on the task, his fingers work as precisely to strip flesh from bone as his jaw works on shredding the pieces of snapper he tears off into his mouth. The muscles in his shoulders ripple beneath your coiled-up body. As always, he moves with efficiency and a certain brutal grace, never wasting a single movement. It's the lethal behavior of a predator, yes, but falling into the repetitive, methodical habit seems to satisfy him.

You unfasten yourself from his back while he's absorbed in his task. The bones and bits of uneaten flesh sinking to seafloor have your interest. You swim after them.

“Don’t go far,” he warns after you. He’s not worried. There’s nowhere you could venture out here that he couldn’t find you within minutes.

You collect the scraps and eat what you can--mostly skin and fins, and they leave you feeling almost as hungry, but you're used to it. Ghost needs the food more than you do, anyway. You glide lazily over the sea floor to comb the sand with your fingers in hopes of finding another snack. Maybe a snail. A crab if you're lucky.

The search leads you to the edge of a long sandbar. It’s about a thousand minnow-lengths at its widest, and there are various shells and bits of debris scattered across the surface. You start to prowl the sandy floor for food, fingers stirring up soft sand into the water.

Ghost’s voice calls out somewhere behind you, but your exhausted brain isn't as reactive as it should be. If you could just find one or two more bites to eat, you think. You tug what looks like a crab carapace out of the sand, but it's just a strawberry-colored plastic bottle. You keep searching. Keep finding nothing of value. You come across a pile of barnacles, shards of coral, small rocks, a stray fishing lure you gnaw on just to be sure...

But no, nothing worth eating.

Your stomach rumbles again. You’re too tired and unfocused. Your movements are slow and clumsy, your senses dulled. You barely hear a sound until a hand comes down on your tail from behind and grabs you.

You jerk and dart away in surprise.

Your movement wrenches a sound from Ghost--a gruff huff of annoyance as he lunges after you. You're fast, but not fast enough. He catches your tail again immediately, dragging you back into his control.

"Idiot," he scolds. "I told you not to go far. If I had been a predator, you'd be dead meat right now."

You relax into his grip instantly. "Oh. Yeah."

He looks at you in that unamused way that says of course I was right. He looks you over with a critical eye. Your eyes are half-open and your muscles are slack. You must be exhausted.

He turns and heads for home with you still in hand. "Right, then."

You see what's happening and wriggle in his grip, hunger gnawing at you again. "Wait, aren't you hunting?"

"No." He's quick and harsh with his response. He doesn't appreciate unnecessary questions. "You're going home. Hunting can wait."

…

[part 1] / part 2

more mer au / more Ghost / masterlist tag

[misc-obeyme]

Mer!MC Headcanons - Older Brothers

I said I'd write 'em, so here we are. They were getting stupidly long, so this is just the three older brothers.

The concept is that MC is a merperson from the human world who somehow found their way into the Devildom.

If people like these, then I may do the rest of the brothers.

read the younger brothers here and the side characters here

GN!mer!MC x Lucifer, Mammon, & Leviathan

Warnings: none

Lucifer

He first notices you at Diavolo's private beach. After a lot of pestering, Lucifer finally agreed to take a break there, but insisted on going alone. He's looking out across the sparkling ocean in a place where the artificial sunlight creates a soft glow. And that's when he sees you. First, just a tail, shimmering. And then the top of your head, hair and skin glistening as the ocean water drips from you. He feels your eyes on him, even though you're far out in the waves.

Lucifer stands on the shore, letting the waves trickle around his ankles. He won't go too far. He's waiting for you to come to him. He knows you will. And in the end, you do. Swimming in slow, large circles, each round bringing you closer and closer to where he waits. You're wary of him - you're from the human world and you aren't familiar with demons. But this one looks strong. When you get close enough, he smiles, completely disarming you.

And he will take the time to find out who you are and where you came from. He asks about your life in the human world, how you ended up in the Devildom. When he deems you harmless, he finds himself focusing more on how entrancing you are. The way you bob in the water, the brightness of your scales, the delicate magic that hums beneath your skin.

Lucifer comes back over and over to the private beach. The others are surprised, but they don't question it because he so rarely takes breaks. But Lucifer only wants to see you. He'll ask you if you want to come back with him. He's found a spell that will allow you to have legs. He will accept your decision either way and in the end, he knows you'll always need to return to the sea. But for now, will you take his hand, MC?

Mammon

He heard that there was a treasure chest at the bottom of one of the Devildom's many deep dark lakes. So he goes diving with an underwater breathing spell and nearly has a heart attack when he finds you instead. You hide behind a large rock, just as frightened of him, then peek around it as Mammon recovers himself. You both stare at each other for a long time, neither one feeling brave enough to come closer. But Mammon can't talk to you like this.

He swims to the surface, breaking into the Devildom air. Your head slowly rises from the water a few feet away from him. He asks you who you are. Mammon wants to know how you got here and where you're from. He's treading water as best he can, but he's losing strength. So you swim over and take it upon yourself to escort him to shore. He blushes profusely as you grab hold of his waist and use your powerful fin to propel him out of the deep water.

Mammon is dripping on the shore of the lake, just talking to you. You spend so much time chatting, he completely dries out. He finds a kindred spirit in you - shiny treasure is something you enjoy, too. And you can tell that he's interested in your tail. You get as close to the land as you dare, flopping out the end of your tail beside him. He touches it carefully, the rings on his fingers catching your eye as he moves them across your scales. You shiver at the touch.

When Mammon comes back to the lake, he finds you waiting on the shore, your tail wrapped around a large treasure chest. He falls to his knees in front of you. You lean across the chest and tell him you found what he had been looking for in the lake. He takes your hands. Don't ya know that he already found the treasure in this lake, MC? You're more precious to him than any chest. He still takes the chest, but not before he takes out the shiniest jewel to give to you, along with a promise to return.

Leviathan

It's at Siren Beach where Levi first meets you. He's there to visit Lotan, of course, but before he has a chance to say hello to his old friend, he spots you there in the water. You're immediately interested in him. Something about him makes you want to come closer. He's cautious about you, not sure what a merperson like you would be doing here at this beach.

Despite the pull he has on you, you're skittish about getting too close. But Levi doesn't wait around for you to come to him. He's concerned about you and what you're doing in Lotan's area. He takes the initiative to swim out toward you. His swimming skills impress you. The ocean is calm here, but his arms are strong and steady. He reaches you easily.

You can't help getting playful with him, swimming around him in circles before he finally manages to get you to slow down a little. He gets you to tell him who you are and where you're from. He's a little baffled about a human world merperson getting all the way out here. But he's distracted when Lotan arrives and it's clear right away that you've already befriended the great sea beast.

The three of you play together in the ocean for hours. Levi comes back to visit Lotan, but he finds himself looking forward to seeing you, too. As he gets closer to you, he starts to think you'd be better off back in your own home. He brings it up to you one day. He can find a way to bring you back to the human world. When you shut that idea down and tell him you'd rather stay in the Devildom with him and Lotan, he gets flustered. Y-you don't have to stay just for him, MC! You wrap your tail around him and pull him close so he understands why you have no plans to leave. You enjoy the way his blush deepens.

younger brothers | side characters | masterlist | Thank you for reading!

[malfoys-demigod]

hangouts or dates? alex karev x reader

prompt: hangouts starting to feel like dates until the last hangout when alex confesses tha he likes you

at first, meeting up with alex during midnight on shifts when the both of you had to stay overnight had only happened that one time the two of you were the only ones together at the hospital. mer, cristina, callie, april, jackson, and the rest were off that night, having the privilege of going back to their comfy, warm beds. while you and alex on the other hand, had to stay back and stick with your schedules.

so alex that day asked if you wanted to hang with him at the cafeteria later that night for some midnight snacks. anyways, you both were bound on a slow but important night since you had patients to check up on every so often during the night. and of course, you guys were really close already so it wouldn't have been a problem.

doing that with alex was really fun. he'd show up with lattes and you'd show up with cupcakes then the both of you would catch up with each other, have deep talks as if nobody was around, and laugh so loud until you realize it was time to quickly check up on your patients.

it was really fun to the point where almost every other day when you two had the same night shifts at the hospital, the both of you would seriously dedicate your "midnight snacks" to the point where your friends would tease you for being too busy for date night with alex, suspecting there was more going on.

"hey, y/n, wanna get drinks with us!" lexi invited you to get drinks with her mark, mer, derek, and cristina as they were all bound for home afterwards anyways.

you smiled apologetically, "sorry, i'm doing an overnight shift tonight and i-"

"have a date with karev as usual," mark winked, getting you to roll your eyes.

"it is NOT a date, mark! it's our-"

"daily midnight snack blah blah blah," cristina sarcastically understood, "i honestly don't understand how you guys are not dating yet when it's clearly a date!"

"i know you'll miss me when you're out drinking later, cristina," you waved your friends goodbye as they all exchanged playful looks with each other.

it was 10:00pm now, and you had two hours left till you could hangout with alex.

while you were doing some computer work to get time to pass, there was a thought that got you thinking.

alex.

moments of the many hangouts you've been having with your friend have been flashing on your mind. but they were certain moments about alex.

the way the corners of his mouth go up when you make him smile.

the way his laugh lines appear when you crack a joke with him.

his direct eye contact with you when you talk about something whether deep or silly.

suddenly, after recalling these moments, you started feeling your cheeks heat up a little, as there were pink spots forming around. with that, your eyes widened, realizing you had feelings forming for your friend.

now realizing how your friends saw the two of you together from their perspective made you feel all so silly, putting a small smile on your face. you like alex!

what made you smile even more publicly, was when you received a message on your phone from alex.

"see ya later cupcake," he sent. that was a new nickname that surprised you and made you feel butterflies in your stomach.

"that's new.." you replied, following with, "see you!" there was no way right now you'd reply back with a nickname, not now at least...

--

midnight. the midnight snack hangout was about to commence.

after buying cupcakes from the cafeteria, you turned around and already saw alex with lattes on both hands, with a small smile on his face.

"hey cupcake," he greeted, as he started to sit down with you in the table.

"i hope you were talking to the cupcakes and then you could look so food deprived," you sarcastically noted, trying to conceal the flustered feeling you instantly had at the moment.

"i could be talking to the both of ya" he teased.

--

after an hour or two of talking loud and silly with alex, things started to mellow down.

you were drinking the last of your lattes with alex quietly until you asked a really good question that got to him.

"so which patient are you watching overnight?"

"hm?" he shot you a quick and nervous look all of a sudden. "how about you?"

"mr. evans up in the icu, but i asked you first, alex!" you said with an upbeat but suspicious tone.

"uh, some lady's newborn up in the nicu."

"does that lady or a newborn have a name you should know about, dr. karev?"

"yeah, uh-"

"you're lying, don't even both think of a ridiculous name!" you laughed, lightly punching him in the shoulder. "what's up with you, alex, do you even have a patient to watch tonight?"

he looked around quickly for a brief moment, then finally sighed and looked directly at you. "no," he said fidgeting, "look, i just wanted to do overtime again and hangout with you, alright?"

you raised your eyebrows the minute he mentioned, 'again'.

"i'm sorry, 'again' you said?"

alex then looked down at the floor out of guilt, "yeah, i just really liked spending more time with you, and i guess apart of me's been too chicken to ask you out on a real date outside this place, cause i really like you, y/n."

if only alex could see your soft and warm expression upon hearing the sweetest thing you could ever hear from him. you turned to get a cupcake from the table and turned back, lowering it for him to see.

he took the cupcake, looking back at you now as he saw a glimmering look on your face.

"i like you alex, actually a little more than the cupcakes i always buy us."

now, there was the smile that you were looking forward to seeing from alex. it was a small and slightly red embarrassed smile, from your friend.

he slowly unwrapped the wrappings of the cupcake, eyes still on you. "do you wanna continue this into a little date, cupcake?" his new nickname for you.

"i hope you're referring to me this time, karev," you tease, getting a bite from alex's cupcake as he lets out a light laugh, adoring you and this moment.

i suppose cupcake dates and more are to be expected from now on...

[selineram3421]

*wishing I could breathe underwater* Man..

Other Worldly

Part 3

Part 2

Alastor X Shy Reader

Warnings ⚠

⚠ selectively mute reader, Italics=thoughts, shaking head= no, signing-ASL, Alastor being weird ⚠

"Let's make a deal~"

You froze.

All you could do was stare at the Radio Demon's red eyes with panic.

He heard me sing again. Why? I thought I was being careful. I made sure to be far away from the others. I checked the room!

"Now, now. There's no need for you to cry.", he said, brushing away a tear that was beginning to fall down your cheek.

Shaking your head side to side, you shoved your way out of his hold and glared at him.

"What do you want.", you spoke. "Tell me the truth."

You saw the way your hypnosis made his eyes glaze over. It was like a fog clouding his sight with swirls of green.

"I want you to sing for me.", he answered.

It took you by surprise.

No one wanted to get hypnotized, it was uncomfortable and made others on edge. You didn't like making anyone feel like that.

"Why?", you asked.

"I enjoy it. Your voice is not only hypnotizing, but it is absolutely lovely.", he confessed.

Your eyes widened and you turned away from the deer demon to hide your blush.

He didn't have to say all that. You thought and covered your smile mouth.

Then you felt a clawed hand on your shoulder.

.

"Sing for me...", Alastor began, circling the mer like a shark. "..and I'll give you the option of controlling that ability of yours."

He stopped just behind them and leaned in close to whisper in their ear.

"You'll be able to communicate normally."

They flinched away but he held them still by placing his hands on their upper arms.

"Think about it my dear~", he leaned his head against theirs. "It's quite the deal."

The selectively mute demon was stiff in his hold, but he didn't want that.

"I just want to listen to you sing, nothing else.", he reassured. "And you'll get to use a private open space to sing."

"An open space?", they parroted.

His smile widened as the familiar daze took over.

I've got them~

"It's free for you to use.", he said as soon as the hypnosis wore off.

"What's the catch?", they asked.

"The only catch is on my end. I don't own your soul.", he replied.

To them it wasn't a bother, but to him it meant that he couldn't keep them. It was a step to making them more comfortable around him however.

Then they started to move their head, causing him to lift his off of their's.

With a glance over their shoulder, they look at him with a shy expression.

"Can I see it?", they asked quietly.

It took a while for him to come back, the hypnotism really was a bother.

"Certainly."

With a snap of his fingers, the two demons appeared in a different area, the Radio Demon paid close attention to the siren's face as they took in their surroundings. Seeing their eyes sparkle was enough of an answer for him.

"Do we have a deal?", he asked, patiently waiting with his hand outstretched.

"I have some things to add before accepting.", they turned to face him.

"And what are your demands?", he asked after a bit, curious.

"I will sing for you once a week.", the mer said.

"Once a day.", he threw in his own.

Their brows furrowed. "Once a week.", they repeated.

"In order for this deal to work, I need to be able to hear you sing everyday, at least once to let you use your powers as you wish.", he explained.

It was a lie but they didn't need to know that.

"I'd like to be alone when using this space.", they moved on.

"Are the shadows free to roam here? They will be near to help you if anything.", he questioned. "Of course, I will only show myself around here if I need to call on you or emergencies."

"I-. Hm..", they started but then thought more about what he said. "That's fine.. As long as the shadows don't bother me."

"Splendid!", his smile widened.

"And stop trying to scare me.", they said with a frown.

He blinked and laughed.

"Hahaha!", he wiped a tear from his eye. "Is that all?"

They nodded before shaking their head no.

"This deal stays between us. No one else has to know about it.", they said before lifting their hand, ready to shake on it.

"Very well my dear, it's a deal.", he took their hand and completed the deal.

While the familiar green wisps of magic floated around in the air, something came up from the siren's throat and they began to cough. They covered their mouth with their free hand, coughing even more before something glowing yellow came out and into their hand.

"Well, that's new.", was all he said before taking the yellow glowing ball from their hand. "I suppose you wouldn't mind if I kept this half somewhere safe?", he glanced back at them.

They shook their head, holding their throat with a slight pained expression.

"Alright then.", he said and swallowed the glowing ball.

"WHY!?", they said in shock before hissing in pain.

"I'm not going to leave something like this in a box, and the safest place is with me, obviously.", he explained and finally let go of their hand. "Now, try not to speak too much. I can see that taking out half of your voice hurt more than I thought it would."

The mer nodded and rubbed their throat.

.

You didn't expect him to eat it.

That was weird and a little gross. You thought as you rubbed your throat.

"You'll start tomorrow.", he spoke up and started to walk off.

Before thinking it through, you had grabbed the sleeve of his coat.

He looked back and you furrowed your brows as you moved your hand with your index finger up, side to side. (Where?)

"Are you saying no? To what?", he asked.

You rolled your eyes and took his hand, facing his palm up while tracing what you wanted to say with your finger. (Where are you going?)

"To the front of my hotel room of course."

It took you a second to process what the deer demon just said.

HIS WHAT!?

The red dressed demon just grins, and pulls you along with him, walking between the trees and to a spot that is split in half of greenery and a slightly dark room, the only bright source of light coming from the fireplace.

He let you go and opened the hotel door for you. "I'll let you go now, do come by tomorrow. I wish to hear your lovely singing in the morning."

You didn't really hear what he said, just walked out of the room with slight annoyance.

Can't take it back now. I already made the deal. You sighed and walked over to the elevator down the hallway. At least I'll be able to talk to the others a bit.

Maybe this deal wasn't the worst..but he could have told you that the "free open space" was half of his room.

*vibrating in excitement* It's MerMay 🦀

~Seline, the person.

Part 4

Taglist@

@c4rved-pumpk1n @scary-noodlesblog @stolas-thebirb @naelys-the-aster @biromanticboba @lbcreations-blog @ducky-died-inside @kiraisastay @pooplyface1423 @line-viper @117s-girl @spiderlegsling @alastorsgoldie @repentant-repeller @kcsketches @lofasofabread @kotaleee @im-coolrat @superzombiewho @speckle-meow-meow @jammcookie @dilucragnvindr-my-beloved @trashbin-nie @koioli @fatherlesschild2 @mmik3yy @just-here-reading @nealeart @hudiexiaoying @crystal-multiplefandomlover @glowinggoldfish0 @tiredgamerhere @fluffy-koalala @valenfawkes @willowshadenox @aria-tempest @alastor-simp @nonetheartist @gallantys @i-3at-kidz @luxky-aish @ceafighter @xalygatorx @xangel-8 @big-brother-problems @mistpurpl3 @chewbrry @willowbrookhoot @briethekitsune @+?

(The rest of the taglist is in the comments)

ML I Alastor 🎙️ | OW ChL🦀

[ancha-aus]

SansNautica Drabble - How Four became Five

I haven't been feeling really motivated to write. But then I thought of this idea and i liked it enough to play with it. Lets see how it goes. You guys know the drill! It is a drabble so it is writen once and then to you guys :) Stuff is still up to change but it will be fun! I hope haha

Also don't worry about the timeline hahaha. Seeing as i am not either :D

Warning! Referred Torture. Medical tortue specifically. Nothing graphic but it is there and HEAVILY implied and thought/writen about.

Also. Sidenote and fair warning. I have the headcanon that the Mers lay eggs, they are fish of course they can, and that with a specific kind of intent and magic they can make eggs that will eventually cause the fish form to hatch. so a mer can lay an egg that becomes a fish version of them. a way that mers can help extinct races return and thrive. Nothing grapphic again but it is mentioned.

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He is so tired.

He misses his family.

What... what do these creatures want from him?

Don't they understand they are hurting him? they have to right?

They speak within his mind. It hurts when they do. his skull aches and his very being feels weird.

He wants to see his friends... his family... He hasn't seen them in so long.

He doesn't remember their faces... their names... He can't even remember his own name.

They call him Ten... The Tenth subject...

He just wants the pain to stop.

They use tools that hurt. Their touches hurt. They cut into his limbs and they don't let him sleep through it.

He wants to go home... They nests in soft blue light of the light bulb plants. Hidden in the darkness with their natural colouring. Watching the fish versions of his mertype swim around their nests. Cute and always willing to cuddle.

Those things came. Took them. Took them all from their very nests. He had seen them steal eggs even.

He had seen them cut the eggs open. He had grieved for those eggs.

He had woken up with stitches on his middle. Not remembering how he got them as he had passed out through the torture.

He doesn't know what they want.

They said they had answers. But he doesn't know to what!

One of them walks over and he tries to curl up even more. There is no room around him. The tank of water is tiny and he can't even stretch his tentacles fully. He is stuck. He is stuck.

He just wants to go home.

But... there is no home anymore... is there?

He is alone.

So alone.

And only the creatures who hurt him remain.

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Dream dodges another one of those alien hunters as he travels deeper into the lava biome. Rushing forwards.

Nightmare would be furious at him for doing this. Actually... Dream is sure he will be furious when he finds out.

His twin always knows what he does.

But he has to!

He has to take this risk!

Those terrible things took what is his!! They took the fish Sea Emperors! They took the leviathan version of the fish!!

Dream is furious.

The sea emperors had already been near extintion. Dream ahd worked so hard and spend so much magic to make eggs to help build the race. Working closely together with the old last naturally born leviathan. Drema had even spend his own magic to strengthen her! She was his friend!!

He is going to break her our.

Dream. My friend. It is too dangerous. They will hurt you. Please... Stay away.

Dream shakes his skull as he pushes his limits further. He needs to get to her. He needs to breka her out.

My friend. Please. I am the last one left. And I do not know where i am. I am deeper than you even think.

Dream pants as he slows down a tiny bit. He focusses his mind to send her a message 'please. Please let me help you.'

I don't accept that. Please. Use your freedom to help more like you. They need you Dream. you are a leviathan. you know that role is of a leader and protector.

Dream shakes his skull as he stares into the large open cavern. Sea dragons leviathans swim around aggressively. More of those alien hunters are moving around to catch whatever they can.

That is the reason why Dream is in his small form now. To be able to sneak by them undetected.

He focuses his thoughts as he starts to inch deeper into the water 'That is what I am doing. You are part of me! You may not be a mer but our tails are the same!' He looks around. He hadn't seen anykind of building of those aliens yet. But they tend to be rather obvious.

You know that you don't need to lead us. That is what I do. and I failed. You have your responsibility to help your fellow... what did you call them again? Mers? You need to help them. They need your guidance.

Dream feels his sockets itch with tears 'But what about you... what about all the eggs and gups we managed to bring back?'

And I will forever be thankful for your help with that. But you can't lose sight of your responsibilities to those who need your help Dream.

Dream frowns as he has to swim back to make sure the hunters don't see him. Their upright position and strange single claw hands unnerve him still 'My brother is already helping the evacution.' Technically. Nightmare is actually hunting the hunters and making sure the large leviathans remain save. Reaper, Error and Ink are actually working on evacutating everyone beyond the void.

Dream. Please. They need you. I will remain here and be at peace. I will play with these strangers and see what they want. you need to go.

Drema hesitates but that must be clear to her.

If you truly wish to help us. Please... free out eggs, They stole so many... find them and free them. please.

Dream gives a slow nod as he backs away from the lava. His soul hurting with knowing he will lose his dear friend 'I will... and I am sorry.'

His friend laughs Oh friend. Don't be sorry for what you couldn't do. Be proud of what you could do. and you helped us so much. and will help many more. it is in your nature.

Dream still feels like he leaves a part of himself behind when he abandons his own fish-kind.

He swims back to the underwater river. A green colour in the area as he searches and searches. He knows those aliens settled here.

A loud roar. Drema looks up shocked. Waht is a sea dragon doing here! the fish-kind of his brother always remain in the lava area! why would one be here?!

Dream rushes after the sound and watches as a large sea dragon bites hunters as they rush forwards. Dream follows them around the corner and watches it crash into a large alien building!

Dream frowns as he connects to the other's emotions and mind. Unlike his own fish-kind, other fishes don't have the many mental powers that his own has. But Dream can still connect to them and learn.

Anger. Hurt. Grief.

huh. Dream tilts his skull as he inches closer. Watching closely as the large leviathan sea dragon hits the structure over and over again.

A loud roar and as Dream is now mentally connected he finally understands what she is saying

Give them back.

Dream gasps and rushes over just as the structure breaks and starts to sink to the bottom. The sea dragon, the mother, struggles to stay upright. Drema rushes to her side to try and heal her but...

The damage to her own head is too large. The large being roars mournfully as she looks at the building.

Dream hushes her gently and connects to her.

Help. Will. Eggs. Find. Safe.

The large being. Those large eyes stare at him. and slowly close. a peace falls over her mind. a very tender and desperate trust fills her in her last moments.

And she is gone.

Dream glares at the structure and rushes over. Time to find some eggs.

He is honestly very lucky that the structure is already broken and filling wiht water. He had found other structures before but never could manage to get very far inside as there is alway a pocket of air.

Now however?

Now he can go inside and explore and-

Oh... oh no...

So many creatures. Strung up and cut open.

Dream rushes deeper. Searching. More of those beautiful fish and creatures all cut open with little regard to them. Chained and stuck with large nails. As if they meant nothing!

That is when Dream sees the egg! It is a large sea dragon egg and Dream rushes over to it. There are these metal tools near it but that is alright! Dream will just break it out.

As soon as he touches the egg he knows.

He still sniffs and nuzzles it. He tries to heal it but it is no use...

Whatever those disgusting beings did... the little being that this egg had held is gone... The mother had died for nothing.

Dream wants to scream and cry. Why!! Why did they do this to them?! Why did they come here and start hurting and hunting them?! What did they do?!

Dream pants as he glares at all the glass. He rips a large weird metal thing off the ground and starts hitting stuff with it. Breaking anything he can get near as he goes deeper and deeper. Rage filling his soul and mind.

He roars loudly and it echoes.

Fear.

Dream stops and focusses. He felt... He thought... He uses all of his senses to reach for that little spike of emotion.

Deep... much deeper into this strange nest. there is someone... they feel... muted feelings. almost as if they are asleep or not awake.

Dream inches deepr into this area. Ready to transform into his bigger form at a moments notice. It would hurt to transform here but he would be able to open up the base fully and get out easily enough using the shock factor.

He turns a corner and glares. THis is where those hunters were made! He is this close to continue destroying this area as well when he feels more of that very light fear. almost as if someone is having a bad dream.

Dream swims over and finds more of those glass containers. Many other creatures inside. all looking hurt. Dream breaks them out but he honestly isn't sure how far they will get. Still he breaks them out as he swims deeper.

That is when he sees them.

A mer. locked in a very tiny containment. Covered with scars and wounds.

A cuddlefish mer... Dream... Dream ahd thought they were all gone... that those terrible hunters had... the hunters went after them first for some reason... They all hadn't realised until it was too late.

Dream rushes towards the strange cage and tries to think on how to safely remove it. The other is shaking and seems to be stuck in a bad dream. Dream glances around and sees mroe of those metal needles and some vials...

Dream tries to hum and hush the other gently but nothing seems to calm them. He needs to get them out. Now. He goes to the top of the glass and uses his claws to get a good grip. Then with the help of his tentacles he forces the glass away. He reaches inside and pulls the mer into his arms.

"please be okay. please be alive!" damn! He will take alive at this point!

The mer doesn't react. Seemingly unable to wake.

Dream glances around. Suddenly afraid of where he is. He eneds to get this mer to safety. But he has no idea how strong the other is. Much less if they would survive a trip through the void.

What if they woke up there and panicked? Or worse?

An idea... Nightmare had already said he would remain in the crater. To try and contain these creatures. his newly formed shiver wanted to remain wiht him... Nightmare will be able to watch over this hurt mer!

Dream hums as he makes sure to have a good hold on the other "Don't worry. I will bring you to my brother. He will keep you safe. I swear."

His brother will keep this vulnerable mer safe and happy.

Dream is sure of it.