Chapter Text
The first rule of the “Mermaids and Mermen club” was to strictly follow its rules (that was no big surprise). The second one was to never got a bleeding wound when a shark was around. As regards the third rule, a ever-growing amount of Merpeople had been proposing in those years to abolish it because it was considered cruel and old-fashioned: never save drowning humans while they were conscious. Unless you could do it going unnoticed or, if spotted, find a way to erase their memory thanks to the use of magic or giving them a concussion. The last option obviously defeated the purpose of daring to become a saviour.
Iwaizumi Hajime was not a fool. On the contrary, he could keep track of time and was good at maths. He was extremely aware of the fact that in the last decades humans (or children of the earth, as some conservatives called them) appeared to swim underwater more frequently than before. And even the type of humans who happened to drown changed not just a little.
Unlucky storm-tossed fishermen and innocent beings thrown from criminals’ ships were a rare occurrence by then. Well, at least there in the big ocean. However, he knew that in the ancient Mediterranean Sea, a way smaller expanse of water, groups of desperate women, men and children drowned while they sailed on poor excuses of boats in the hope of escaping from war, persecutions and hunger. He hoped he had not ever to witness such a tragedy. A lot of Merpeople had long abandoned that narrow sea, in any case.
Only a small colony of Mermaids still inhabited the waters near to Greece and to islands like Cyprus and Rhodes. But they were nostalgic people, they didn’t want to forget the myths in which they played the role of irresistible yet deadly (to humans) singers.
As we were saying previously, Iwaizumi Hajime was no fool and did know better than to get involved with the children of the earth. It was not that he deemed the entirety of them to be responsible for the escalating toxic pollution of the sea. He simply believed that they were not able to comprehend the beauty of the expanses of water, hence they failed to protect them. Even humans who claimed to love the sea with all their soul couldn’t hear that unique call the water incessantly sang for its people, couldn’t feel it running through their veins.
He had to admit that humans were really interesting creatures to watch at times. Surfers, scuba divers, careless tourists could amuse him. For example, scuba divers were much more disciplined than surfers when faced a threat, since they followed what seemed to be guidelines. But he witnessed amateur surfers deal with a shark way better than amateaur scuba divers. He could call it instinct.
Then there was another “race” entirely, underwater photographers. What some of them didn’t do to take the “pic of the year”. They could keep focusing on a tremendously fast and hard to catch fish who finally decided to rest for some seconds even when they knew they should at least turn and see what was projecting the enormous shadow which was engulfing them. This would have been a clear warning for any other living creature, except for underwater photographers.
A beautiful example of this species was the lanky idiot Iwaizumi had been watching unnoticed for ten minutes already. He could tell the guy was handsome even from afar, and he was a good actor as well. He tricked that fish staying still as an alga, letting the water gently rock him. He had admirable balance and grace. A mop of deep brown hair danced on his head.
How could this human be so stupid not to sense a shark coming his way? Iwaizumi prayed the guy knew that the best way for a human to survive a shark attack was to respond and fight back, hitting its nose or some other part in order to surprise, startle it and swim away. Well, there was a chance this wouldn’t be enough. And the latter was the case in which mercyful merpeople would intervene, whereas indifferent, someone might say cruel, mermen and mermaids would only watch.
But Iwaizumi couldn’t risk to wait and interfere only in case the child of the earth was seriously threatened by the shark. There were many rules in the depths of the sea, rules which sharks as well should respect, and one of them was: do not attack a not wounded merman or a mermaid. Like, do not ever.
It was a matter of seconds. Iwaizumi swam between the white shark and the human and inflated his body, which grew till he became as big as a bluefin tuna. He glared at the shark, who backed away after a long minute. What was the point of attacking a living creature whose flesh you didn’t fancy? Why had they to chew a poor guy’s limbs just to spit them out some minutes later? He never understood completely predators like these.
He hoped the human had already fainted from the emotional shock. However, neither of them was so lucky, considering that Iwaizumi could only hit the guy with a stone and give him a concussion so that the memory of his encounter with a merman would disappear. He wasn’t a violent type, not really, but he wasn’t so powerful to cast a “brain-washing” spell either. Nor he would have liked to be a magician, in any case. What a mess he had gotten into.
Through the scuba mask Iwaizumi could see big dark brown eyes blink at him. The guy was barely moving and just kept floating. And staring at him. At a point, the human reached out and touched him. Oh, Iwaizumi must have gone near to the young man and shrunk to his normal size in the meantime.
A forefinger poked one of Iwaizumi’s shoulders and immediately pulled back. The guy tilted his head to the left, as to examine Iwaizumi, and grew bolder, reached out to spread his hand on the merman’s arm, flexing his fingers around its muscles. At that was it. The human yelped, soon after was hyperventilating. Iwaizumi didn’t know how to calm a panicking creature so he simply stayed still and created a bit of distance, praying that the young man remembered how to relax his lungs and breathed properly. He tried so hard to maintain a neutral expression and not to focus too intently on the guy, because he knew his brows and mouth would set in a scowl. Since he was little, he had scared not few people while paid close attention to something.
Things went spiraling down way too fast for Iwaizumi’s liking: in what must have been a moment of full blown panic the human flailed so much that his mouthpiece came out. Lungfulls of water forced their way down the throat of the poor creature, who immediately started to drown. It was the most ridiculous scene Iwaizumi had ever assisted at, to the point it felt surreal.
The merman, thou, had no time to waste. He lifted the human by the armpits and dragged him till they got to the surface. The creature was eerily quiet. A look at the angle of his neck was enough to tell he had already fainted. Iwaizumi then doubled his size again in order to carry the young man to the shore faster.
He knew how humans breathed because merpeople basically drew in air in their lungs once they got to the surface. He had also learnt how to save someone who wasn’t breathing and was unconscious. Once safely on the shore with his living burden lying on the sand, Iwaizumi did what he was thought, he performed a so called CPR. All the while he carefully checked that the guy’s torso inflated and deflated in rhythm with the rescue breaths he delivered in between the external chest compressions. At a point he stopped because the young man tried to sit up straight to spit out water and took some labored breaths.
The merman helped and reassured him to prevent a new wave of shock from surging again. Exhausted, the guy collapsed on the sand and locked eye with Iwaizumi and murmured, “Thank you.” A fit of coughing rendered the young man a shivering mess.
“Idiot!” exclaimed Iwaizumi, “it’s too soon to try and speak. Just rest, would you?”
Two adorable dimples appeared on the guys’ cheeks. He mouthed the word “saviour” and beamed at him.
“What were you thinking down there? Getting so distracted as to not perceive the presence of a shark. You had to get a move and attack him first! Are you a newbie or something?” Iwaizumi was angry. This guy had the gall to smile after all they went through. He could have died. And yet... he was there, offended by Iwaizumi’s reproach, all focused on pouting. Geez, so easily swept in the moment.
“Are you seriously sulking?” When the merman saw a bit of blush tingeing those cheeks, however, he felt relieved. Ah, this was the second time this stranger amused him today.
“Oikawa,” the guy croaked. He inhaled a deep breath, “Tooru.”
“Uhm…” Iwaizumi didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t supposed to be seen by a human let alone to share his name.
“Thought I was dead,” the guy gestured to Iwaizumi’s tail.
The merman chuckled, “What sort of afterlife did you imagine!”
“You beautiful,” Oikawa heaved.
Iwaizumi fell silent. He didn’t think this human was the typical flatterer. Didn’t gave this vibe off.
“But resembled a...” the guy paused several seconds to regain his breath a bit more. Whether he overdid it or he was preparing a longer sentence “...a hound with... that fr... frown.”
Ah. Not a flatterer at all.