Chapter Text
Izuku had been captive since he was barely a yearling, his mother he had never met but he had picked up mermish from the other captive companions that he sometimes found himself close to. But it was hard when your neighbours changed every week.
He was raised by those around him but mainly by himself, however there had been an adult female mer that had been placed with him once for a show, they had grown quite close in that time she was his surrogate mama. He found she had lost her pup to these people and practically adopted Izuku. Not that he minded though, he enjoyed the preening and feeling safe while he slept. She would soothe him and hold him close, to them it didn’t matter that they were not biological, they were mama and pup.
Around 6 months after they had been paired together they removed her saying something about a buyer, he knew quite a bit of human but didn’t understand a lot and he couldn’t say it because it was hard on his throat, human required air to make the noises. It was also incredibly difficult to pick up some of the sounds outside of the water sometimes, even with their high pitched frequency hearing.
The day she was removed was brutal, it was like being ripped away from his mother all over again and to her like her pup, she had tried to evade their netting trying to get Izuku back into their little cave nest. He had gone tumbling back into their nest and she got tangled in the netting, she hissed and bared her fangs but the humans were not phased, Izuku saw that as a huge threat towards them but clearly they didn’t work the same as merfolk. They saw merfolk as money and attractions they would be looked at and forced to do tricks like they had no humanity at all.
They pulled out their guns and Izuku got further in the shallow plastic cave and hid his most precious possession in his mouth before he heard popping of the darts in the water. His mother growled but it ebbed quickly as she fell limp and Izuku felt a sting on his torso, everything began to fade out and he slumped against the floor, darkness flooding in.
When he came back he was in a new tank, it was murky and he could tell it had a low salt concentration, it felt strange on his scales and uncomfortable in his lungs. It was harder to suck in as much oxygen, well it felt that way. There was a lid above him and a little filter that clearly didn’t do much for the quality of the water or even oxygen level.
He didn’t even attempt to get up, he just let himself lay limp on the bottom, if they wanted him to move they could do it themselves. He wanted his mama back, he opened his mouth pulling out the necklace he had stored from their nest before they had forcibly separated them. It was made of his mothers scales and some of his own; this was the only way he would ever get to remember his surrogate mother. She had been his only mother that he ever had known and she was the best, she was his why did she have to leave.
Later that day 3 new people stood beside his box of water, it was essentially a large coffin filled with water and he meant that in both senses of the word.
He didn’t look at the men he knew were there but he let his eyes stay closed, that was until they started tapping on the glass and rapping their strange finger necklace on it creating a much louder noise. Finally he looked up at them and hissed, he may be small but he was 10 he could quite easily drown a few of them, they looked taken aback by his reaction.
His split pupils narrowed to slits and he bared his teeth, flaring his head fins. They should’ve taken the hint and backed off, but instead they slid off the lid to his tank part way and slipped some form of stick in the water.
The next thing he knew he could taste iron in the water and his whole body shuddered and twitched on its own, he gasped for air, the pain running all the way across his body.
Back on the bottom of the tank he groaned, head fuzzy, the stick had been removed. They had some form of lightning stick that hurt everything in the water. Izuku felt weak, his muscles ached and spasmed in pain, these people were different, they didn't use long ropes to get obedience.
The tank felt even hazier as he rested his head against the smooth glass closing his eyes which soothed his headache like he was in his nest. Izuku didn’t register them moving his tank or loading it up into a van, he didn’t stir from this dissociative dream until hands were next to his head, they were metal hands but the water tasted different again he felt too weak to fight it.
Instinctively his lungs swapped and he took in air through his throat, what an odd feeling, it was so different from gills, all he could do now was watch as he was bound to a cold shiny table.
Whatever they had put into the water it burned his eyes and removed all of the tension from his limbs so he had no fight in him, only the fight in his head that grew more and more hopeless as he watched.
They stuck him with needles and he couldn't help but scream out as white hot pain came into contact with his scales, a man in gloves pressed something against his side, he convulsed at the contact screeching and thrashing trying to get away.
He was then picked up by metal hands again and dumped into a new pool of water, it was like a cube this time but again he didn’t pay it any more notice than that as he licked his wounds curled in a corner.
He whimpered to himself, he whimpered for his mama.
He wanted nothing more than to be curled up in their nest together.
She would know what to do. She would nurse his wounds and comfort him.
He hadn’t even had the chance to tell her I love you before they separated.
“Oh mama,” he whispered to himself, curling up as tightly as his new wound would let him, “these people are bad, I want to go home.” Tears escaped his eyes and disappeared into the water.
“Mama I love you, please don’t leave me…”
Izuku began rigorous training not too long after his move, the new water was making his skin swell up and it was harder to move his fins, but he realised that since he was to perform he needed to look healthy.
They trained him commands and other things just for entertainment, they had him do flips, pull himself onto land and even have him fight with other mers. If the fight wasn’t realistic enough they would be tased and made to start over, this made him act docile, he would obey command he would do anything as long as he didn’t need to be put through the pain all over again. It had started giving him muscle spasms even days after it had happened like his own body was causing it because he was so used to it happening on the regular.
But as time moved on he grew even more sickly, he was tased more times than he could count as they tried to keep him performing, his palor was white like paper and the colour had somewhat faded from his hair and tail. His fins felt like they’d been permanently glued to his sides and when he wasn’t performing he would sink to the bottom of his small rectangular tank.
He’d been taking on water because of the low salt concentration so his body had been swelling whilst he got skinnier from lack of proper food, he got maximum one meal a day.
There was one trainer, his name was Tenko, he wore long yellow gloves because the water irritated something that he had called eczema he wasn’t sure exactly what it was but it looked like sore human skin.
Tenko was nicer than the rest. He would give snacks from his pocket, it was usually sardines that he pulled from a metal container, he would slip them when his master wasn’t looking. He was meant to be training to take over one of the older trainers positions, Tenko let him do the easy trick and gave him rewards but he always looked sad when he sat leaning against Izuku’s tank.
He would press his human fingers against the tank and speak to him, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry that they treat you like you're dumb, you’re so amazing and intelligent but there’s nothing I can do.”
Izuku was used to it now and he mainly got the gist of what he was saying, there were some words that didn’t click in his head but others were simple, they were ones he’d heard since he was a pup. And they weren’t very nice, so he guessed it was aimed at the other trainers.
He was the only one that Izuku would communicate with, it wasn’t in either language it was usually just small sounds here and there to let him know that he was still here. He would trill quietly or warble whilst making quick eye contact, it was their own simple little language but it was enough for the both of them to find a little comfort in each other's company.
The trainers eventually stopped trying to force him to move, he couldn’t do the tricks, so instead he found people rapping on the glass to get him to respond, it was something about buyers. So here it would go, he was going just like his mother did, again.
Buyers meant new people, new foods, new tanks and new training regimes.
And no Tenko.
The boy looked utterly distraught when he found out but they had spoken in their human and Tenko’s face had fallen even further. Izuku pushed himself up enough to face where the boy had leant himself against the glass, he let out a quiet coo for him, he knew he was sick, he knew that he was probably going to die. But he was okay with it; he would be at peace knowing that Tenko had cared for him and so had his mama, and he probably would be joining her and his birth mama in a place where he would be able to swim freely.
It had been getting harder to breathe in the water over the past few weeks, that sometimes he had found it easier to use his human lungs instead, which he would do if his muscles didn’t strain and complain giving out on him every time that he would try. There was just no way that he could prop himself up like that anymore.
There was another set of people who came around, who had seen Tenko’s tear filled eyes as he got up and moved away from the tank. But Izuku couldn’t help but notice how the boy had looked at these people, it was different from the disgust he usually saw.
There were 2 men, they both had long hair, one was blonde and straight, the other’s was black and had waves in it. Izu shuffled himself to be more comfortable, he coughed on the fresh water and tucked his head on top of his arms. The men were odd, they crouched by his tank muttering incoherently to each other but never once did they try to provoke a response. Instead they moved around the tank to save him from moving, it was strange and it made him nervous, so he didn’t hesitate to let out a warning growl which made the blonde jump.
They made their way back around to where he could see them and he lowered the growl to a grumble in the back of his throat. His master ushered them on and told them about an auction which he didn’t know what it was but he didn’t want to meet who that was they probably weren’t friendly.
The day for meeting auction rolled around and his tank was surrounded by people and a large man who shouted at all the other humans, he couldn’t help but cover his ears, his fingers gripping the edges of them, his tail twitching a little in his anxiety.
Where…
Where was Tenko?
He was scared.
Who were these people?
Why did they need to practise shouting near his tank?
They seemed to shout for years before there was a sharp but loud bang making him jump and suddenly all of the humans were leaving a lot of them looked annoyed but the blonde and the black haired ones from the other day crouched back in front of his tank.
“You’re coming with us lil bean” the blonde spoke so he hissed and bared his fangs shuffling a little in his tank but his limbs weren’t properly reacting which made him growl. He was nervous, these must be his new masters, he wanted Tenko and to stay with him but only him, but instead his tank began to move.
They got closer to the light at the end of the room, which was where the humans arrived everyday, but all he could do was wince and shy away as it burned his eyes. The odd humans seemed to see that or he probably whined out loud, they paused and his tank came to a stop they opened their bag and pulled out a large sheet and soon the light significantly dimmed and his head no longer throbbed. They had covered up the tank which heightened his nerves but relaxed the muscles in his eyes, he was used to dark and dingy not anything brighter.
He let out small clicks and quiet warbles for the whole journey, he had no clue where he was going but he couldn’t move, they were going to hurt him or worse.
What if they skinned him to sell to more humans. He didn’t want to end up as decorative bones.
His warbling got slightly louder as he got more agitated, he fidgeted in the water even though he moved sluggishly it was still enough to garner the humans attention.
The darker haired one lifted the sheet and Izuku growled, he would swipe but he was using his arms to lopsidedly prop up his head. The man began to communicate with the other and Izuku listened in for the hopes that he could get some clues.
“Zashi the kid’s getting really agitated, how long?”
“I don’t know uhhh… 15, 20 minutes, I have one of those soluble tablets in my bag if you think it’ll help. Either way I think Oboro is gonna have to tranq this one he seems a little feral.”
“I’ll use a tablet, and yeah I’ll text him so he’s ready. It’s strange though because his owner said he was docile, he hardly reacted to the others and they were abusers.”
“It’s probably conditioning Sho there’s not much we can do until we get him acclimated to a new cycled recovery tank, he’s never going to make it alone in the wild so we’re going to have to get him a little more socialised too.”
“We’ll see we’ve not had an injured mer come in like this in a long while, especially not one that needs socialising. It almost sounds as though they were lying when they said he was hand reared, but there's also no way that he wasn’t.” The man paused speaking to the blonde while he fished something out of a bag and undid the wrapper. He opened the top of his filter and put it inside, so he growled even louder, what were they doing? It felt off.
“Sho have you put it in? I don’t want him to strain himself when he’s moving and growling like that.”
“I did Zashi it's just starting to dissolve, kiddo it’s just something to calm you down a little it might make you want to take a little nap and if you want to that's okay, we are going to get you fixed up as soon as we get you home.” With that the man smoothed down the cloth again and Izuku found himself beginning to go a little more limp, he didn’t panic too much because of the warning but also he wanted to be able to move if they tried to touch him.
His eyelids felt heavy and he let them blink closed as his control began to slip and exhaustion and the new scent in the water seemed to soothe him into sleep. He didn’t want to but the odd taste in the water made him just want to relax. It was odd he didn’t like it but had relieved his anxiety so he couldn’t help but appreciate it slightly.
When he was moved more again, the sheet was pulled up slightly and he was still drowsy, he growled lowly as whatever they put into the water had begun to wear off, it felt like it did when the people would pull out the guns on them.
He looked to where the cover had been put back down again, a new voice had joined the other 2 it was smooth and had a more excited tone.
“So Sho, Zashi what am I looking at today? What should I expect?” the new voice questioned.
“A young mer, trained for the entertainment industry, looks like he’s malnourished and he needs to move from that water, the salt concentration is dangerously low.” The blonde spoke.
The tank stopped moving and they slowly removed the cover, by this time Izuku was mostly back to normal, he growled and bared his teeth.
The new person had fluffy pale blue hair that seemed to float above his head, he seemed a little taken aback by the display in front of him. “Thanks for the warning that he was feral Shouta but I'm not sure how confident in giving him stronger tranquilisers. He doesn’t exactly look happy with being forced to nap earlier.”
“There wasn’t much we could do Oboro we had to calm him down he was thrashing about in the water.” The dark haired man, Shouta spoke.
“That's okay, don't worry too much Shouta. Let's get him out of this tank and onto the stretcher”
The three moved closer to the glass, Shouta lifted the lid and the three stepped back but Izuku propped himself up only for his arms to give out and he slumped against the bottom of the tank.
Oboro looked at the weak mer, he was swollen and malnourished, he needed out of that water and quickly. The way he was slumped at the bottom too was very concerning. His fins were limp and he couldn’t hold himself up which was very worrying since it was the upper body that was used to manoeuvre themselves on land.
“Alright, he can’t move more than that, both of you lift the tail I’ll get his upper body,” it was common knowledge that the tail was the heaviest part of the merfolk. Oboro was ready to restrain if needed he really didn’t want to have to sedate the mer again, it would only add more fear into the mix.
The three moved to the mer he let Sho and Zashi get a hold first before he looped his hands under the kids arms. He whined and tried his best to thrash but the mer was just too weak.
He was laid on the stretcher shifting uncomfortably and breathing heavily, he was adjusting to human lungs so none of them moved closer so the kid could chill out a bit more, well hopefully, he was still only a pup.
The kid hissed baring his teeth but didn’t move at all, like his body was completely locked up, he spoke some garbled mermish before whimpering in fear. His pupils were slits and his hands twitched hopelessly at his side like he wanted to swipe but they were weighed down, Oboro was getting more and more worried for the pup.
Signs pointed to the possibility that the kid was paralysed but it didn’t make sense since parts of his body twitched suggesting that he could regain movement in his limbs.
They started off simple by getting a length, weight and a full body x-ray, and then they had to move onto the more invasive parts involved with admitting a new mer to the rescue programme. They needed to get him vaccinated against some waterborne diseases since he was hand reared, meaning he wouldn’t have gotten the antibodies from a mother, they also needed to take a blood sample and test the movement capability of the mer.
They started with the vaccinations, as soon as he had seen the needle the pup screeched and squirmed seemingly telling them off in mermish, Oboro had to put it back down there was no way he could safely administer it with this amount of movement.
He wasn't even moving his tail but his upper body moved to the side to avoid it, Shouta jumped in to help and took the kids other hand whilst showing off his necklace of mer scales around his neck.
With the kid distracted enough he got the vaccine done but not without tearing up Sho's fingers. It was rather amusing, but Shouta didn’t think so, it was only a scratch where the kid had clenched his other hand when he’d been jabbed.
The blood draw however was practically impossible, he wouldn’t let himself be distracted again and instead pointedly stared at Oboro narrowing his eyes and making a half assed swipe.
The kid was so underweight that the swipe was weak, he had no muscle because he hadn’t been fed enough, it disgusted Oboro at the thought of this pup being forced to perform in water where he could barely breathe and a tank where he was curled into because it was too short. These were real intelligent people with their own civilisations and languages, they weren’t an exotic pet.
“I’m gonna need help getting to draw blood here, I’m calling off the movement test because this kid needs food and socialising. I think it’s best if you two hang around him a bit it’ll help him get used to humans especially since this is definitely not a release case. He may be feral but he has never hunted or swam or had much interaction with his own kind, the fact he even knows mermish is a shock.” The others nodded at Oboro who gave a quick smile before looking back at his table thinking on how on earth they were going to do this.
Hizashi and Shouta positioned themselves around the mer and used firm hands to hold his arms and tail, it wasn’t the most ethical but if explained reasoning it was very much necessary, it would also mean they could leave the kid alone for a while to do his own thing.
Now that they had collected the blood sample Oboro gave a thumbs up and disappeared into his lab, with that as their dismissal they raised the modified plastic sides of the stretcher to prevent the kid from being able to reach them.
At the tank they got closer and closer to the edge with the stretcher before they lowered the barriers and manually lifted the young mer, slowly lowering him into the water.
As soon as the pup’s gills were under the water he seemed to relax, his chest showed deep breaths and as they let go he managed to manoeuvre himself enough to lay comfortably in the sand. He seemed very much confused but this was Sho and Zashi’s favourite part, it was so special seeing how the mer would slowly acclimatise and relax further realising that they were safe now and as free as possible.
Obviously there were limitations because some would never survive open ocean whether it was because of mental or physical ailments. It was about 50-50 with those who would stay and those who were rehabilitated but they had separate places for each just so then everything was kept on tabs.
In the first week the pup caused some minor problems, he wouldn’t eat his food because he could smell the medication in it, which was not the best especially since he was taking it to try be healthy enough to move out of this smaller tank into a much, much larger tank that would essentially be his primary home. He also would soak any of the people going past his tank, that or he would hide terrified of the people. Not only this but he refused to surface the water when there was anyone nearby which had set back his socialisation plan, they weren’t going to give up on him by any means but it was making it much harder than it needed to be.
All of this and they had builders coming in to build an extension with the grant they had been given, it would allow for a place where some of the mer would be able to see the humans that went through the aquarium attached to this rescue centre. However the newest resident didn’t take this well and even after administering mild sedatives the pup was still getting more worked up.
“I’ll help, I can’t get ill from him,” Shouta said before leaving the room.
Oboro and Hizashi chuckled knowing what he was going to do, they called this Shouta’s dad senses and however much they would laugh at him doing this it would work every time it must be the vibe he gives off.
He would have that pup calmed down before mer learned to walk.
The pair headed around to the kid’s tank where Shouta was sitting on the slant near the water.
Now the thing was, both Hizashi and Shouta had custom silicone mer tails which had unique flukes to be as convincing as possible all the way down to having specially engineered scales along the tail.
Shouta’s was grey and styled like a mullet fish, most mer had similarities to real fish which is how their schools were made up, for example Shouta would most likely be born to a family of mer with mullet tails if he were mer. This didn’t mean mer had to be with mer of similar tails; it was just how the diversity worked with their species.
With the tail fully fitted he slowly lowered himself in whilst holding onto the side, Oboro and Hizashi gave a nod, they would be watching and ready to intervene should the kid get aggressive. It shouldn’t be too much of a problem though since Shouta was skilled in the water and had the strength equivalent to an adult mer.
Izuku could hear them talking and had seen them arrive near his tank, this one was much bigger and was about triple his length so he could actually move around. It had a small den at the bottom that was clearly human made but he really couldn’t afford to be picky, who knew when his training would actually start, he’d been resting a lot more and moving some as he regained more control over his tail and fins.
He didn’t like the men in the yellow hats and bright yellow vests, they were loud and the noises they made with their pieces of metal were scary. He didn’t like it. He was curled up in his den as far away from them as possible.
That's when he felt the water ripple, it was bigger than usual so it wasn’t food, he sniffed the water.
There was someone in his tank.
They had come for him because he wouldn’t come to them, he wasn’t stupid he didn’t want them to make him do tricks.
A dark figure sunk in the water- was that one of the humans?
But humans used human air, not mer water.
He couldn’t lie, Izu was very intrigued, from what he could see it was the dark haired man- Shouta.
He had a grey tail and his black hair hung loose.
Why was he here?
Could he breathe? He had no breathing device on which is what he had seen on humans before.
The man approached and he hissed shifting further back into the den, he gave a swipe as the man got even closer but stopped outside the den.
“I’m not going to hurt you kid.” Shouta spoke and Izuku had to do a double take when he realised that it was in mermish. It was impossible to do human sounds under water but he had just spoken mermish how?
“how?” he asked hesitantly, biting his lip anxiously, why was he here, why was he speaking mermish, why was he asking questions?
“I’ll answer some questions when you are kid, I don’t even know your name yet. But you understand Japanese don’t you? So I assume you know my name from Zashi yelling about it.”
Izuku nodded not trusting himself to speak but confirming that he both understood humans and he knew their names from it.
“You can call me Aizawa or Shouta, I don’t mind, I thought I’d come and check up on you since you are our newest resident. I know it’s loud and scary at the moment but they are making it so we can look after more people like you and when you’re all better you could meet them and make some friends.” Shouta had a level tone that almost sounded bored but he could hear the almost softness that was laced in, the sort that felt safe.
Izuku found himself relaxing a little and getting more comfortable in his den now that he knew that the man wasn’t going to intrude into his den.
Shouta had sat himself amongst the kelp that hid his den in the back corner.
“Izuku” he piped up quietly.
“What was that kid?”
“Uh m-m-y nam-me is Izuku.” he stuttered through the words looking down at his hands.
“Well it’s nice to meet you Izuku, how are you feeling today?”
Izuku stumbled in his thoughts, he sounded like mama had when they first met, it disturbed something deep within his mind that heartbreak and longing for someone who could make adult decisions for him he was only just 14.
Mer were considered pups until they were 17-18 because that's when they would have their first adult shed and would be a full length mer.
“-m ‘okay don’t like the yellow people they- they-”
“Take a breath kid it’s okay, deep breaths for me Izuku you’re safe” Shouta’s soft voice filtered into his brain letting him regain enough control and take some deep breaths. “There you go it’s okay, I’m here I won’t let them bother you kiddo thats why im here.”
“Th-that's why? Izuku parroted unsure about what the older man was saying.
“Yes, I’m here because we don’t want you to get too worried, we could tell you were getting a little distressed kid. So I’m going to stay with you to help you calm down a little bit, we tried earlier with that tablet, yeah? All it was for was to help you feel a little more relaxed but we know how hard it is in a new place. But niether me, Oboro or Hizashi are going to hurt you we just want you to be happy and healthy again.”
As Shouta finished Izuku found himself longing for physical contact, for someone bigger and stronger to take over and protect him from this big scary world, his eyes were welled up.
It was as if Shouta was magic, he offered his hand out to Izuku, which made him feel a little like a nervous guppy, but the promise of safety had overridden his fear of these people. So he put his hand into Shouta’s and let himself be gently tugged into an embrace, it was warm and Izuku nestled his head into his shoulder.
The man ran his hand through his hair making Izuku shiver but relax even more into his arms, it was this comfort that made his breathing hitch and get a little more stuttered. Shouta was quick with soothing words and his other unoccupied hand ran up and down his back being careful around his dorsal fin.
5 minutes later Izuku pretty much conked out, his mind had been taken off the scary noises and so the exhaustion of the whole morning was catching up quickly, so his eyes slipped closed and his breath evened out as he slumped against his saviour.