Archive of Our Own

From a young age, Izuku had always been warned by his mother not to get too close to humans. Curiosity tends to be a double-edged sword. When a merfolk meets a human, it can go one of two ways: they can be fascinated, want to know more about them and treat them like a wonderful creature they aren’t quite sure is real, or they can hurt them, capture them or even kill them, driven by fear, greed or mere ignorance. But Izuku was never one to cower away from the unknown or potentially dangerous; like humans, he has a curious mind that more often than not leads him to places he is told he shouldn’t be. There can be no progress if one doesn’t stray out of their comfort zone, after all.

On top of that, Izuku was born with defective fins. He isn’t a strong swimmer because of it, and his mother worries that, should a human try to catch him, Izuku won’t be able to escape. He is her only son and his father has been gone ever since he was a child, so she fusses over him quite excessively. He tries not to worry her, but he just can’t help but wander when he isn’t allowed or capable of doing much else.

Though, while he may not always satisfy his mother’s wishes, Izuku still tries to stay as close to home as he can while venturing towards the human shores, and he doesn’t ever swim close to the beaches or where the humans tend to fish. Mostly he sticks to cliffsides and underwater cave systems that sometimes open up into the rocky innards of the cliffs. Some of them must lead to the dry lands, because he will often find forgotten trinkets some humans have left behind on the dirty ground, and he can even smell the muddy scents of the earth outside, drifting in with the gentle breezes from skylights up above.

These spots are especially beautiful when he visits at night and there are no clouds to cover the moon and stars. Their soft light shines down on the rippling waters as Izuku floats on his back, and the reflection bounces off the water and the viridian scales on his tail and torso, hitting the walls and painting them in ethereal greens and blues.

Izuku likes to explore the cliffsides for lost or tossed objects that humans could no longer reach in the depths of the sea too. Sometimes, he will venture down to sunken ships as well, searching for the treasures left behind when the ocean’s wrath was too much for the humans to handle.

His mother may not approve, but she is always relieved when he returns home with something new to show her and only a few scrapes from his reckless swimming around reefs or a particularly jagged seabed. She worries for him, of course, but she doesn’t stop him from following his passions, and for that he is eternally grateful.

Izuku was never really cut out for most of the jobs his home had to offer because of his underdeveloped fins; too slow of a swimmer, too weak of a hunter or fighter. Still, he doesn’t let that or other merfolk’s harsh words discourage him. He will still help his mother in her work as a healer when necessary and wander off to explore on his free time. He rarely comes home emptyhanded, but most things he brings back are quite useless for merfolk, he just likes to collect these treasures from a world different than his own, imagine what use they might have had.

Mei, a childhood friend of his, always seems to enjoy whatever he brings her, at least, her yellow eyes shining with uncontained excitement whenever he finds something else for her to play with. She never fails to find new and interesting ways of using the objects to create all sorts of strange inventions that never quite work the way she envisioned. It makes for some entertaining days though, and she ends up giving him and his mother a fair bit of work in the process, which he certainly isn’t complaining about, considering she tends to never get too hurt.

But sometimes, Izuku can’t stop from wanting something more out of his life. Things can get a bit boring in his routine, even when he spends hours on the shores, even when he sometimes catches glimpses of humans atop the cliffs, laughing heartily as they play together, running and jumping on those spindly legs of theirs. Izuku would like to meet a human one day, know what it’s like on the dry lands, if they are as beautiful as some of his kind claim them to be, those of them who had somehow managed to travel up rivers to see what lied beyond the oceans.

Perhaps that’s why he finds himself swimming to the shores more and more often, despite always steering clear of the sandy beaches humans frequent the most. There is always a part of him that hopes someone might find him and want to talk to him, look at him as more than the merman who can’t even swim properly like most others do at home. It would be nice to meet someone who doesn’t immediately see him as inferior, as broken. For all they know, he is just as capable as any other merfolk, or at least that’s what he likes to tell himself.

On a particularly stormy night, Izuku decides to stick by the cliffs he has grown so familiar with for a little while longer, feel the more violent waves roll over him underneath the surface or the icy rainfall on his skin when he comes up to smell the electricity in the air. He rarely ever gets to experience the storms, living so deep in the ocean, but the few times he finds himself near the shore when one is about to break out, he is torn between sticking around and returning to the safety of his home. Today is no different, he knows that if he gets caught in a more violent roll he could get seriously hurt and not make it back.

Just as he is about to turn tail and leave, something crashes into the turbulent surface and draws his attention back to the waves crashing into the sharp rocks. Izuku catches a flash of red and white and he instinctively swims a little closer, curious about what may have fallen down to the ocean. His eyes widen when he makes out the features of a young man, his lips parted and his eyes closed as long strands of silky hair of bright red and white purer than the most precious pearls spread all around him.

Izuku’s heart jumps to his throat at the sight, and he paralyses with the horrifying possibility of seeing a dead human sinking down to the ocean bed. But then the human’s body jerks and his eyes shoot open all of a sudden, bubbles forming around his mouth as he seems to cough, water clearly invading his lungs. Without thinking, he swims to the man as fast as his fins can take him, wrapping his arms around his midsection and grunting with the effort it takes to hold him still. The human’s closed fist connects with his chin as he thrashes violently, his hands then coming to his throat and scratching at the skin.

He is drowning… Izuku swims up with the human still struggling in his arms, and he sucks in a desperate breath the moment they break the surface tension, but the unrelenting waves hit them without warning time and time again. The man keeps swallowing more saltwater, his eyes—which Izuku only now notices are two different, but equally beautiful colours; grey on the right, blue on the left that is covered by a jagged, red scar—start to glaze over as he seems to lose consciousness.

Not really knowing what else to do and knowing he can’t possibly swim to the nearest beach fast enough to save this man, Izuku covers his mouth with his own, breathing the oxygen from the water right into his lungs as his gills filter it out. The human closes his eyes once again, his body going limp, and Izuku pinches his nose closed so he doesn’t breathe anymore water in. This way, he can buy a little more time to swim to one of the caves, awkward as it may be in this strange position and with a fully grown human in his arms to hinder his movements and focusing on giving him the oxygen he needs as he does.

Somehow, he manages to make it to the closest cave to lay the human down on the dry floor. His heartbeat, though faint, can still be heard when Izuku puts his ear to the man’s chest, but he doesn’t seem to be breathing on his own. Izuku looks around uselessly for an excruciatingly long time, the pale and dim light that shines from behind the thick clouds and streaks in from the skylight making the human’s skin look deathly. The man feels icy to the touch, and Izuku is pretty sure humans are meant to be warm-blooded creatures.

Izuku takes a trembling hand to the man’s chest, pressing down to nudge him awake. Suddenly, he coughs violently, spurting water out of his mouth and rolling onto his side to curl up into a foetal position with a small groan. He is wheezing, but that’s a good thing, Izuku thinks, it means he is breathing on his own, right?

Once he falls onto his back once again, his mismatched eyes meet Izuku’s for little more than a second before they droop closed and he goes limp yet again. His chest is rising and falling quickly, and he seems to be shaking weakly. He must be cold and those wet clothes can’t be helpful. Biting on his lower lip, Izuku swims closer to the edge of the small pool, pulling himself up with a grunt from the effort and gritting his teeth when some of his tail’s scales scrape off against the gravelly ground.

Carefully, he brushes the strange, dual-toned hair away from the young man’s face, then he starts to unlace his linen shirt and leather trousers before peeling them off his cold skin. Izuku isn’t sure how to make him warm even after taking away the drenched clothing, though, cold-blooded as he is. On one of the cave’s furthest corners Izuku spots what looks like an old and torn fur that must have been left behind by some other human. He had seen it here on many of his past visits, but it was so far away he wouldn’t even begin to know how to get to it.

This human’s life may very well depend on him reaching it… Clenching his jaw, Izuku turns onto his stomach, squeezing his eyes shut and sucking in a deep breath before dragging himself across the floor. His scales burn as they tear right off his tail, and halfway to the fur, Izuku starts to leave a bloody trail behind, tears streaming down his face at the stinging pain. But he doesn’t stop until he reaches the fuzzy thing, only pausing for a few breaths before spinning himself around and repeating the painful process to get back to the human and cover his naked body with it.

He whimpers at the saltwater’s bite on his injuries, the pool water tainting with hues of red that quickly dissipate, but he doesn’t dare leave this human’s side to get healed, swinging his tail lazily to keep himself afloat as he rests his tear-stained face on his arms over the old fur. Soon, the man’s shaking subsides, and his erratic and stuttered breaths steady, and Izuku sighs in relief. Maybe this man will survive to see another day… Izuku won’t leave him until he is sure of it.

He must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing he knows, he feels the tingle of warm sunlight heating up the skin of his arms and back, and his lids flutter open as he lifts his head and whines at the soreness of his neck. The little complaint seems to be enough to rouse the human, his nose scrunching slightly before he opens his eyes as well. It takes a moment for his gaze to focus, and the second he notices Izuku staring at him with concern, he jerks to a sitting position, the fur falling off his body and bunching up at his knees.

Izuku backs away in the water, biting back another cry at how much it hurts to move his tail, and blinks up at the startled human with his arms held closely against his chest, trying to make himself look as small and harmless as possible. It’s then that the human seems to notice his state of undress, for he immediately pulls the torn fur back over himself to cover what Izuku could only assume to be his reproductive organs, considering the resemblance. Izuku isn’t sure what is so embarrassing about it, but from the faint red dusting over the young man’s cheeks in uneven splotches, that is the one explanation he can come up with. After a few moments of silent awkwardness, confusion settles on the man’s features and he starts to feel his own face with the pads of his fingers, lips parting slightly as he drags his hands down to his neck and wraps them around it.

“You fell into the water…” Izuku tells him in the common tongue, taking the man’s mild shock as a sign that he understands him. “I saved you from drowning. I swear I don’t mean to hurt you…”

The human swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing, and he flinches with the gesture. Izuku’s expression twists with sympathy and he swims closer once again, reaching for the pool’s edge to hold himself above the water without putting so much strain on his tail. Their gazes lock for a long heartbeat before Izuku finds his voice once again.

“You’re probably feeling sore, so please try to take it easy and rest a bit longer before I take you back to the shore, if that’s what you want.” He takes one glance at the path that leads out of the cave. “I’m pretty sure there is a way out by foot, but you are probably too weak to walk long distances right now and I don’t have food for you, I’m sorry. If I can get you to the beach, someone of your kind is more likely to find you.”

Taking a look around, the man’s brow furrows and his lips pull to a taut line. He doesn’t say anything, and Izuku starts to wonder if he actually knows what he is saying. Perhaps he speaks another language that Izuku doesn’t know. Or maybe he can’t even hear him. Just as Izuku is trying to piece it together, the man speaks, his voice hoarse and scratchy.

“Who are—what are you?”

Izuku opens his mouth and closes it again, humming as he runs his webbed fingers through matted curls. “My name is Izuku…” He curls his injured tail out of the water with a quiet huff. “And I’m a merman…”

The man’s eyes widen slightly as he stares at the shiny, slightly torn scales, then his gaze drifts to the reddened dirt still painted with his blood. His hands clench to fists over the furs and his expression hardens. For a terrifying second, Izuku almost thinks the man is going to turn on him, but he just speaks in a strained tone.

“Why did you save me?” Izuku tilts his head in confusion, not really understanding the question. “You hurt yourself to help me… why?”

“You were drowning and then you were freezing,” Izuku starts, alarm taking over his heart at the coldness of the man’s voice. “I just—”

“You should have let me die.” The man chokes, covering his face with his hands and curling in on himself. Izuku is stuck between reaching for him and backing away, his heart squeezing painfully in his chest. “Everyone that gets close to me gets hurt… You should go and leave me to rot.”

“Hey…” Izuku’s throat starts closing up and his vision blurs with the tears that quickly spill down his cheeks. “Don’t say things like that. I’m sure that’s not true…”

“What do you know? You’re hurt, aren’t you?”

“What’s your name?” Izuku tries instead, ignoring his confrontational attitude altogether.

All the answer he gets is a scoff and he shrinks into the water, sinking down until only his eyes are above the surface. It’s becoming clearer with each second that passes that this young man’s fall may not have been entirely accidental, and that only makes Izuku want to help him even more. His entire posture screams guilt and self-loathing, and it hurts to watch as he digs his nails into his scalp and rocks gently back and forth, his breaths turning ragged.

“Hey…” Izuku calls again, swimming closer and finally reaching for him, hesitating when he jerks at the softest touch of his cold hand to his warmer back. “If it counts for anything, I did this to myself… I just wanted to make sure you were okay. This will pass, I promise. My mom is an excellent healer and I’m not half bad myself…”

“Then go. Go to your mother, heal yourself. Leave me be.”

“I can’t do that.” Izuku says firmly, gripping the human’s shoulder tightly. “I can’t watch you suffer and not try to help.”

When the man looks his way, his red-rimmed eyes look pained yet somewhat hopeful, and Izuku reaches for his clothes where he had tossed them, now dry under the heat of the sun shining down on them. He carefully drapes the linen shirt over his shoulders and rubs comforting circles on his back.

“It might help you feel more like yourself if you put on your clothes. I understand humans tend to feel safer when dressed.” He murmurs, voice soft and as passive as he can make it sound.

Wordlessly, the human pulls on his clothes, his breaths stuttering every other heartbeat, but he slowly settles down, his posture still tense but slightly less defeated. Izuku will take that for now. Those mismatched eyes meet his once more for a small eternity until he averts them to the path that must lead to the outside of the cave. He heaves a sigh that seems to carry the weight of worlds then runs a hand through his long locks, huffing in mild annoyances when his slender fingers get caught in knots and giving up after a couple of seconds trying to undo them.

“Shouto.” Izuku hums inquisitively at the strange word. “My name…” The human continues. “It’s Shouto…”

“Oh.” Izuku provides intelligently, shaking his head as he berates himself at the articulate response. “It’s—um—it’s nice to meet you, Shouto.”

In spite of the situation, Shouto’s lips tug into a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes at all. “Is it really?”

Izuku purses his own lips, puffing his cheeks. “Yes. I’m glad I managed to save you and I got to meet you.”

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew me.” Shouto whispers sadly, wiping at a corner of his eyes. “I didn’t jump, you know? I actually fell.” Izuku merely blinks, waiting for him to keep going. “But I can’t help but feel like a part of me was glad that I did.”

“Why?” The question is out of Izuku’s mouth before he has the good sense to stop it, but he doesn’t take it back either.

“I don’t belong there.” His hand lifts up to the angry scar over his left eye and he sighs once again. “My own mother thought so… Who am I to disagree with that?”

“Just the fact you are saying that makes me believe you aren’t as bad as you think.” At that, Shouto looks deep into his eyes, inhaling sharply. A strange emotion that Izuku can’t quite place ghosts past his features and he averts his gaze yet again. “Whatever you think you have done, you can’t really make it right if you aren’t alive to do so. You have been given a second chance. I wouldn’t want you to waste it.”

“Why are you saying these things? You don’t even know me.”

Izuku shrugs his shoulders, sinking into the water once again to rest his face on his arms. “You seem nice enough. You almost died and you felt guilty over the fact that I hurt my tail to save you. And I’m not even human, like you. That you can show empathy for a creature such as myself is telling enough. My kind tends to be wary of humans because our encounters can really end badly for merfolk. But you haven’t done anything to make me believe you want to harm me. I may not know you, but I can tell you aren’t a bad person.”

A faint flush covers Shouto’s cheeks and Izuku smiles softly at the sight. It’s a nice colour on him, that pretty faded red, matches the brilliantly crimson side of his hair. With a short click of his tongue, Shouto tries to get on his feet. His legs wobble and he falls back to his knees, coughing a few times and wincing with the pain that no doubt spreads through him.

“You can’t walk out… I will take you.” Izuku offers again and Shouto gives him a sceptical look after he stares into the depths of the pool and his swinging tail.

“How do you suppose to do that when I can’t breathe underwater?”

“The same way I brought you here. I breathe for you.”

Shouto blinks at him, as if not really understanding his words. “You breathe for me?”

Izuku gives him a small nod, running his fingers over the slits on the sides of his neck. “My gills filter the oxygen out of the water and I breathe it into your mouth.”

With a hand travelling up to cover his mouth, Shouto’s eyes widen in realisation, the blush on his face growing a shade darker.

“You kissed me?”

“Kiss?” Izuku narrows his eyes in confusion. “I’m not sure I know what that means.”

Shouto swallows thickly, clearing his throat right after and dismissing his previous question with a small shake of his head and Izuku is left just as much in the dark as he was before. After a few minutes of silence, Shouto drags himself closer to the pool, tension exuding off of him in waves that make Izuku feel a little nervous as well.

“I’ll be gentle, I promise. I can’t swim very fast anyway… and as soon as we are somewhere I can get you to the surface, I will take you up for air and then you can just hold on to my shoulders while I take you up to the shore.”

Sucking in a shaky breath, Shouto holds his knees close to his chest, his hair falling over his eyes and obscuring his features. What he said before grips at Izuku’s heart and he wonders if he has anywhere to go once he returns to the dry lands. If things are so bad out there that he was willing to let it all go then… Izuku blinks a few stray tears away from his eyes, placing his hands over Shouto’s feet in what he hopes might be a comforting gesture for his kind.

“Will you be okay if I take you back?” A pregnant pause settles between them, the silence heavy with implications that Izuku doesn’t want to consider. “I don’t want you to—” He cuts off with a small sniffle. “I’d like to see you again, so…” He says instead, wanting nothing more than for Shouto to get his meaning without having to force himself to actually say those horrible words.

“Why?” Shouto asks, sounding genuinely baffled, and Izuku shrugs.

“You seem nice, like I said. I don’t really have many friends and I’d like to think there’s a reason I found you when I did. I should have gone home long before you fell, but I didn’t.”

All the answer he gets is a low hum, but when Shouto lifts his face once again, pushing his long locks back, that same flush has made its home on his pale cheeks one more time. Red really is a nice colour on him, Izuku finds himself thinking again. He isn’t entirely sure why, but before he can think better of it, Izuku speaks those thoughts aloud, drawing more warm blood up Shouto’s neck. Then, out of nowhere, Shouto covers the left half of his face in shame, shaking his head weakly.

“My mother said it was unsightly.” He mutters quietly, voice dripping with sadness.

“But you’re beautiful!” Izuku blurts without thinking, a hint of outrage bubbling in his chest until it dawns on him what he actually said. “I-I mean…” He sinks into the water to hide a flush of his own colouring his cheeks and no doubt making the green spots sprinkled over them stand out even more than they already do.

Shouto fixes him with a shocked gaze for a few heartbeats then hides behind his knees anew. It takes Izuku a lot longer than he would care to admit to compose himself, swimming from side to side on the pool as he blows bubbles into the water through his mouth and nose to stop from whining in embarrassment. He only stops moving when Shouto leans over the edge on his hands and knees and reaches for him, patting his messy hair to get his attention. Izuku looks up into Shouto’s blue grey eyes expectantly, not really knowing what he will say.

“Before we go… could you… could you tell me more about yourself and where you come from? I… don’t want to go back and… face my father just yet.”

Nodding wordlessly, Izuku moves to lift himself out of the water, but before he has the chance, Shouto offers to help so he doesn’t get hurt again. Izuku bites back a yelp when Shouto snakes his arms under his own after telling him to turn his back to him, wrapping them tightly around his chest and hoisting him up until he can safely pull him back and lower him to sit on the ground with the greatest care. No scales scrape off now that he doesn’t have to drag his tail on the hard floor, and the raw spots on his tail have started to heal already overnight. They are still beyond sore, but it’s not as bad as it could have been.

“What would you like to know?” Izuku asks, splashing his tail on the water to make it ripple prettily.

“Anything you want to tell me is fine. I just want to think about anything that isn’t home…” Shouto admits and Izuku hums.

“Well… I live in a small uh—city, I guess you could call it? It’s a little ways down west of here and it’s quite deep in the ocean but not so much that there is no light during the day. It’s a small community, and we have a leader. He’s not like your kings, as you call them, he just makes sure everyone is safe and provided for to the best of his ability.” Izuku muses, stealing a glance at Shouto and catching him staring intently, as if hanging on his every word.

“He sounds like a good man.” Shouto frowns, which seems contradictory but Izuku doesn’t comment on it.

“I live with my mother. I already told you that she’s a healer, but she learned from our leader’s very own caretaker and she taught me everything she knows as well. Our community is fairly peaceful, so while we do have a handful of warriors, we hardly ever get mixed up in any fights, and most mermen are in charge of hunting instead.”

“And you aren’t a hunter too?” Izuku shakes his head with a small smile, showing off his tail again. The jagged and uneven fins stick awkwardly from his injured tail but Shouto isn’t fazed, he just hums in understanding. “It must be hard to move around.”

“Only if I have to be quick.” He admits. “To be quite honest, getting you here was really the most trouble I’ve had all my life.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Izuku assures him with a smile. “I simply meant that my life hasn’t really been taxing on me and my condition. And besides, it was worth the effort it took, I think.”

Blushing a little harder, Shouto averts his gaze to the rippling water as Izuku continues to lazily swing his tail across the surface, the sunlight reflecting off his wet scales—the ones that hadn’t been ripped off at least. Never tearing his eyes off his tail, Shouto scoots even closer to the edge. He leans back on his hands and tentatively dips a toe into the water, quickly recoiling when he feels the temperature. In all honesty, being mostly still water, Izuku finds it to be a lot warmer than what he is used to, but he supposes a warm-blooded creature would still find it somewhat chilly.

Slowly, Shouto sinks his legs into the water until they reach up to his knees, soaking his trousers all over again. Well, for Izuku to get him to the shore, he will have to get wet, so he supposes it won’t make much of a difference now. Though, it would be best not to let his body temperature get too low, so they should probably get going soon. When Izuku is about to suggest it, however, Shouto asks him what else he can tell him about his home and he hums in thought.

“There isn’t much to say. We aren’t many and everyone does their part. A friend of mine and I like to collect human objects for fun, but she turns them into new things, I just bring them to her or keep them for myself.”

At that, Shouto finally looks over to Izuku, pursing his lips as something strange shines in his eyes. He reaches into a pocket in his trousers, digging around with a furrowed brow until he seems to find something. He pulls it out, apparently surprised that it is still there, and dangles it in front of Izuku’s face. A ring hangs from a worn string threatening to break, the band made of glinting white gold and surrounding a curious red and white stone, smooth and shiny. Instinctively, Izuku reaches for it, mouth hanging open in wonder, recoiling when he is mere moments from actually touching it.

“It’s alright. You can take it and keep it for yourself.” Shouto urges, bringing it closer to Izuku’s face.

Blinking stupidly, Izuku looks into Shouto’s eyes for confirmation, and when he offers him an encouraging nod, takes the string and lays the ring on the palm of his hand, spreading it open and stretching the membranes between his fingers. He can’t exactly wear the ring on any of them, considering, but if he finds a stronger string to keep it around his neck…

“A-are you sure? This is yours, why don’t you want it?”

The ghost of shame flits past Shouto’s eyes and he shrugs. “It belonged to my mother.” He says quietly, drawing uneven circles on the floor with his index. “I don’t feel like I deserve to wear it in her stead, so I would like you to keep it safe for me. If you’d like…”

After a moment of stunned silence, turning the ring in his palm as he inspects it closely, Izuku beams up at Shouto.

“I will do my best! Thank you!” As an afterthought, Izuku adds with a hopeful tilt to his voice, “And if you ever feel like you deserve it again, I will gladly return it to its rightful place.”

A corner of Shouto’s mouth twitches up and his features soften at Izuku’s enthusiasm as he brings the string over his head and lets the ring fall over his heart. A low growl pulls them out of the moment and Izuku stares at Shouto’s stomach as it continues to make noise for the longest time. With a sigh, Shouto starts to shift uncomfortably.

“I suppose I should get back.” He says, getting to his feet with a grunt after he makes sure he won’t lose his balance.

It takes a bit of effort, but he lifts Izuku up and into the water without incident, then hesitantly dips into the pool after him, keeping afloat with careful movements of his arms and legs. Izuku swims a little closer, until he is almost pressed to Shouto’s body. The man’s breath seems to hitch and Izuku backs away slightly.

“Is—is it okay if I—”

“Yes, sorry… It’s just… Never mind. I’m ready.”

“Okay.”

Izuku approaches again, slower this time for fear of startling Shouto, and he wraps an arm around his waist to pull him closer. With a hint of apprehension, Shouto holds on to Izuku’s middle himself, his breaths becoming a little short.

“You need to calm down.” Izuku warns him. “Last I did this you were unconscious so it wasn’t an issue but you need to let me breathe for you. And you can’t breathe through your nose either. It might be easier if you pinch it and just let me give you air in even intervals.”

Rather than say anything, Shouto just nods and takes Izuku’s suggestion, closing his eyes as well. Izuku counts to three before sinking under the surface after he takes one deep breath. He swims down the cave system calmly, pausing every few heartbeats to give Shouto more oxygen. It’s slow progress, and Shouto always keeps his eyes screwed shut, flinching whenever their lips touch, but he doesn’t complain or panic, taking the air Izuku offers him gratefully until they finally reach the surface by the cliffside he had fallen from the night before.

Shouto shakes the wet hair off his face, sucking in a few deep breaths, as Izuku makes sure he is okay to keep going. He takes Shouto the rest of the way on his back, cruising underwater while he holds on to Izuku’s shoulders and lets himself be dragged across the ocean. They pause a bit away from the beach so that Izuku can be sure there are no threatening bystanders when he finally takes Shouto closer to the shore.

He leaves him as close to the dry land as he dares, yet only letting go when he is sure that Shouto can stand and walk the rest of the way, never poking his head out of water until he is once again further into the ocean. Even then, he just barely peeks over the surface, watching for anyone reaching to help him.

Luckily, two other humans had been walking past the beach and noticed him dragging himself out of the water, running to his side and helping him to his feet. Izuku sighs in relief when they offer him food and water shouting for more people to come to their aid. And then, just as he is about to dive back into the water and go home to ease his mother’s worries (that are most certainly eating her alive at this point), he hears something that makes him stop short.

“We found the Prince! Call the guards! The Prince is alive!”

Mouth hanging open, Izuku swims towards the shore before coming to his senses and backing away once more, his fingers curling around the ring floating in front of his chest. He swallows around the lump that has suddenly formed in his throat, staring after the humans carrying Shouto further into the dry lands. Once they disappear from sight, Izuku finally wakes from his momentary trance, turning tail and swimming back home as fast as he can manage to give his injuries the treatment they need.

***

Shouto’s return to the castle goes about as badly as he had expected it to, if not even a little worse. A warm welcome was never even something he had considered, but there was always the possibility that his father would be somewhat pleased he hadn’t lost another heir. Instead, he is met with the same disdain as usual, a scoff at his incompetence and recklessness, a dismissal to go to his quarters and heal quickly for there is much to do.

The halls are empty but for the staff that doesn’t dare meet his eye as he drags himself to the large room he gets to call his own. Once there, he collapses onto the bed with a miserable groan, rubbing at his face with a heavy sigh.

Sometime in the past, his sister may have knocked on his door and brought him some sweets to help replenish his energies and lift his spirits. But she had long been married off to a man for his kingdom’s alliance. Even longer before, the brother who may have barged in without a single knock of his own to drag him into a wrestling match despite his aching body’s complaints, had left with a religious order to learn the ways of healing and forget this wretched place. A brother he barely remembers had long been thought dead, and the mother that cared for him and even loved him in his younger years didn’t live to see the scar she left on his face after the King’s cruelty broke her mind.

It’s just like his father to blame the consequences of his actions on everyone else’s weakness. Shouto is the only one left, and according to him, he is the only one worth keeping around anyway. But Shouto is fairly certain the only reason he says that is because all the people who could have steered him away from this life were gone from it already. Just under an hour back and Shouto already wants to leave. Forever this time, like his siblings. Like his mother most of all.

Even after Izuku saved him, made him believe for a second that there might be something worth living for… He can’t help but be stuck back in the downward spiral of his depressed and lonely thoughts. That storm that spooked his horse and left him stranded on that cliff had seemed too appropriate. The moment his foot slipped on the slick rock and he tumbled down to the sea… It felt like a mercy.

Why did he come back again?

Some servants bring him food and the only reason he actually eats is because it feels like a disservice to waste Izuku’s sacrifice to help him survive. If it weren’t for that, he isn’t sure he wouldn’t just let himself starve until his father forced the food down his throat. He wouldn’t put it past him.

Once he can no longer bring himself to stomach anything else, he lies down underneath the silky covers and lets exhaustion take him over. For three days and four nights, Shouto doesn’t bother to leave his room and no one comes to drag him out, leaving him to nonsensical dreams of ocean waves pulling him down to the depths of a pitch-black darkness. But on the dawn of the fourth day, a gentle knock rouses him from his uneasy sleep and Shouto struggles to lift himself off the bed as he calls for whoever is at his door to come in.

A serving girl shyly steps inside with warm water, saying his lord father is asking (demanding, more like) for his presence and that she should draw him a bath. It takes all of Shouto’s willpower not to tell her to leave him and instead stand and drag his feet to the bath as he gestures for her to do what she must. He doesn’t have the energy to send her away after the bath is ready, as he usually does, and for once, he lets her bathe him instead, scrubbing the days-old grime off his body as he passively lets her move him however she needs to.

In a sense, it’s a little degrading, but Shouto is beyond the point of caring, and even getting dressed on his own proves to be as arduous a task as enduring his father’s personal training sessions. He only half listens as his father drones on about politics and state affairs, mentions of offers of suitors to be his future queen and a need to further their influence in neighbouring kingdoms. Shouto can’t find it in himself to even pretend to be following, his thoughts drifting back to the ocean and the way it buried him, burned past his throat and flooded into his lungs.

And then those thoughts shift to soft lips over his own, to fresh air slipping past them and breathing life into him every other moment, rough scales under his fingertips as he holds on to a slim waist. Beautiful tones of emerald reflect off of rippling waters and Shouto wants to immerse himself in them.

“Shouto.” His gaze focuses on his father’s displeased scowl as he blinks the blur from his vision and snaps out of his trance. “Are you listening to anything I just said?” He demands, very aware of the actual answer.

“No.” Shouto deadpans, not bothering to lie and getting to his feet instead.

“What are you doing.”

“Leaving.” Shouto says simply, turning on his heel and walking towards the door.

“Sit back down, boy.”

The guards take one look at each other, as if wondering whether they should open it or bar his way. One look at his face and they reach for the handles, his father’s booming voice demanding that he get back this instant. The guards freeze and Shouto stops, running a hand through his hair and looking back at his father with a neutral expression.

“I’m done. I have nothing to offer you, father.” Is all he says before squeezing past the open slit.

His footsteps echo in the empty halls and he doesn’t hear anyone else’s following. Knowing his father, he is too prideful to chase after him and he will only send guards to do it after Shouto is long gone, not believing him to actually have the courage to venture off on his own for more than a few hours. Had he planned on coming back, he may have considered the consequences.

***

Izuku knows that he shouldn’t be this close to the beaches, especially when his tail hasn’t even healed fully, but each time he catches sight of the ring around his neck, his thoughts drift back to Shouto… He wonders if he is alright, if he recovered from the fall and if he didn’t get hurt again. His heart aches terribly each time he thinks of him going back to the cliff, of it not being an accident this time and him not being there to save his life once again.

He scours the cliffside every day after he returned Shouto to the shore, and each day he gets a little closer to the beach he left him at, searching. Not once does he catch sight of his curiously coloured hair, and he should be relieved, seeing as that most likely meant he was safe and sound back in his home. But the way he talked about home was concerning. That home didn’t make him happy if he found himself never wanting to return.

And Izuku doesn’t quite know what to do but keep going back, keep getting closer, and hoping he will see him again.

On more than one occasion, other humans almost spot him, head of wild hair bobbing above the surface in the not-so-far distance. Each time, his heart jumps right to his throat and he swims back into the depths as fast as his tail will take him, chest aching with the way it seems fit to burst with the overwhelming panic. Still, he keeps going back against his better judgement, waiting, searching.

After six full days, when the sun is already dipping below the horizon and taking all of his hopes of finding Shouto with it, he spots someone stalking onto the beach. With the dimming light and the distance between him and the shore, Izuku can’t quite tell, so he swallows down the hint of fear, ignores the tiny voice telling him this is a bad idea, and he swims closer, careful to keep fully underwater for as long as he can.

As soon as he sees the distinct head of red and white, he picks up speed—as much as his tail allows—, and he breaks the surface once he can prop himself up with his hands on the soft sand. Shouto meets Izuku’s eyes and immediately drops the bag that was slung over his shoulder in the sand and runs to him, his boots splashing in the water before he sinks to his knees in front of him.

“Hey…” He greets, breathless, his eyes glinting with the sunset’s orange and pink hues.

“Hey…” Izuku greets in return, a smile tugging at his lips. “I’m so happy that you’re okay.”

Shouto’s brows lift slightly before he shrinks in on himself, head hanging low. “I don’t… I’m not really okay.” He whispers, hugging himself. “I just couldn’t stay there any longer and—the last time I felt like I didn’t just want to…” He trails off for a moment before continuing. “I hoped I would see you again before…”

There is a deeply rooted sadness in his posture, laced in every movement, and Izuku’s heart squeezes in sympathy. Reaching for Shouto’s face, Izuku wipes away a stray tear that rolls down his left cheek, his thumb brushing over the jagged skin of his scar. Shouto gasps but doesn’t recoil, rather leans into his touch as he lets his lids fall closed. A soft flush covers Izuku’s face at the gesture, much too intimate for someone who has merely shared a conversation with him, but for all he knows, that isn’t really the case for Shouto’s kind, much like he doesn’t know what a kiss really is.

“Before what, Shouto?” Izuku chokes out afraid of what the answer might be.

“I can’t go back there.” Shouto tells him, more tears following after the first. “I have nowhere else to go and I—I don’t want… I’m just done…”

“D-don’t say that.” Izuku whispers, the words scratching on their way up his throat. “You’re a prince, right? Don’t you have loving subjects?” Shouto says nothing in return, that shame only making him look smaller with each second that passes. “You can’t just—You can’t mean that.”

His own vision blurs with the tears pooling in his eyes and he throws all caution to the wind, pulling Shouto down to his level to rub his nose against his own time and time again. Shouto lets out a strange noise that is halfway between confused and pained but Izuku only pulls him closer, bumping their foreheads gently as soft clicks leave his throat in a desperate plea for Shouto to hear the affection behind them. He doesn’t want Shouto to give up, and if making him feel loved can help, then he doesn’t care that they just met once for him to be doing something so personal.

“What are you doing?” Shouto asks in a strangled voice, though he doesn’t pull away or tell him to stop and Izuku can’t help but feel a wave of relief wash over him at that.

“I’m showing you how much I care about you…” He says quietly, rubbing their noses together one more time, their breaths mingling between them. “I know we just met but I care about you a lot, Shouto. I don’t want to not see you again. So please…”

Shouto’s breath stutters and he leans even closer, the water shifting around them as he pulls Izuku into his arms and… he covers Izuku’s mouth with his but he doesn’t breathe into him at all—not that he would need him to. Instead, he sneaks his tongue past Izuku’s lips and gently caresses his own with it. Izuku isn’t entirely sure what that is supposed to be, but he returns the gesture just as eagerly, finding himself getting lost in the flavour invading his mouth. Shouto tastes sweet, unlike anything Izuku has ever experienced, and when they break apart, he is almost disappointed that it didn’t last longer.

A bright red paints Shouto’s cheeks unevenly, making him look even more beautiful than before. Izuku sinks back into the water, not quite knowing what just happened, but some of that deep anguish seems to have lessened in Shouto’s gaze even as he looks away and avoids his eyes altogether.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that.”

“It’s okay. I don’t really know what it means, but… if it counts for anything, I liked it.” Izuku says honestly, wiping at his eyes and dragging himself closer.

“That… that’s what a kiss is…” Shouto explains, shrinking in on himself. “It’s—it means I care about you too.”

Not really being able to stop it, Izuku smiles contentedly, wrapping his arms around Shouto’s middle and nuzzling his stomach affectionately. “That’s good… So, you will stick around?” He asks, hope laced in every word.

Letting out a shaky breath, Shouto tangles his fingers in Izuku’s matted hair, drawing a cooing noise out of him.

“Izuku… I really have nowhere to go… I don’t belong anywhere.”

“B-but—”

“I’m—” Shouto cuts him off, huffing in a desperate frustration. “I don’t know what to do.”

Clenching his jaw, Izuku lifts himself up to reach Shouto’s level, looking straight into his eyes. “I can take you back to the cave, bring you fish. I’m not great at hunting but… I’m sure I can get some spares back home and since you can walk well now, you can even leave the cave and—”

“Izuku… that’s not going to work and you know it.”

The words sting in how true Izuku knows they are and he deflates, dropping into the shallow water with a miserable splash as the tears spring back to the corners of his eyes. “What are you going to do, then?”

“I don’t know…” Shouto murmurs.

“I wish I could bring you with me… back home.” Izuku admits, sniffling.

“That would be nice.”

They stay there in silence for the longest time, the sun finally setting and giving way to the moon and stars. Luckily no other humans are out or at the beach at this time, so they aren’t disturbed as they just look up to the darkened sky, side by side and with the gentle waves rolling softly over them. Shouto will get sick like this, but Izuku doesn’t think he will listen if he tries to tell him to go somewhere dry and warm.

Absentmindedly, Izuku plays with the ring Shouto had given him, watching how the moonlight reflects off of it with drops of saltwater sticking to the band and the stone. It’s a beautiful thing, even more so knowing that it belongs to Shouto, and Izuku is beyond honoured that he offered it to him—even if it may have just been because he was the only one there for him to give it to. Still, with a forlorn sigh and clinging to a thought that makes his heart heavy, Izuku takes the string from around his neck and pulls the ring out of it, rolling onto his stomach to look at Shouto’s face.

“You said you don’t feel like you deserve to wear it in your mother’s stead, but if I won’t see you again, I don’t think it’s fair for me to have it. She must have given it to you for a reason.”

For the longest time, Shouto just stares back at him, not saying or doing anything else. Izuku almost thinks he might tell him to keep it anyway, or even ignore him, but instead, Shouto reaches for the ring with wet, wrinkled hands and turns it in his fingers. He sighs as well, dropping his arms over his stomach and continuing to fidget with the ring as he stares up at the star-filled sky.

Izuku watches Shouto’s features carefully, bringing a hand over his to gently brush over his cool skin. Wordlessly, he takes the ring again as well as one of Shouto’s hands, gingerly sliding it onto his finger and humming in satisfaction at the way it sits prettily on his hand, a perfect fit.

“If that doesn’t say it was meant for you to wear it, I don’t know what—”

The ring gains a faint glow and Izuku chokes on the rest of his sentence, jerking away with a yelp as the piece of jewellery begins to meld with Shouto’s skin. Shouto sits up with a shocked gasp of his own, trying to tear the ring off and stopping short as he takes a good look at his hands, eyes widening slightly as thin membranes spread between his fingers.

When Izuku looks at Shouto’s face, his mouth falls open at the sight of slits opening on his neck, white and red scales travelling down his neck and disappearing behind his shirt, which he pulls up over his head in a fit, running his fingers over the rough patches appearing on his torso. He stares at Izuku for a split second, his eyes begging for an explanation he really doesn’t have, and he must feel something strange in his legs too, because the next thing he knows, Shouto is pulling down his trousers to see the scales continuing down to his feet… which are starting to look a lot more like fins…

One moment Shouto is standing above Izuku, and the next he is falling down to water with an ungraceful splash, his breaths short and ragged as he tries to get back up and fails miserably, his legs sticking together until they completely morph into a beautiful tail of reds and whites. Part of Izuku wants to cheer, but the clear horror in Shouto’s face makes him think better of it and he pulls him out of the water instead. He drags Shouto further to the dry land for the comfort of something he knows and holds his head against his chest while he hushes him until he calms down.

It must be too much for him to handle, because his head falls back as he loses consciousness after a few excruciating, panic-filled moments, and Izuku can only relax into the sand, continuing to pet his hair reassuringly. It’s a good thing merfolk can breathe out of water too, otherwise he would have been suffocating by now, the receding tide leaving him and Shouto to dry through the night. He tries his best to stay awake and alert, worrying over Shouto, but eventually, he can do nothing but listen to his steady breaths, ending up lulling him to sleep as well once his exhaustion from the mildly terrifying moment sets in.

But Izuku wakes again not long after, the moon still high in the night sky, and he notes with a hint of confusion that Shouto’s back to looking entirely human. He would have thought it all some strange dream if not for the fact that Shouto is completely naked and his discarded clothes are nowhere to be found, probably long gone with the current by now… Izuku takes Shouto’s hand, looking at the ring carefully.

It looks just like any other ring, but after what happened, Izuku can’t quite believe that it is. Feeling a little guilty for causing him this much stress, Izuku nudges Shouto awake. He jolts back to consciousness with a frightened gasp, looking around with terror in his eyes before he sees Izuku, then himself. With trembling hands, he feels his naked legs and stomach, swallowing nervously as he stares at Izuku once again, discreetly crossing his legs to cover himself at least in part, like he had done that first time.

“W-what happened?”

“I don’t know…” Izuku nods towards the ring still on his finger. “But I’m pretty sure it had to do with that.”

Shouto’s Adam’s apple bobs again as he strokes the gemstone tentatively, as if expecting that to do something. Nothing happens. “Y-you put it on me. Try it again.”

Wordlessly, Izuku does as he is told, taking the ring off and sliding it back on his finger. Once again, nothing happens.

“Was that just a hallucination?” Shouto reasons, rubbing at his temples.

“I saw it too.” Izuku offers and Shouto hums. “Is it… is it a bad thing though?” Shouto slowly lifts his head to look at Izuku once again. “If you’re… if you were a merman like me then…”

“I could come with you…” Shouto completes his thought. “I’m sorry, I just wasn’t expecting that and I—”

“It’s okay.” Izuku shushes him, reaching for one of his hands and bringing it to his cheek to rub against it comfortingly. “I understand. If I suddenly turned human, I would have probably panicked too.”

“Yeah…” Shouto breathes, his fingers twitching against his face. “But it’s not working anymore.” He adds, features twisting with despair.

“There must be something to trigger it. Did your mother wear it around her neck?”

Shouto furrows his brows, as if trying to remember, then shakes his head. “No, she always wore it on her hand until she gave it to me, I think. And I’m fairly certain I would have remembered if she had a fishtail when she did.”

Humming in thought, Izuku flaps his tail in frustration, stirring up the grains of sand around them. Suddenly realising that Izuku is completely out of the water and someone could see him, Shouto kneels beside him to pick him up off the sand. Without needing to be told, Izuku gratefully holds on to Shouto’s neck and lets him carry him back into the sea. The moment Shouto lowers him into the water, the ring starts glowing on his finger again, and they stare at each other, perplexed.

Taking a few deep breaths, Shouto forces himself to walk further into the ocean, trying not to freak out once again. Izuku swims after him, watching as he slowly begins to transform into a merman anew. He still seems to be on the verge of hyperventilating, despite his best efforts to stay calm, and Izuku pulls him into a gentle embrace that he hopes might ease his worries. Shouto holds him back tightly, nails digging painfully into the flesh on his back, but Izuku doesn’t complain, just continues to pet his hair and rub their cheeks together until the transformation settles and he can feel another scaly tail flapping against his own.

“Are you okay?” Izuku asks after Shouto’s breaths finally steady.

“I think so…”

They break apart and Shouto takes a good look at himself. His fins are long and strong, pure white on the right and blood red on the left, those same colours scattered all across his tail and torso in various depths of the shades. He is quite breath-taking, Izuku must admit.

“It must be the saltwater.” Izuku suggests after a long moment of admiring Shouto’s new body, and the new mer hums inquisitively. “That activates the ring’s powers.”

“Oh…” Shouto mutters, returning his gaze to his webbed fingers and curling his tail out of the water. “Maybe… I wonder if she knew…”

“I think she might have… She wanted you to have it for a reason, right?” Izuku smiles softly and Shouto’s own lips quirk slightly. “Maybe she wanted you to be free, when she didn’t have the chance.”

“Maybe…” He repeats, hopeful.

Taking his hand, Izuku swims further into the ocean, dragging Shouto along. They spend a bit of time making sure Shouto can breathe properly underwater, with Izuku coaching him not to breathe through his nose unless he is above the surface. It takes a few minutes, but he eventually gets it, as if the anatomy is taking a while to fully settle, but once it’s done, it’s almost like he has been a merman his entire life in that regard. He does swim clumsily, even slower than Izuku with his defective fins, but it’s okay. He has a lot of time to learn and Izuku is more than willing to teach him.