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mysicklove-main · 1 year

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Pairings: King Merman! Bakugou x Human! Fem! Reader

Word Count: 5.2k

Warnings: Just fluff.

Summary: You meet a merman one day and find yourself with your very own trading companion. You exchange gifts of the land and sea. The two of you were fine until Katsuki says he wants more from you.

𝐅𝐈𝐂 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

Katsuki Bakugou gets everything he wants. The underwater kingdom is his, and whenever he wants or needs something, with a flick of his webbed hands, it appears. He is worshipped and maybe even feared by all of the seas. King Bakugou, the warrior ruler of the sea.

Except for a mate. No matter how many mers, both male and female, his court presents him with, he never feels anything toward them. His mother scolds him for not even meeting the young candidates, but he doesn’t give a shit. He gets what he wants; he will know if they are worthy just by a single glance.

So on some days, he forces his mother to watch the throne while he swims and swims just to clear his mind. He picks fights here and there with other sea creatures just to test his strengths. After he wins his battle against his third great white, he realizes he needs something stronger. Something to really pique his interest.

A human. Well, from afar, they look pathetic with their gangly limbs, but it is common knowledge to a mer that they possess weapons that can easily kill any creature of the sea. But this is Katsuki Bakugou we are talking about here. He isnt just some mer. He is the most powerful being of the sea. No one, including a human, could beat him.

So, the arrogant bastard took toward the surface to find the closest human. The water becomes more shallow, and not that he would ever admit it, but adrenaline fills his veins when he gets closer and closer to the shore.

Luckily for him though, a human was close. In the water, too. He was dreading trying to coax one into the ocean. Katsuki snickers at the strange limbs called legs kicking to try to keep the human afloat. It was so embarrassing for them. One flap of his tail, and he is yards ahead of them. It was incomparable the strength between the two species.

Without much hesitation, he grabs the submerged legs and pulls. They scream, of course, when they lose their precious oxygen and are surrounded completely by salt water. Their arms flail, and their legs continue to fight their way to the surface, but it’s all in vain. After all, this is Katsuki’s element.

Wanting to get one glance at the human before making a swift and easy death, he turns the figure around, and his eyes widen.

You were pretty. Prettier than any of the other mers he has ever seen. Even if your face is contorted in fear, he takes a second to admire your hair, eyes, and lips. They were all so cute. Exactly the way he likes them.

And your strength was actually impressive. Although you were no match for the king, you were definitely putting up some sort of a fight. He actually had to grip you tighter so you wouldn’t squirm away. Both of you knew it was a losing battle, but still, you really tried. You definitely had survival instincts.

As Katsuki gets distracted admiring the creature, you get one lucky hit and manage to kick him right in the nose. He hisses out and lets you go.

He could go out and grab you again easily but didn’t feel the need to. After that fight you put up, you deserved to stay alive. Stay alive, so Katsuki can meet you again.

You were just trying to take a dip in the ocean, really. After all the stress you have had this week, you deserved it. A nice relaxing day by the beach. You were not planning on almost getting drowned.

You swim swiftly toward the dock and yank yourself up before the creature tries to grab you again. You didn’t see much except for flashes of blonde hair, red eyes, and an orange tail. What was that thing? Some sort of fish? It just didn’t make sense. What fish could pull you down into the water? The beach was completely private, so it’s not like you could tell a lifeguard what happened.

You shiver and grab your towel before heading inside your beach house. You began to ponder, desperately trying to figure out what the strange animal was. After about an hour of research, you came to the decision that it was definitely a mermaid. Many studies have shown that they do, in fact, exist but are extremely rare to find.

It seems absolutely insane to you, but what else could be able to hold onto you like that? And that tail…It was huge.

You aren’t going to go near the beach for a while. Even so, though, you really did want another glance…I mean, seeing a real-life mermaid is crazy! Once little peep of the mermaid surely wouldn’t be a problem.

After all, curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.

Three weeks. Katsuki has managed to escape his royal duties to see your ass, and not once have you come back even close to the water. He has scouted the area over thirty times and found the small shack you call home. The mer lets out a scoff as he watches your shadow move back and forth inside the building.

He has thought about throwing something at the building but thought against it. He didn’t want you to think he was a violent maniac (even if he was) with your first real meeting. So, he boredly swam back and forth, waiting for you to come outside again.

He was in luck because at around 5 pm, you did finally open the door of your shitty shack and step outside. He quickly dove into the water to watch from below the surface. The last thing that he needed was to scare you back into hiding.

His eyes follow your figure as you walk toward and onto the dock that bridges into the ocean. You look nervous but determined, and Katsuki can see you holding something but can’t determine what it is.

Suddenly, your loud voice calls, “Hello!” over and into the water. You flush in embarrassment for doing something so silly. But you continue anyways, “If you are out there, mermaid, come over here!” It probably wasn’t the most convincing way to lead the visitor over, but whatever, you were desperate.

Katsuki smirks in triumph. He only knows very little of the human language due to his studies as a child. All he knows is that you greeted him and said the word “mer,” so you must be calling for him.

So he pops his head out of the water with a small smirk on his face. His orange ear fins are spread wide and on display. His scarred tail, from all the fights he has won, beats against the water as he watches you. He gently displays his sharp canines with his smirk. Like always, he looks like the strongest being of the sea.

When you take in his appearance, you scream and fall onto your butt.

Katsuki lets out a light bark in laughter, watching you fall. He couldn’t blame you; those strange limbs looked hard to use. If he were human, he definitely wouldn’t struggle, but he bets Denki or Eijiro would.

He puffs out his chest and made himself look as large and powerful as he could in the water. “Hello, I am King Explosion Murder or King Bakugou, ruler of the undersea.” He stood there waiting for the excitement or shock that usually comes from hearing his title, but nothing came. “Ruler of the undersea. Did you not hear me extra?” Judging from your frightened appearance, trembling on the doc, no, you did not understand.

And then he remembered. Of course, you don’t understand. He isn’t speaking in your tongue. To you, it must have sounded like a bunch of trills and clicks.

Katsuki opens his mouth to speak but growls. He doesn’t remember how to speak your language. It’s unnatural for mers to do it, but nobility are taught it, just in case. However, that was when he was ten, and he hasn’t practiced since.

Upon hearing his frustrated growl, you point your knife straight at him and threaten him. “S-Stay back! I have a knife, and I know how to use it!” You didn’t, but that was beside the point. You shouldn’t have come out here. It was a stupid idea. Curiosity did kill the cat, and you’ll need more than satisfaction to get you out of this situation.

The blonde doesn’t understand any of your words. The only thing he understands is that you are holding out a knife toward him. A gift! Already? Katsuki is known to be bold, but here you are, offering a courting gift on day one. I mean, it made sense, considering his physique. You must have seen how powerful he is and were quick to pounce. Eager, he likes it, and he can’t really blame you.

He huffs out pride and lets out a click in thank you. Then, quicker than lightning, the blonde snatches the knife from your hands and into his. He holds it up to admire it, unaware that you’re currently freaking out without your weapon to defend yourself. He scoffs at it. It was sharp but not even close to his very own canines. He turns toward you and pulls the knife up next to his teeth to show the comparison. He is once again unaware of how you pale drastically.

“Stay.” He uselessly commands before diving down back into the water, knife still in hand. You cock your head to the side in confusion at his disappearance, but realizing this is your only time to escape, you begin to book it down the dock and toward your home.

You don’t get very far. Katsuki, effortlessly fast, grabs your foot before you can return to the sand. You stumble forward and land on your knees, causing you to hiss in pain. A small scrape forms on your left knee.

He huffs in annoyance. “I said stay, you idiot! Look what you did!”

The loud growls cause you to tear up. This is it, isn’t it? He has got to be growling so much because his prey got away. It was a stupid idea, all of it. You were going to die, and nobody was going to find your body and–

Katsuki grabs your leg and licks the wound on your knee like he has done countless times with others during battles. After all, mer saliva has healing properties. Then as your eyes widen in shock, Katsuki pushes an orange sea shell toward you. He set in the water, just earlier for you. He lets out an annoyed bark when you don’t reach for it, and hearing the warning, you quickly scramble to take it. The blonde smirks in triumph and continues back to healing you.

You shiver when you feel the tongue back on your knee. It was like a cat’s tongue. The prickles gently nick at you. But, with all the courage you can muster, you tear your gaze away from the creature and onto the sea shell. It was light orange, and absolutely massive. Seriously, it was about the size of your whole hand. But, it was pretty and shiny in the sunlight.

You spare a glance at the blond, who is still completely focused on the task at hand. You could guess that he is trying to heal you for some odd reason. It made your heartbeat begin to return back to normal. Why would he heal his prey from such a minor wound if he was going to kill anyways? But why would he want you alive?

Then, you look to the right of him and see that in his hand, he is still holding the knife. Your eyes widen in realization of what is happening. “Trade! You want to exchange items with me. From the…human world?” The mer tears his mouth away from your skin and furrows his eyebrows in confusion. You point to the knife and then the seashell. “Trade?” You explain.

Katsukis eyes widen in understatement. So, the human word for “courting” is “trade”! Only a genius like himself would be able to figure that out so quickly. He lets out a soft grumble and nods his head. Then, realizing if this relationship is going to work, Katsuki has to tries to try and speak in your tongue. “Chr–aye-dd”

Your mouth falls open at the attempt of your language. The whole thing was absolutely insane, and now the strange creature is trying to communicate with you. This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so you continue speaking. “Yes, Trade! But say “Trr” instead of “Chr” You enunciate the sounds, so he understands.

Katsuki grumbles stubbornly when you correct him. Only his mother has been one to nag in, nobody else has the guts to do it, but here you are correcting him within the first greetings. You were bold; he had to give it to you. He also likes that. So, for your sake, he tries again.“Trrr-aye-d”

You laugh at this and smile gently. “Yes! Thats it! Trade.” You once again point to the knife and the seashell.

Seeing you smile, Katsuki lets out a trill and nods. Without much permission, the blonde rests his head on your leg, careful not to touch the wound. Then the hopeless mer begins to daydream. This was going perfectly! Not even one day of knowing him, and you have already allowed him to court you. Now, it was smooth sailing from here. He just needs to bring you a couple more gifts, and finally, King Bakugou will have his very own mate!

You, on the other hand, are freaking out a little bit. A merman is here and resting his head on your legs! Nobody would ever believe this was happening.

You tear your gaze away from him for a second and notice that the sun is almost down. Although the mer seems friendly as of now, you didn’t feel comfortable with him enough to stay with him during the dark. So, you try to gently get it up without disturbing him too much.

His daydream comes to an abrupt stop when you begin to move your legs. He groans in annoyance. “Stop.” He commands, which comes out in a small bark. You ignore him, considering you can’t understand him, and Katsuki slides back into the water.

He lets out a low growl, and your eyes widen. He wasn’t having second thoughts about this little exchange, right? So as you get to your feet, you quickly say, “Tomorrow, I will come back, and we can trade again. Okay?”

Katsuki looks scepitical. He only got out the word tomorrow and trade. Which definitely is a good sign, but does he trust you enough to keep your word? If he has to wait another three weeks, he is going to absolutely pissed. But then again, you seem to like him a lot if you already began wanting to court him on the first day of the meeting. Plus, you allowed him to touch you, once again, another good sign. You have got to like him.

So he sighs and trills a goodbye before swimming back down into the deep blue sea.

Katsuki Bakugou was adorable. It’s been about a week since you have known him and you have visited him every morning. He seems to be rather attached to you already. One day, you overslept and missed his meeting, and the next day you got an earful of mostly growls and barks. You thought it was adorable that your new friend missed you.

Currently, it was Friday, and exactly a week since you guys have been talking to one another. You learned his name and even have gotten him to speak in small sentences. He seems to pick up the human language very quickly. You wonder if it was a mer thing or a Katsuki thing. Either way, you praise him immensely, and he acts like he doesn’t care, but its obvious by the red ting on his cheeks he does. He also teaches you the language of merfolk. Your vocal cords don’t really do the barks or clicks justice, so the two of you continue to speak in your language.

Not only that, but the mer was heavily physically affectionate. It was hilarious, considering the fact that he would insult you on being a “weak human,” and then the next minute, would curl into your lap as if nothing had happened.

In all honesty, no matter how much of a brat the mer was, it has been one of the best weeks of your life.

“Human. Att–tention. Now.” The orange merman demands when you stop running your fingers through his soft blonde hair and stare off into the distance. You chuckle at this and continue to pet him. You are glad you taught him the word “attention” because before that when he needed it, he would take to softly biting you. You have small bite marks all over your leg because of the overgrown, needy creature.

A small, content smile falls on his face as he nuzzles into your legs. Courting has gone absolutely perfectly. You were gentle and warm but were able to put up with his shit. A perfect match the two of you are.

Of course, every once in a while, you do say some stupid things. “Katsuki, do you think I can meet some of your mer friends?” The merman looks up at you and gives you a familiar glare. You smile in return, hoping to encourage him.

It doesn’t seem to work because he lets out a cat-like yawn and closes his eyes again. “Friends, weak. Stupid,” He grumbles, and you roll your eyes.

“I bet we would get along considering you call me weak and stupid,” You remind, and Katsuki opens his eyes back again to glare at you.

He lets out a series of trills and clicks on accident before sighing and switching back to your language. “On–ly need me,” He challenges, and you give up the argument. Katsuki was as stubborn as a mule. If he didn’t want you to meet his friends, you won’t.

All of the sudden, Katsuki rolls off your legs and into the water. You tilt your head to the side, but the mer just grumbles out a, “stay.” and lightly bites your calf to get his point across. You, like always, flinch at the bite, but let him, knowing that denying him makes him even more upset. Besides, it’s probably a sign of affection.

Then, he dives back into the water, leaving you alone. A couple of minutes go by, and eventually, he pops his head back above the water. He raises his webbed hand and shows a squirming fish in his hands. You give him a questioning stare, but before you can ask, he plunges his sharp canines into the body. The fish dies immediately, and you’re left in shock at what the hell just happened.

He then offers the fish to you. “Eat,” He barks, and you shake your head, disgusted by the fish placed so close to you. Katsuki doesn’t like this answer, and he glowers at you. “Food. Eat. Hun–ted for you.”

Even if you are used to his demands, you are not willing to go that far for the sea creature. “That will make me sick, Kats. I can’t eat raw fish, but I really appreciate the offer.” Katsuki stares at you for a second and then, like usual, lets out a series of annoyed trills. He grabs the fish and quickly begins devouring it, bones and all, much to your horror.

Once finishes, he looks back up at you with a satisfied smirk. “Good Hun–ter.”

You nod in agreement, “Yes, you are a fantastic hunter Katsuki, way better than me.” He chirps and nods, preening at the statement. You roll your eyes and laugh at his behavior.

And then he sighs and, like usual, begins his goodbyes. He seems to be a very busy creature, only being able to meet for about two hours a day. You wonder what is taking up his time. Another mer? Maybe he has a family? But he never mentioned either of these things.

You don’t get time to ponder on it, because Katsuki rubs against your legs one last time before saying his usual statement. “Trade. To–mor–ow”. To which you nod and wave your goodbye with your new pink seashell that you add to your collection.

He nods before falling under the water and disappearing.

You begin to think more and more about Katsuki. Even if he was another species, you couldn’t help but be attracted to him. His muscular upper body, his soft blond hair, his piercing red eyes, and even if you hated the canines in the beginning, they are beginning to grow on you. Plus, he has the best personality. Although it is a little aggressive at some points, you know he has good intentions.

He is sweet to you, under all of the insults, and is exactly your type (well, if he was human). So, like a normal person of your age, you begin to daydream what it would be like, to be more than a trading partner with the strange, but enthralling creature.

It’s been about three weeks, and the two of you have been “trading” almost every single day. Things like forks, coins, small mirrors, and cups have been given away while you receive an abundance of seashells and old jewelry that has fallen into the sea. Katsuki goes out of his way to find the nicest items he can. After all, he is a king, and his mate deserves only the best.

Katsuki knew he was doing a perfect job courting you. You are happy with him, he provides for you semi-well (only because you won’t take his food), and he is a fantastic protector. Often times the red-headed shark tried to talk to you, but Katsuki manages to scare his friend away every time. He isn’t going to risk you falling for some other extra. You were way too eager to court with him (even if it did make sense considering his physical appearance), and he didn’t want to play the odds of you accepting some idiots advances. You were his, and he was yours. That’s how things are supposed to go. So, today is the day he was going to ask you to be his mate. Then, the two of you are going live happily ever after.

He leaves his mother on the throne, like always, and grabs the ring he has planned to use. It was gold, and he removed the previous gemstone and replaced it with a pearl he had found when scouting the area for any threats. He knows that rings are weirdly important to humans, so, it was probably a good idea to get one. Then, he heads to your guys’ meeting spot.

You were waiting at the dock with your feet in the water. He swims up to you and lightly traces his hand up the bottom half of your leg. Then, like usual, he lays his head on your legs. You smile and pet his hair, “Hey, Katsuki.” He lets out a small click in greeting.

“I brought you something,” You continue, and Katsuki’s ruby eyes look up at you, slightly intrigued. You always gift him the strangest things. You pull out a tennis ball, and Katsuki squints at it before snatching it from your hands. He then begins to assess it. He rubs his cheek on it, then bites it gently, and finally growls at it, just to make sure it wasn’t anything dangerous. Once completely satisfied that it was safe, he trills in thanks. In your broken language, he says, “Good gift. M–Mine better.” to which you chuckle and nod, not willing to argue with the guy.

He pulls away from your legs and back into the water. A second goes by, and he is back up above the water and smirking as confident as ever. Katsuki quickly reminds himself of the stupid human customs he is trying to follow. He has practiced this sentence about a billion times. He forcefully, and a little nervously, thrusts the gold ring into your hold. “I K-King Katsuki Bakugou, take you, Y/N L/N to be” He lets out a small growl in frustration when he forgets how to pronounce the last part correctly. “To be…my mate.” He puffs his chest out while he waits for the tears and your acceptance.

But much to his surprise, you begin to giggle as you grab the pretty ring. You admire it and praise him on how beautiful it was. You have never seen a ring like this, it was pretty. You place it on your pointer finger and smile. Then you pat his head lightly and say, “Yes that is how wedding ceremonies go! How did you learn those lines? And I love the addition of “king.” Great touch Kats. Actually, did you know that I happen to be the Queen of the human lands?”

Katsuki has never been more confused in his life. Firstly, you put the ring on the wrong finger. He read so many slabs that told him that you were supposed to place it on the one next to the pinky! Secondly, you didn’t even respond to the declaration. You just praised him on his abilities. Thirdly, you are a queen?! Would this mean that your two people can finally live in peace? This seems like the most important question, so he says, “You–Queen?”

You laugh once again and, this time, shake your head. “No. Sorry I was just teasing you, Katsuki. I couldnt help it since you said you were the “king” of the sea.” He furrows his brows. Did you think he was joking? He has left his people abandoned for you daily, and you don’t even believe him!

“I am King! You are my Q-Queen! Mate!” His newly learned language gets choppy when upset. He grabs onto the doc with his hands and looks up at you with a scowl.

You tilt your head to the side. “Mate?”

Poor Katsuki goes into another hissy fit. He growls and grumbles, and you furrow your eyebrows, used to his dramatics. You don’t know exactly what’s pissing him off, though.

You are pissing him off. You guys have been “trading” for two weeks now, and you don’t even know what mates are. What do you think these entire interactions have been about? “We trade. Now we mate.”

“Like animals do?”

He uses his tail to propel him above the water. Now he is almost your height when you are sitting down on the dock. He only does this when he really needs your attention. The scowl has deepened, and this time, you do flinch. “Like mer do!”

Was Katsuki joking? About the king and the mating thing? You have never heard him joke before, but also, what was he talking about? You guys originally were trading items, and now you guys are friends. Did you confuse him somehow?

Your thoughts were suddenly cut off when Katsuki leans forward and pressed his lips onto yours. They are wet and a little salty, but still soft. You are just glad that you can’t taste fish on his lips. Your eyes widen for a second, but then gently kiss back for a second, and Katsuki pulls away. Red tints his face, and you probably match his furious blush. “S-See! Mate.”

Oh. So this entire time, he has been wanting to get with you? You use your hands to cover your face in embarrassment, but Katsuki is quick to remove them with a short but scolding bark. “We trade. Now we mate.” He repeats.

You realized that you confused him this entire time. He misunderstood your definition of trade. “You court and then mate. Not trade Katsuki. Trade is when you exchange items, like merchants do.”

Katsukis face contorts into disgust. Like the lower-class people? He is a king, for christ’s sake! How did you think that he was trading with you like some lowly extra? He didn’t need your useless items (yes, he did, he actually loves them all)! He lets out a series of growls and barks in the mer language at your misunderstanding. Finally, he, in your tongue, says, “Stupid human!”

Although you haven’t known Katsuki for that long, you know is not mad specifically at you, just upset. I mean rightfully so; you have misunderstood his attentions this entire time. You have got to make it up to him. So, you lean over and tilt his chin upward toward you and cut off his growls with a soft kiss. He, of course, shuts up and kisses you back intensely.

He hates craning his neck to kiss you, it makes him feel small, and he is the strongest creature under the water; he should never feel small. So without much hesitation, he grabs onto your figure and pulls you into the water.

You screech in surprise as the cold water hits you, and Katsuki grins. He presses his lips against yours again and effortlessly holds you above the water. Eventually, you pull away with a trail of salty saliva. “You are going to have to recourt me.”

Katsuki frowns as his face fins pin straight back on his face. “Why?”

“Because I didnt know you were trying to courting me. I want to enjoy it this time,” You hum, and Katsuki flicks a tad bit of water into your face. You scrunch your face up and whine, and Katsuki laughs low.

His orange tail flicks into the water. “Idiot human.” But, he still nods in agreement. It wasn’t like he was going to force you to be his mate. If needed to be, he can wait.

Your smile turns mischievous. “And you have to court me like a human does.” This time Katsuki does growl in annoyance. Human ways are so tedious.

“No.”

“Awe I guess I just got to find a human “mate” to court me….” You fake pout, and Katsuki grips you tighter. He can see right through your bluff, but pissing you off right now in such a nice moment does not seem like the best idea.

“Fine.” You give him a peck on the lips for his compromise. He in return, grabs your hand and replaces moves the ring from your pointer onto your ring finger. He lets out a satisfied click with the new placement. Now both mer and human will know you are his.

As you watch Katsukis ministrations, you think back to what he said earlier and hum in thought. “Hmm and Kats you were just joking about being a king right?”

Katsuki laughs mischievously and a little arrogantly. Your eyes widen at the response. “Right, Kats?”

“Nope.”

You squirm in his hold, but he wraps his tail around you, preventing you from leaving. “I can't be the ruler of a kingdom that I’m not even from! Plus I'm not even a mermaid!”

But Katsuki was already lost in thought, daydreaming once again of the future. Besides, there are many ways to get you changed into a mer, it wasn’t hard. “King and Queen Ex-plo-sion Murder. The most powerful mates of the sea.”

“Katsuki!”

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meowmeowriley · 2 months

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@sergeantwoods Sorry for the long wait, but here's the mer!AU

Think I'll call it Fish Out of the Sea

Ghost x Soap, blacktip reef shark mer!Soap, human Ghost, fluff, getting together (kinda)

Ficlet after the cut 😘

"No."

John sighed, he didn't seem surprised by Shepherd's hard rejection, but he kept trying. Simon had to give props to the fishing boat Captain. "You have the best mer rehabilitation facility in the country. It'd be a shame not to use it."

"You said you had a mermaid. That's not a fucking mermaid, John."

"I said I had an injured mer." He repeated himself from their earlier conversation.

"I'm not taking that thing into my facility."

"He needs help-"

"He's hideous, and aggressive." Shepherd barked. "That thing keeps lashing out, it'll scare patrons, attack my staff, and if that *thing* touches my mermaids, tries to mate with them, I'll have it put down."

"Mers are actually matriarchal, sir." The mer expert, Kyle, finally spoke up. "I've never worked with a shark mer before, but I do know he won't mess with Kate or Rosa, because they won't want him. Since they're together."

"Kyle. For the last time, the mermaids aren't lesbians. They're just fish." Shepherd was one of those who thought of mers as lesser than humans. Obviously.

Simon was standing near the door. No one had noticed him sneak in, but when he'd overheard that the mer was a shark variant, he'd needed to see it. Now, seeing the poor thing huddled in the corner of it's transport tank, curled in on itself, he felt so bad for it. He watched, any time someone went near it it flared out it's dorsal and pectoral fins. It would gnash it's teeth and charge the glass. All signs of aggression in a shark but... as soon as it finished its display it was right back to the furthest corner from the humans. It kept peeking at them over it's own shoulder when it thought they weren't looking. He quietly crept closer.

He took in it's markings, gray on it's back, white on its belly, black tips to it's fins. Claspers on its pelvic fins. A male blacktip reef shark then. His inferior end was all shark, something Simon was very familiar with, as he took care of all of the sharks here at the aquarium, several of them blacktips. His superior end, or top half, he supposed a visitor would (incorrectly) consider it, was new and interesting to him. Though he was vaguely humanoid, his skin was all two tones white and gray, like his tail. He had a wedge shaped snout in place of a human nose, a wider mouth with jagged teeth. Slitted eyes, and a black tipped fin atop his head that reminded Simon of a mohawk. Webbed gray and white hands with black claws rubbed up and down it's own arms in a self soothing gesture. One forearm had an odd angle to it, probably the injury that landed him here.

He retreated from the tank quietly before speaking, interrupting the squabbling of the other men. "He looks like a reef shark to me." Everyone else jumped. "Blacktip reef sharks aren't aggressive. Sure they can get a little iffy during feeding, but they're more curious than anything."

"He's been charging the glass, Ghost." Simon managed to suppress his eye roll at Shepherd's nickname for him. They all called him that here. "Fuck you mean 'not aggressive', you don't know mers."

"No, but I know sharks. He's injured, and defensive. You ever think he doesn't like us because it was something shaped like us that broke his arm?" John winced, he obviously felt bad about it. Not like he could've know he'd caught the mer in his net, but it was nice to see some accountability from a fisherman for once.

"Well we can't communicate with him, so he'll stay scared and defensive." If Simon didn't love the sharks, he would've left this place a long time ago because Shepherd was an absolutely abrasive cunt.

"Kate and Rosa can. And their English is excellent." Kyle spoke up again. "We have them pass on the message of our intentions, and Ghost and I tag team his rehabilitation." Of course he uses the dumb nickname too. "It's the perfect plan! And an incredible opportunity to be one of two aquariums to actually work with a shark mer. The novelty of something so rare will bring in patrons." Kyle was really leaning into Shepherd's true interests here, bringing up money.

Shepherd was quiet for a moment and then, "If anything happens, you're both fired." He then stormed out of the room.

"Thanks, Gaz."

"Of course, Cap."

Now the three of them had to get the shark mer into an appropriate tank.

***

They had initially tried to put him in with the other mers, but he'd seen the sharks in the tank across the hall and told Kate he wanted to be with his own kind. That would make Simon's job easier, anyway. Kate had explained that they needed to put a cast on his arm, and Rosa had wrestled it onto him, since the humans couldn't get too close. They decided to name him John, after Captain Price, calling him Johnny affectionately. Gaz explained to Ghost that part of rehabbing Johnny would be gaining his trust, teach him to communicate. To release him without a way to communicate could lead to him attacking humans and being a problem down the road.

Simon had a plan: ignore him. He was a reef shark, his own curiosity would get him to open up. It took a week.

Simon would feed his sharks from a catwalk above their tank, for safety reasons, dropping their food in in the mornings before they opened their doors. No need to scare any children. For the first week, any time he passed by, Johnny would posture aggressively and gnash his teeth, before snatching up his food and swimming off. When Ghost would gear up and go in the water for his evening shows, Johnny stayed far away. At night, Gaz and his mers would move over and Ghost would mostly just observe as the girls tried to teach Johnny how to speak, and he petulantly ignored them, with a little pout on his face as he refused to even make eye contact with them. It was cute.

The first time he tried to speak was also the first time Simon saw him raise his head above the surface. He seemed frantic. "HAAAH!" He startled a bit at what was most likely the first time he ever used his lungs to breath air. "HAAAAH! AH! YAAH!" he was waving with his good arm. Stretching it out towards the platform between his tank and that of the other mers, thrashing his tail with his fins tucked in. Very distressed. Simon went to check, to see what could possibly be bothering him so much, when he found their elusive fourth mer. Simon had only seen Gary once. Gaz called him Roach, because he hid in the tiniest cracks in the reef in their enclosure, why on earth the isopod mer was on the platform, and not in the water, was beyond him, but he couldn't let the poor thing suffer. He had several of his little legs caught in a grate. Simon spent some time disentangle him. He tossed the infant sized mer into the nearest tank, which happened to be the shark tank, with Johnny. The larger mer immediately dove to catch him. He stroked Roach's antennae back like one would the hair of a small child, a soothing motion. Clearly not as much of a loner as he pretended to be. From then on the little isopod mer could be found clinging to Johnny's sides or fins with his many little periopods more often than not. After that, it seemed that Gary encouraged Johnny's more curious side. The mer's language was mostly outside of the human range of hearing, but Simon occasionally caught clicks, whistles or hums shared between the two.

Simon had left a bucket with soap close to the edge once, the two mers were clearly curious about it, but he didn't think anything would come of it. Which is why it was such a surprise when Johnny stuck a webbed hand in and scooped some out, popping it immediately into his mouth. Simon knew it wasn't enough to harm him, which is why he couldn't help but laugh at the poor creatures misfortune as it sputtered and writhed, making bubbles. While laughing he let his guard down, and was surprised when something struck him, knocking him off the catwalk and into the tank. He opened his eyes and looked around, seeing only Roach, floating downward, listing side to side, tiny head in his tiny hands. He surfaced to see Johnny. "Did you just throw him at me?!" Johnny sunk down so only his eyes and cranial fin were above the water. The little shit. "Not cool, Soap!" He forced his palm out towards the mer, sending a spray of water its way. That seemed to really break down the mer's walls.

Johnny started approaching while Simon would try and clean the tank. At first, darting away if Simon caught sight of him. Eventually however, he would get closer and simply observe. He'd watch Simon work at cleaning the glass or vacuuming the sand at the bottom. It was fun to see shark behavior and mer behavior collide. If Simon sat something down, Johnny would pick it up, and without a doubt if he could get it in his hands, it would end up in his mouth.

There was a small crowd, a child's birthday party had been held over by Gaz's mer tank, the girls were always a hit with the kids, and the little show they put on with Gaz was actually pretty funny. They'd harass him as he pretended to try and do his chores. Slapstick comedy was good for all ages.

Simon had his own show with his sharks, but it wasn't for a few more hours. He was actually just trying to clean. Apparently his cleaning sponge had caught Johnny's attention, as the mer had swam up and was watching him intently. He kept inching forward, eventually crowding Simon against the glass while reaching for his sponge. "Oi!" He said into his respirator, not that anyone could hear him. He shoved Johnny away and kept trying to cleaning, but the persistent bastard just kept coming back. He could vaguely see the crowd observing them through the glass. They were probably laughing. When he'd had enough, he got an idea. He turned when Johnny got close again and placed one hand on his dorsal fin and the other on the underside of his snout. He began to rub at the sensitive underside of the mer's snout, and just like his sharks, the mer entered a state of tonic immobility. He repositioned Johnny, nose down tail to the surface, Johnny's arms hung limply down past his head. Simon quickly withdrew his hands and watched as the mer continued to float for a bit, before blinking vigorously. He shook his head before righting himself, and slapped his tail into Simon's chest as he practically fled to his little cave at the other end of the tank. When he surfaced later, Gaz informed him that the kids were raving about how cool the 'shark guys' were.

Simon had to admit that Johnny was growing on him. He looked forward to seeing him each day. Johnny began trying to get Simon to swim with him. He'd grab Simon's arms and try to pull him into the water when he was on land, or he'd push Simon away from the glass and his cleaning supplies, towards the open water. Sometimes Simon would indulge him, and the two of them would make laps around the tank.

Simon realized, when Johnny began posturing towards the sharks and getting territorial about him towards them, that Johnny was attempting to court him. Worse, he couldn't bring himself to try and put an end to the behavior either. Johnny was getting touchy, he'd run his hands along Simon's sides or chest, in much the same way Simon would to per his sharks, but it felt different. He would push Simon until he floated horizontally in the water, then drape himself across the man.

Simon knew he was getting himself into some deep shit, but he couldn't help the small voice in the back of his head that urged him to reach out, to cradle the mer's rubbery cheeks in his hands. He wanted to kiss him. He was fucked.

***

I hope you liked it! Ngl, I really liked this one. If you don't mind, I might expand on this and make it a multi-chapter fic over on AO3? I wanna explore more of society's reaction to mers, specifically interspersed relationships and where this could go. Let me know what you think, and thanks for the idea!

#ive had this one on the brain for a hot minute #ghostsoap #soapghost #ghoap #cod mw2 #fanfic #call of duty #text post #call of duty modern warfare 2 #modern warfare #mermaid au #mer!au #john soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #mer!john soap mactavish #shark mermaid

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