Work Text:
“Slow down!” Iwaizumi yelled, pumping his silver tail as he tried catching up to Kyoutani. The blonde himself was rushing up towards the surface, headed for a familiar boat. Kyoutani didn’t even pause as he swam, barely looking back at Iwaizumi’s yell.
“OI!” Iwaizumi screeched, hands running along the other's spiky tail fins. Kyoutani finally slowed down, matching Iwaizumi in his pace.
“He’s not going anywhere, he can wait a few more moments.” Iwaizumi scolded, wrapping an arm around the blonde to keep him at pace next to him.
“But I can’t.” Kyoutani grumbled, and Iwaizumi saw the whirlwind of emotions in his boyfriend’s eyes. The frustration and longing and the excitement all swirling together.
Oikawa had been out in farther waters than the two could handle, and while normally they wouldn’t be so worried, their missing piece was away for three weeks longer than he said. Iwaizumi himself was fighting back the urge to swim as hard as he could, but he knew Oikawa would tease them for being so desperate… but he could see Oikawa faster and get rid of all of his worry…
“... race you.” Iwaizumi whispered, then immediately took off. He heard Kyoutani yell then the blonde’s yellow and black tail was dancing in and out of his peripheral vision.
He laughed as he approached the surface, only pausing when he was a few feet under the boat.
“Do you think he got a new ship? The wood is different…” Iwaizumi pondered as Kyoutani swam straight up and breached the surface.
Iwaizumi took another look at the underside before quickly darting to the head of the ship. His eyes widened as he took in the completely different figure head. Oikawa’s ship had a mighty dragon, and this ship had a large snake as their figurehead. Even if Oikawa had gotten a new ship he would commission a dragon to be his figurehead, it was too symbolic for Oikawa to change.
He immediately went under and down a few feet before calling out to Kyoutani. The longer the blonde didn’t respond the more anxious he got. He turned in a tight circle before he saw a swarm of bubbles, and he heard Kyoutani yell.
Now, both of them were strong swimmers and fighters, but that’s when they were in open waters without anything trying to pull them out of the water.
Iwaizumi bolted closer, and started trying to pull the net down towards the floor of the ocean.
“H-hajime!” Kyoutani yelped as the ropes rubbed harshly against his skin, forcing him to pause in his struggles.
“Come on, help me pull!” Iwaizumi huffed, straining every muscle in his body. .
Kyoutani grunted before pushing against the net, though he couldn’t move too much or he would rub his scales and skin off.
As much as they tried, the net rose upwards, taking the blonde with it.
“HAJIME!” Kyoutani screamed, his tail completely above water. He was hyperventilating as he thrashed, giving himself nasty burns across his arms and torso. “PLEASE HELP!”
That was the last thing Iwaizumi heard from his boyfriend before the blonde was being roughly tugged onto deck. Iwaizumi wailed out as he tried jumping up, but he barely managed to avoid getting caught in a net of his own as he rushed down towards the floor.
The last sight he had of Kyoutani was of him screaming and panicking in a net.
Iwaizumi felt a scream bubble up and he did nothing to stop it from coming out. The pain and agony and desperation all blending together to make a horrid sound, deep from within the merman.
It felt like the whole ocean had shrunken down into just his lagoon as he wept uncontrollably.
Oikawa knew he was in trouble. A few storms had hit them, forcing them to slow their pace to lower than a snail's crawl. He knew his boyfriends would be uncontrollably worried, it was three weeks past when he said he’d see them again.
He probably would get an earful from Iwaizumi about safe sailing and Kyoutani clinging to him and insisting he stay where the two could protect him. He’d consider it for a few moments before teasing about them not loving him and wanting him dead. Then they’d squawk and argue about it for a while and they’d cuddle and be close to each other. It was something so simple but Oikawa missed the small comfort greatly.
But as he directed his ship into the lagoon where the mermen lived, neither of them broke the surface and Oikawa couldn’t see them beneath the waves either. His crew knew of the two mermen, and had befriended them, so it wasn’t like they were in any danger from his crew.
“Hey Oikawa, do you think something happened?” Matsukawa asked, looking overboard into the waters as they waited. They had been sitting in the lagoon for about 2 hours at this point, and neither merman had shown up.
“I’m not sure…. And it's captain to you, you stole my sandwich!” Oikawa grumbled, trying to deflect the worry he felt.
“You didn’t want it, you hate Kunimi’s cooking.” Matsukawa argued, letting Oikawa distract himself in their conversation.
Eventually when the sun was setting, Oikawa heard a voice yell over the waves.
“Tooru?”
“Yeah it’s me!” Oikawa yelled overboard and threw down his ladder. The crew also brought out a large bathtub and started filling it with sea water.
“What happened, why were you so….” Oikawa’s sentence fell off as he took in Iwaizumi’s rugged state. The merman had bruises and gashes all along his torso and upper arms and he looked like he hadn’t gotten any sleep. In his tail there were multiple fish hooks still in him and a few holes that looked like the hook was ripped out of him.
“IWA?!” Oikawa screeched, immediately taking the man into his arms. Iwaizumi let himself be dragged into Oikawa’s lap, too exhausted to protest. “You- oh my god what happened? Where’s Ken?”
“th-they caught him in a net.” Iwaizumi whispered, the memory itself bringing tears to his eyes. “They- they told other ships where to look, and a few got lucky.” he went on describing what he had been through in the past couple of days. Oikawa felt himself tearing up, and he could sense the crew behind him getting upset as well.
“Do you know what the ship that took him looked like?” Oikawa asked, making a list of possible ships that would have been in the area a few days ago.
“I-it had a snake for a figurehead.’ Iwaizumi answered before breaking into a coughing fit as he was being lowered into the bathtub.
“So it’s Nebehi. Those bastards.” Hanamaki cursed. “I’ll get dressing for the wounds. Kunimi and Kindaichi catch some fish and feed him. Yahaba, Watari, and Matsukawa will ready the ship for sailing as much as possible sir. EVERYONE HOP TWO!”
Suddenly the ship went from restless energy to bustling activity. Everyone was talking and moving, but the two lovers were silent in the middle of it all. Oikawa was holding onto Iwaizumi and it was clear the other was trying to as well, though Hanamaki dressing his wounds made the position awkward.
“We’ll find him. No matter what.” Oikawa assured the other, letting hopeful words run from his mouth in an attempt to soothe Iwaizumi. Oikawa let his own tears fall as Iwaizumi told the story of Kyoutani's taking in great detail.
“I- I couldn’t protect him.” Iwaizumi whimpered, letting Oikawa tighten his hold on him even more.
“He’s tough, he’ll survive long enough for us to find him. I know the trade route the Nobehi was supposed to take. it’ll be closing in on Tokyo port by now.” Oikawa said, already planning how he was going to get his angry boyfriend back.
“It isn’t your fault Haji.” Oikawa whispered, letting a few stray tears fall. Hanamaki couldn’t help but feel he was intruding, but he sucked it up and finished dressing Iwaizumi’s wounds. They would be ready to sail in a few hours, and they'd have fish for Iwaizumi to eat so he could stay on deck to rest.
“We’ll get him back Captain. You two are our friends, we won’t let them get away with this.” Yahaba said as he passed, giving Oikawa a pat on the back as he walked.
Kyoutani felt the burns along his arms throb, but it was ignored as he thrashed on the ship deck. The pirates were running around, looking in the water to see if there were any more mermaids swimming about. He heard Iwaizumi break the surface, only to splash back down as the pirates scrambled to net him.
“Oi, fishy. Can you understand me?” A man asked as he stepped forward. He had dark green hair swished over to one slide and a large smirk on his face. Kyoutani felt a venom coming off of him and he struggled to get out of the net. He hissed at the man, letting his fins flare out in a hopefully threatening way.
“Tie him down.” The man commanded and several men were throwing themselves onto Kyoutani to keep him down as they secured more rope over his arms.
“Bring him to my quarters, he’ll make us all a fortune.”
And with that the man turned around and walked back up to the wheel, and started giving orders for the other men who were just standing about.
As much as Kyoutani struggled, the men still managed to pick him up and bring him to a large tub. They roughly threw him in and started filing it, cold bucket by bucket. Kyoutani shivered as he felt the water run down his torso, mixing with the beads of blood from his burns.
He bit back a sob as the last pirate left the room, leaving him in a shallow pool of cold water. Just to breath he had to completely push his back against the floor of the tub, letting the cold ocean water run under his gills.
He was left there by himself for a few minutes before the captain came back. Kyoutani snapped up and tried flaring his fins, but found he was too out of breath. Merfolk could breath above water, but it was extremely draining, and in his panic about being caught Kyoutani had taken large gulps of air.
“You, my friend, will make me rich.” The man started as he watched Kyoutani flop back into his glorified puddle.
“I’m Daisho, captain of the Nobehi. I want to know everything about you. Whether you talk or not. I’d rather take notes on the culture and history of your people, but an anatomy book would suffice as well.”
As Daisho spoke, Kyoutani felt his anger grow. These men come into his home, steal him away from his boyfriends, and expect him to follow their rules and entertain them.
“So, we can start with some simple questions. How many of you are there?” Daisho asked, turning away to grab a book and ink. Kyoutani watched, not bothering to hide his anger. Daisho eventually settled in a nearby chair.
“It would truly be better for you to talk.” Daisho tried to convince Kyoutani after he hadn’t even moved his mouth.
He glared before making a series of clicks, varying them in pitch and length. It was how he and Iwaizumi talked under the water, with no air to make his vocal cords work. If he could fake him not being able to speak their language, it could buy him time to figure out an escape, or for Oikawa and Iwaizumi to find him.
“Oh…. you can’t speak our language can you? You might be able to understand but you can’t speak it…. I wonder if it has something to do with the difference in anatomy.” Daisho muttered, quickly jotting something down in his notebook.
The sound of ink and paper grated on Kyoutani’s nerves and he tried burning his head under the water to block it out, but the water wasn’t deep enough to keep both his gills and his head under. Daisho paused in his writing as he watched Kyoutani wither in the tub.
“Are your ears more sensitive than ours?” He asked, and then went to grab silver pots and spoons. Soon Kyoutani was yelling out in pain as the other man made horrible noise after noise with the pots, banging and clanging them around.
“So they are more sensitive… wonderful!” Daishou cheered, throwing the pots to the floor as he immediately started writing.
Over the next few days. Daishou did experiment after experiment on the blonde, never letting him sleep or rest. The crew tried to feed him some soup, but Kyoutani choked on the first bite. He couldn’t eat the cooked meat, his stomach not able to digest it. His tub was never filled, even after it was splashed out in various experiments.
Daishou had been relentless on the third day of his capture, taking more interest in Kyoutani’s tail. He had been poked and prodded, and had a few scales pulled off. For the first time since he had been taken Kyoutani cried himself to sleep, curling into a ball weakly pushing his gills into the remaining water.
The Sejoh was sailing at its fastest speed, desperately trying to catch up with the Nobehi. It was supposed to be in Tokyo port, and with no other trails to follow, they headed for the pirate infested waters.
Oikawa and Iwaizumi had isolated themselves from the rest of the crew, and the crew knew not to bother them. They spent their time in the captain's quarters, reading over ship blueprints and trying to plan out what they’d do when they caught up with the Nobehi.
They explored various possibilities. “What if he’s too tired to breathe above water? What if he was seriously hurt? What if Daishou had convinced him to stay with him?”
All of them brought tears and sadness to the men, but they knew they had to think about things like this to prepare. They weren’t fools, they knew the chances of getting Kyoutani back unharmed was very slim, the most likely thing to happen was them boarding the ship and finding Kyoutani’s tail hanging from a wall.
The crew of the Sejoh kept the ship steady on it’s route and going as fast as it could. Matsukawa and Hanamaki took over steering and ordering around the younger members. Yahaba and Watari made sure they had enough food as they cut through the waves and Kindaichi and Kunimi kept the sails tied open and looked out for other ships.
They all felt the hole left by Kyoutani’s taking, and everyone of them wanted him back. They all missed the spiky blonde and the stories he would tell about embarrassing things Oikawa did. They missed the way his eyes lit up when they told him tales of evil pirates and mysterious forces. They missed the way he would throw rare fish up onto the deck with a satisfied smile, and they missed Kyoutani.
Merfolk were few in number, all keeping to themselves for the most part. They were territorial and strong headed, only meeting with each other for the purpose of reproducing. Iwaizumi had found Kyoutani at the bottom of a reef, tail bitten into by whale sharks. He nursed the boy back to health, and Kyoutani never left. He got bigger and hunted faster than Iwaizumi, and fought bigger prey than Iwaizumi had felt comfortable with. The blonde made a space for himself with Iwaizumi, and the older merman couldn’t find it in himself to mind.
They found Oikawa by accident, they spent too long in a cave and the tide was too low to swim out, or they would scratch up their tails. Oikawa was looking for a place for clean water, and had stumbled into the cave. The two mermen remembered baring their fangs and claws, trying to scare off the human. Oikawa had just stood there for a while, before dropping to his knees and crying.
This had shocked the two mermen, who were dropping their defenses in exhaustion from having their gills above water. They all sat in the cave as Oikawa cried in relief, knowing that he wasn’t crazy for believing in something that was now sitting in front of him.
When the tide rose again, Oikawa had helped the mermen into the water and sent them off on their way. Through the next year, Oikawa often visited the cave, and soon made friends with the mermen and taught them his language.
He learned of Iwaizumi’s harsh way of showing he cared, and Kyoutani’s quickness to anger. He told them of his travels and answered their questions about humans. They in turn, answered his questions about merfolk.
They had moved past friends as they talked and spent time together. Soon they were all sharing chaste kisses and playful touches. He introduced them to his crew, and was saved from drowning in a battle by Iwaizumi. He in turn, helped keep their lagoon secret from other ships.
They had gone swimming, Kyoutani showed off some flips and dives for Iwaizumi and Oikawa.
They had lunch dates on the deck of his ship and on rocks that lay in shallow water.
They had been together and loved, and now they all felt like it was reaching its end. The universe had a funny way of getting rid of the things that don’t belong.
It also had a funny way of showing how it cared.
The Seijoh approached the Tokyo Port at its fastest speed, the crew setting anchor quicker than they ever had before. Iwaizumi watched as the whole crew armed themselves and readied for a fight. Oikawa was surprisingly calm about this, but he was seething with a white rage.
They left Kuroo and part of his crew to watch their ship while they “settled a dispute”. The rooster head had taken the clue and had half his men cleaning the ship, giving it the image that they had a crew on board.
The Seijoh marched together over to the Nobehi, where a long line was wrapped around the ports. Oikawa ignored the shouts of protests when we walked straight up onto the deck, and followed the line into the belly of the ship. The Nobehi crew didn’t care, they just found it amusing that another crew was being so serious about seeing some fish.
Oikawa walked into the room with the air of relaxation, but anyone who knew him knew that wasn’t the case. The glint in his eye and the tense shoulders gave it away to anyone who would watch him.
“Yes folk he is real, no not some machine. Could a man make anything look and feel like this?” A voice said and Oikawa recognized it as Daisho, the captain of the Nobehi.
“Daisho. I would like to speak of your…. find.” Oikawa said, pushing through the last of the crowd and coming face to face with his boyfriend.
And just as the joy of finding Kyotani filled him, desperation filled him twice as fast. He was strapped up against the wall, suffocating his gills. His tail was pulled forward onto a table of sorts where people could run their hands along the sharp fins if they paid enough gold. He had cuts running up and down his sides, and Oikawa could see missing scales all along his tail, no doubt from greedy men.
“Oh, is that Oikawa Tooru? Such a long time, I reckon you're a lot nicer when you're not trying to shoot my ship down.” Daisho said, and Oikawa saw the moment the man snatched a scale off of Kyoutani, causing a weak flinch.
Daisho didn’t miss the way Oikawa's eyes darkened as the man scurried off. Oikawa schooled his expression before answering.
“I'm a lot nicer to people who don’t steal from me. Or take innocent creatures to be a show.”
Daisho didn’t answer, instead turned to the next person and took their gold, slipping it into an already full bag.
“You ought to be nicer to the person who’s keeping this creature alive. I don’t know what you would want with it though.” Daisho replied after a pause, finally taking his time to look the Seijoh crew up and down. He finally took notice of their obvious daggers and guns, and Oikawa would relish in the fear that grew in Daisho’s eyes until he was old and wrinkly.
“We will be taking Kyoutani back with me. He won’t be subjected to your “showings” as long as I have air in my lungs.” Oikawa said, and gave no time before he was lunging at the man, brutally beating him. The crew fired shots into the air, and sent the crowd into a panic.
Kyoutani slowly looked up at the noise, only able to keep his head up for a few seconds, but long enough to recognize the blue signa's on the backs of the Seijoh crew. Yahaba immediately went to his side, and started taking him down from the wall as the crowd screamed and hurried to empty the ship.
“YOU!” A punch was delivered to Daisho by Oikawa as he screamed.
“FUCKING!” Another.
“MONSTER!” Another.
“YOU TOOK HIM!” Oikawa slammed Daisho’s head into the floor below, finding glee in the blood left on the wood.
“AND YOU HURT HIM!” Oikawa pulled them up and threw Daisho into a stack of boxes, leaving the other man bleeding. Oikawa went to grab him again, but Hanamaki and Matsukawa stopped him.
“Oikawa. Kyoutani’s dying, he needs medical attention. Now.”
Oikawa felt like a bucket of ice had just been dumped onto his head, changing his thoughts from how badly he wanted to hurt Daisho to how much he wanted Kyoutani back and safe. He remembered Iwaizumi forcing him to promise that he wouldn’t let rage cloud his judgment, but he felt the temptations of turning back to the scum in his hands and delivering pain.
“Oikawa.”
The man spit on Daisho before letting him drop back into the boxes and running to Kyoutani’s side.
“Ken?’ Oikawa whispered, gently lifting Kyoutani’s head to meet his eyes. Oikawa let a tear fall as he took in the glaze of Kyoutani’s eyes.
“It’s okay. I’m here to get you out. Haji’s waiting for us.” Oikawa said, picking Kyoutani gently up as to not cover his gills, resulting in a weird hug. Yahaba and Hanamaki held his tail, making sure no parts of it dragged on the floor as they swiftly carried him out and over onto the Seijoh.
Kuroo had his men leave the ship the second they saw Oikawa coming, needing no explanation.
Oikawa didn’t have time to be grateful for Kuroo’s compliance at the moment, but in hindsight Oikawa would be sure to show his gratitude.
They lowered him into the same tub Iwaizumi was in, ducking against suddenly flailing limbs as the water shocked his system.
“Ken! Ken it’s okay we’re here!” Iwaizumi said, wrapping his arms around Kyoutani to keep him calm.
Watari immediately got to work, stitching up the bigger cuts and putting salve over his tail to keep infections out of where scales would need to grow back.
“Oh ken…” Oikawa said, wrapping his arms around both Iwaizumi and Kyoutani. Kyotani just let out a shuddering breath through his gills, letting tears of relief fall down his face. Kyotani continued to softly cry as Watari dressed his wounds.
“Haji? T-tooru?” Kyotani sobbed, pressing himself into Hajime’s hold.
“Oh guppy. You’re safe now.” Iwaizumi said, fighting back tears of his own. He couldn’t protect Kyotani, why would he want to be around people who let him get captured?
“Wh-where are we?” Kyotani stuttered quietly, letting the feeling of being held wash over him.
“We’re on the Seijoh. Daisho won’t touch you.” Oikawa answered, slowly running his hand through Kyoutani’s hair.
“Y-you saved me?” Kyotani whispered, and both Iwaizumi and Oikawa saw the glazing over his eyes fall away.
“Of course. I would sail to the America’s and back if it meant keeping you safe.” Oikawa promised, leaning down to kiss both Iwaizumi and Kyoutani’s foreheads.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.” Iwaizumi whispered, slowly wiping the tears off of Kyoutani’s face as he wallowed in his pain.
“Haji you couldn’t have done anything.” Oikawa said sternly, watching as Kyotani buried himself in between the two of them.
“I should have waited to make sure it was Tooru.” Kyotani said, wincing as Watari finished slathering healing salves over his tail and wrapped it with extra soft bandages.
“There was nothing any of you three could have done to prevent this. If you insist on blaming something, blame the weather and Daishou.” Watari cut in, waving over Yahaba. “Bring over some fish and sandwiches. And skin it this time!”
Oikawa felt his heart melt as he watched his crew take care of Kyotani and Iwaizumi. He felt some of the anxiety from missing the blonde start to leave his body, and he finally started relaxing into the tub fully. Iwaizumi tugged him closer and soon he was falling asleep with his two boyfriends.
“He’s going to flip out about sleeping in salt water isn’t he?” Kunimi asked as they watched the trio sleep.
“No doubt about it.” Hanamaki said, before smirking and grabbing some ink off of his desk. “You all must take an oath of silence.”
The crew of the Sejoh looked at each other and carefully started walking away from each other, and making themselves look busy. Hanamaki’s smirk grew as he started writing all over Oikawa’s face. The crew knew they'd have to deal with the brunette whining about how much his crew hates him later, but they were all itching for a sense of normality following the last few days.
Kyotani and Iwaizumi stayed on the ship for a few more weeks while they nursed Kyotani back to health. Iwaizumi’s wounds had healed a while ago so he was lifted out of the tank and was following the ship as it continued on it’s trade route. Kyotani joined him once his scales had mostly grown back, his tail now having black scales dotted along his tail. He knew Oikawa and Iwaizumi didn’t really like it, but he thought they were pretty cool.
The Seijoh crew hadn’t heard anything about Daisho, but it was safe to say he wouldn’t be messing with either of the mermaids. Oikawa had killed many, and he wasn’t above adding a slippery snake to the list.