Chapter Text
Humming softly under his breath, Izuku slowly swam through the brightly coloured coral reef. Tropical fish were swimming all around him, their fins shining brightly, and the ocean water felt warm against his skin.
Izuku loved his home.
He truly did.
Reaching up, Izuku began running his fingers through his green hair—detangling his curls. His hair was always a mess, and even the soothing ocean water couldn’t seem to help it. With a soft sigh, Izuku was swimming further and further away from the coral reef, looking for his friends.
They had to be around here somewhere—
A bright smile then lit up Izuku’s face, however, as he spotted his friends exiting out of the reef and heading towards more open water. Immediately Izuku was slamming his long green tail back and swimming towards them at full speed.
“Hey, guys!” Izuku chirped, his eyes practically sparkling. “What are you doing?”
“Deku!” Uraraka smiled, her face strangely uncomfortable. “We...well...we’re…”
Uraraka then glanced away sheepishly, her face paling, and she began playing with a strand of her brown hair. “W-We were doing nothing.”
Izuku, however, just turned towards Todoroki, and the mermaid immediately gave him a straight-forward answer. “We found a decapitated sea turtle in the coral reef, and we were going to dispose of it.”
Oh.
“W-What happened to it?” Izuku stuttered, his face contorting in discomfort. “We usually don’t lose animals that big in the coral reef. Was it maybe a shark? No...we don’t have any sharks big enough to do that…”
Izuku then began mumbling away madly under his breath, his thoughts running a mile a minute. The coral reef mostly housed tropical fish, eels, sting rays, and the occasional sea turtle. They never got anything overly large. Sharks and dolphins were quite a rare occurrence. The coral reef couldn't house large creatures, and even Izuku and the rest of the mermaids sometimes struggled to navigate through it.
Coral reefs just weren’t as big as they used to be.
“We have a few theories about what could have caused the sea turtle to die in the way that it did, but they’re just theories. Nothing concrete.” Tsuyu chimed in, the voice of reason as always.
Before Izuku could question the girl any further, however, Iida was speaking up loudly—his hand shaking up and down dramatically. “There’s no need to get stressed out about this incident! It was most likely just the natural cycle of life, nothing more. The last thing we need is for rumors to spread around—for drama to get started. Let’s keep things orderly here in the reef, alright?”
Everyone then began mumbling in agreement, their tails swaying back and forth. Uraraka looked the most upset about the sea turtle’s death, but Uraraka had always been more attached to animals than the rest of them. Tsuyu was a big animal lover as well, but she was always able to keep a level head in almost any situation.
Out of everyone, Todoroki looked the most stoic, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary. Izuku also couldn’t really tell what Iida was feeling, as the mermaid could sometimes be hard to read. The man would go from preaching the rules non-stop to attempted murder real quick.
Iida’s big brother had been mauled by a shark, and Iida had gone on a hunt for the creature. Todoroki and Izuku did eventually manage to find him and calm him down, but not without taking some damage from the animal. Sharks weren’t usually bloodthirsty creatures, but that one had definitely been an exception.
Shaking his head and clearing his thoughts, Izuku smiled at his friends one last time before swimming away. Iida and Todoroki were going to take care of the body it looked like—since they were the least affected by the creature’s death.
With his green tail casually swaying back and forth in the warm tropical water, Izuku couldn’t help but hum under his breath softly again. The death of the sea turtle was definitely pretty odd and out of the ordinary, but it wasn’t anything to truly worry about.
Everything was going to be fine.
More sea creatures were showing up dead.
Almost every single day, mermaids in the reef were discovering more and more brutalized animals. Sting rays would be disemboweled, sea turtles would be torn apart, and fish were getting turned into nothing but bloody ribbons.
Something was completely decimating the ecosystem of the coral reef.
Coral reefs were an incredibly fragile environment, and it didn’t take a lot of change to mess the ecosystem permanently. If whatever was killing all of the animals was allowed to continue, there would be serious permanent damage to their home—to the coral reef.
The idea of his home, of his habitat, getting permanently destroyed, sent a shiver down his spine. Whoever or whatever was doing this, had to be stopped. Mermaids were now patrolling the coral reef on a more regular basis, looking out for strange activity, but nothing seemed to be amiss in the community. The animals were behaving normally for the most part. Some were spooked because of all of the recent bloodshed, but that was to be expected.
Everything looked like it was in order.
They, however, all knew that that couldn’t be the case. Something was seriously wrong in their tight-knit community, but they couldn’t figure out what it was.
If an animal was brutalizing the other animals in such a gory manner, they would have been caught by now. Animals could be smart, but none of them were smarter than mermaids. The creature would have slipped up by now or made some kind of mistake.
No…
The only real option was that...was that a mermaid had to be doing all of this.
There was a traitor in their midst. Someone who wanted the reef to fail—to fall apart. Someone who would benefit from the destruction of their home.
Yet Izuku couldn’t think of anyone in the coral reef quite like that. Everyone was friendly and sweet, and they all knew one another. He couldn’t imagine anyone wanting the reef to fail.
It seemed absurd.
It was a truth, however, that Izuku would just have to accept. There was a killer among them, and if they didn’t find out who it was, their home was going to get annihilated.
Quite a few of the mermaids were actually suspicious of Izuku, since he was ‘technically’ an outsider. Everyone had been born in the reef and raised here, they all had strong family ties. Izuku, however, had been abandoned as a child by the edge of the reef. No one knew any of his family, his father or his mother, and nothing about his ancestry was—well—known.
Izuku didn’t even really look like the other mermaids. Don’t get him wrong, they did share a lot of key characteristics, but there were some stark differences as well. Izuku’s fins were jagged and sharp while the mermaids’ were frilly and soft. The mermaids’ scales ended at approximately their waist in a smooth line, but Izuku’s scales went up a little bit further than that. Izuku had small individual scales littered across his body while the other mermaids also didn’t have that. The mermaids had scales on their tails and nowhere else. Izuku’s teeth were sharp, but the mermaids’ teeth were dull and flat—like human teeth.
These differences made the other mermaids wary of him, and even after spending years in the coral reef—nobody really trusted him. He would always be an outsider. A mermaid whose family history was a complete mystery.
Essentially, he was just an orphan. An orphan that was given up by his family before he could even swim by himself. The other mermaids were kind enough though to take him in, and Izuku would be forever grateful for that. His blood family wasn’t his real family anymore, they lost that privilege when they gave him up. Izuku had the coral reef now—they were his true family.
Swimming through the brightly coloured corals quickly, Izuku tried to make it home before the new curfew. With all of the animal maulings, they had put a curfew in place in an attempt to catch the killer, and to protect the mermaids too.
If the killer was completely fine with disemboweling any animal they could get their hands on, they probably wouldn’t flinch at murder. Following the curfew and staying safe was the best option for everyone in the reef right now.
With a quiet sigh, Izuku was swimming through the coral reef as fast as his tail could take him. The tropical water usually felt warm and reassuring against his skin, against his scales, but it just felt...felt cold and suffocating now. Izuku just wanted to get away from everyone, he wanted his home to be safe!
However, just as Izuku was about to make it to his den, a guard was swimming out in front of him. Immediately Izuku was stopping, his eyes wide and worried. “W-What seems to be the problem, officer?”
The guard then looked him up and down, his face etched into a permanent scowl. “Why were you swimming so fast, huh? Do you have places to be? Where were you going, kid?”
“I-I’m just trying to get back to my den!” Izuku replied, his voice shaking. “My den is right around the corner. I was swimming fast because I wanted to make it home before curfew.”
The guard, however, just clicked his tongue at him, his eyes gleaming with suspicion. “You don’t need to be swimming that fast in order to get home. Where were you really going?”
“I…” Izuku’s voice cracked, “I really was just trying to get home! I-I swear—”
“Midoriya?”
Turning around, Izuku then saw Todoroki swimming towards him, his usually calm face twisted into a scowl. “Why is this guard yelling at you?”
“He...he thinks I’m being suspicious…” Izuku mumbled, his cheeks turning pink with embarrassment. Clenching his fists together tightly, his nails digging into his skin, Izuku glanced away—his body trembling lightly.
Immediately Todoroki was turning towards the guard, his non-existent hackles rising up. “Midoriya isn't suspicious at all. He just wanted to get home by curfew. Is that a crime, officer ?”
“O-Of course not!” The guard stammered, his face paling significantly. “He is completely innocent! I wouldn’t want to get in trouble with the Todoroki family—”
Before the guard could finish speaking, however, Todoroki was turning around and swishing his tail in the officer’s face. Izuku and the guard were then both left silently gaping, their eyes wide with disbelief, as Todoroki tugged Izuku away.
“I swear,” Todoroki grumbled under his breath, his face annoyed, “the guards around here aren’t doing their job properly. Instead of questioning people like you, they should be patrolling the outer rim.”
“H-He was just doing his job…” Izuku weakly defended, his face sheepish and uncomfortable.
“No. No, he wasn’t.”
With that, Todoroki was escorting Izuku to his den and they were both saying goodbye to one another.
Izuku, even though he had lived in the reef for almost his entire life, didn’t have a lot of sway in the community. The Todoroki family, however, were icons. They were basically considered the founders of the reef, and they were one of the families that had the most sway in the community. Todoroki could get away with almost anything with his family legacy.
Shaking his head and clearing his thoughts, Izuku slowly began to get settled in his den.
Everything was going to be fine.
The guards would catch the killer sooner rather than later, and everything would be able to go back to normal.
It was all going to be alright.
Izuku was sure of it.
When Izuku woke up the next morning, everything quickly fell apart.
The guard, who had harassed him, was dead. His bloody entrails had been left outside of Izuku’s den, and the rest of the mermaids wanted him gone. Everyone thought he was the killer.
After that, the next few days were a blur.
Court trials were run, and after much deliberation, Izuku was banished. No one believed him when he said that he was innocent—that he had nothing to do with the guard’s death. They just looked at his sharp fins, his strange scales, and scoffed at him. Even after all of these years, Izuku was still seen as an outsider.
Izuku was never going to be good enough for the coral reef—for his home.
With his shoulders shaking, Izuku swam away from the reef—leaving his home behind. He was banished, actually banished. It almost seemed surreal. One moment Izuku had been swimming home, the next, he was out in open water.
Open water.
The open water surrounding him was terrifying. Izuku was used to swimming around in the clustered coral reef—sharp rocks jabbing at him from every side. All of this space just felt...felt eerie. He felt constantly on edge.
With his tail swishing back and forth, Izuku swam further and further away from his home until he couldn’t see it anymore.
When the entire coral reef put him on trial, his friends had tried to help him—to sway the people in his favour. No matter what his friends did in the end, however, nobody believed them. Izuku was the murderer in everyone’s eyes. The only ones who thought he was innocent were his friends.
In the end, all of his friends’ work was for nothing. Izuku was declared guilty, he was banished from the coral reef, and he was cast out into open water—into the sea.
All of his friends had tried to join him in his banishment, but Izuku had convinced them to stay. After all, they all had families in the coral reef that needed them—Izuku couldn’t take his friends away from their home. They didn’t deserve to be cast out—to lose their families.
His friends deserved the world. They were his real family.
The only thing Izuku wanted them to do was to catch the actual killer—to save the reef. Maybe if the real attacker was found, Izuku could return back to his home.
Sighing softly under his breath, Izuku continued swimming through the cold open water. The coral reef’s water had always been warm and pleasant, but the water out here was frigid and bleak.
The water was so cold Izuku felt like his scales were going to fall off!
Shivering violently, Izuku curled in on himself—his teeth chattering loudly.
This sucked.
This sucked a lot.
Izuku was used to the tropical climate of the coral reef, and he wasn’t ready for the bone-deep cold that the open ocean was offering. Staying in the coral reef for his entire life hadn’t been good for his body. With his body shaking, Izuku began rubbing his hands together—his cheeks flushing a soft rosey pink.
Izuku, however, was so focused on warming himself up that he didn’t notice a dark shadow falling over him—he didn’t hear the sound of moving water. Before Izuku could even react, a giant weight was crashing into him—knocking him over. Squeaking out loudly in fear, Izuku immediately began swimming away from the thing that had crashed into him—is heart racing. Izuku, however, wasn’t able to get very far before a hand was grabbing onto his wrist in a steel-tight grip.
Wait.
This thing had hands.
Turning around, Izuku was then greeted with a mermaid that looked...looked like him. The mermaid had light blue hair, dry skin, and the darkest red eyes that Izuku had ever seen. Looking into his eyes was like looking into blood. His eyes weren’t what was interesting though.
The mermaid actually looked like him.
His fins were sharp and jagged just like Izuku’s were, he had small individual scales strewn across his body, and his teeth were sharp. This mermaid was...was just like him.
With a loud excited squeal, Izuku was crowding into the other mermaid’s space—his eyes wide and excited. “Ohmygosh—we are the same! This is incredible! I never thought I would actually meet a mermaid that looked like me! Oh god, oh god, oh god! I have so many questions!”
Immediately the other mermaid’s eyes were widening comically, and he was backing away from Izuku as Izuku swam all over him. Without a moment of hesitation, Izuku was poking and prodding at the other mermaid—not even thinking about how rude he was being.
“I can’t believe you have the same fins as me!” Izuku sighed breathlessly, his eyes practically sparkling. Reaching forward, Izuku began stroking the other mermaid’s fins—examining the material. Izuku didn’t even notice when the other mermaid’s face flushed a dark coral red as he rubbed his fins. “This is...this is truly incredible. I can’t believe that you look just like me. I never thought I would meet a mermaid that looked like me.”
“I’m not a mermaid.” The other mermaid replied, and Izuku was finally pulled away from his rambling thoughts.
Tilting his head to the side, Izuku stared at the mermaid in confusion. “I-uh-what? You...you are a mermaid! We’re both mermaids! Have you never been to a coral reef before?”
“Yeah,” The mermaid smirked, his sharp teeth put on display, “I’ve definitely been to a coral reef before. However, I’m not a mermaid. You aren’t one either.”
With his eyes narrowing, Izuku began swimming around the stranger—his face confused. “I...I don’t understand. We’re both mermaids—w-we have tails! What do you think we are?”
“We’re sirens.” The stranger replied coolly, his face smug, and Izuku was left confused.
What...what was a siren?
“Surely you have noticed that you don’t look remotely like other mermaids?”
“Well, I mean, yes—”
“—Your fins are jagged, your teeth are sharp, and you have more scales. Mermaids are soft squishy creatures that prefer warm water, coral reefs, and the company of humans. They even let humans get close enough to them that they sometimes end up in aquariums because of it.”
Izuku had heard about that. Even though mermaids and humans didn't interact that often, the few interactions they did have were usually positive. The humans treated them like an endangered species and mostly left them alone. Sometimes a mermaid might go to an aquarium, but that was it.
“Sirens, on the other hand, are predators .” The stranger grinned, his eyes darkening. “We’ll eat anything and everything if given the chance too. We'll tear any piece of prey apart. Unlike the mermaids, we don’t get chummy with humans—we eat them.”
Izuku then just stared at the stranger silently, his eyes wide with horror. “T-That’s terrible! I’m not a siren! I would never eat a human, and I would never just tear a piece of prey apart! We need to respect every living thing—”
“—That’s some mermaid nonsense right there.” The stranger scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Did you grow up in a coral reef or something? You seem to think that you’re a mermaid. Were you brainwashed by a cult of them or something?”
The stranger then began swimming around Izuku, his tail lightly brushing up against him—sweeping over him. “You poor thing. You actually think you’re a low-life mermaid. You’re so much more than that. Sirens are better than mermaids in every conceivable way. We’re stronger, faster, and just so much more.”
Izuku then couldn’t help but shudder, however, as the stranger entwined their tails. That act felt...felt strangely intimate, even though Izuku didn’t understand what it was. With his cheeks flushing pink, Izuku stared up at the siren—his eyes confused. “I...I’m not a siren...I’m a mermaid.”
His voice sounded so weak.
With a soft chuckle, the stranger was reaching forward and cupping Izuku’s cheek. “You’re a siren, you can’t deny your nature. Don’t worry though, I’ll teach you everything you need to know about being a siren. I’ll be your teacher.”
The stranger then began moving his tail up against Izuku’s, and Izuku was audibly gulping. The feeling of their scales rubbing together, of their tails entwining, felt...felt nice.
Nice.
That was one word for it.
Yet as Izuku stared up at the stranger, he could feel his stomach filling with dread. This guy seemed...he seemed off. Izuku had to get away from him.
Before Izuku could unentwine their tails, however, the other mermaid was pulling him close—his lips brushing up against his ear. “By the way, my name is Shigaraki Tomura.”
With that, Shigaraki was squeezing his tail meaningfully, and Izuku’s eyelashes were fluttering. W-Why did that feel so good? Izuku could feel his navel tightening, and his insides felt warm and gooey. The feeling was...it was so strange!
Before Izuku could contemplate his odd feelings, however, Shigaraki was grabbing his wrist, detangling their tails, and dragging him away. Izuku had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to get away from the older mermaid no matter how hard he tried.
His grip was steel-tight, and the stranger seemed adamant about teaching Izuku how to ‘be a siren’. He was completely delusional.
He had to be, right?
Izuku couldn’t be a siren, there was no way that...that-
No.
He was a mermaid.
Shigaraki was wrong, and his little lessons were going to be pointless.
Izuku was a mermaid, he had to be.
With an annoyed huff, Izuku was swimming after Shigaraki—his fins twitching in irritation.
The two of them were swimming together, side by side, and they were trailing after a shark. Shigaraki was licking his lips hungrily, his red eyes practically glowing, and Izuku felt nervous. If Shigaraki attacked the shark, Izuku didn’t know what he was going to do. The two of them couldn’t take on a shark. Even if their teeth were sharper than normal mermaid fangs, they weren’t sharp enough to penetrate the tough hide of a shark.
With his eyes narrowing in worry, Izuku bumped his and Shigaraki’s shoulders together—getting the older mermaid’s attention. “We can’t attack a shark, Shigaraki. It’ll be too much for us. When my reef needed to take down a shark, we had to gather up multiple warriors—”
“—Don’t worry, we’ll be fine.” Shigaraki cut in, his lips quirking up. “I already told you, Izuku, we’re better than mermaids—we’re stronger. Two sirens can take down a shark with no problem.”
Izuku, however, couldn’t help but stare at Shigaraki quietly, his face concerned. There was no way the two of them would be able to take down a shark. It would be impossible. Shigaraki, however, looked completely confident. A small smirk was stretching across his face, and his eyes were shining with determination. Shigaraki was as cool as a sea cucumber.
Reaching over, Shigaraki began ruffling Izuku’s green curls—his fingers digging into his scalp. Immediately Izuku was rearing back, his face surprised. The small gesture from Shigaraki was...was…
Shaking his head back and forth, his curls moving across the water, Izuku cleared his mind. He needed to focus on the task at hand. They were going to attack a shark, Shigaraki actually wanted them to fight a shark.
Oh god.
This was a terrible idea!
They were going to get killed—
“We’re not going to get killed.” Shigaraki chuckled softly under his breath. “We’ll be fine. Taking down a shark will be easy. Even if something does go wrong though, I’ll protect you.”
Izuku must have been mumbling under his breath again.
Blushing a soft pink, Izuku reluctantly nodded in agreement—his tail swishing back and forth anxiously. He was going to regret this. Izuku knew he was going to regret this.
Together the two of them began creeping up behind the shark, their bodies gliding through the water quietly. The shark, however, didn’t seem to notice that their intentions towards him had turned malicious. Izuku felt bad for the quiet creature. It wasn’t hurting anyone after all.
Before Izuku could even blink, however, Shigaraki was darting forward and latching onto the shark’s body—his teeth easily breaking through the shark’s tough skin. He-he was so fast! Izuku didn’t even see him move! He was like lightning!
Throwing his tail back, Izuku then began attacking the shark as well—his teeth chomping down on the shark. Unlike Shigaraki, however, Izuku wasn’t able to penetrate the shark’s hide. Izuku was just left chewing on the shark—not making a dent.
With a soft smile stretching across his face, Shigaraki was staring at Izuku fondly. “You-mngh-baby.”
Izuku couldn’t hear Shigaraki’s voice clearly, as the mermaid’s mouth was latched onto the shark, but Izuku had a feeling that Shigaraki wasn’t saying anything nice about him.
Shigaraki, however, then got distracted from fighting the shark, as he became too focused on Izuku—on the pout wobbling on Izuku’s face as he failed to hurt the shark. With a loud grunt, the shark knocked both of them off of him and began swimming away as fast as it could go.
Immediately a snarl was bubbling out past Izuku’s lips, and he was chasing after the creature. Shigaraki swam right by his side, and the two of them tackled the shark again. Wrestling with the shark, his fingers digging into the animal’s skin, Izuku finally managed to bite into the creature. Thick dark blood then began pouring into Izuku’s mouth, and Izuku was moaning quietly. Tightening his grip around the shark, Izuku began biting harder and harder into the creature’s tough skin—ripping him apart. The smell of iron was heavy in the water, and Izuku couldn’t seem to get enough of the shark’s blood and flesh.
Eventually the shark’s movements began to grow sluggish and weak, and the creature was dying in Shigaraki and Izuku’s grasp. With a loud growl, Izuku was digging into the shark—enjoying the hot fresh meal.
Every mouthful of blood felt heavenly, and his skin was prickling comfortably as he ate. The taste of the shark’s flesh was delicious, and Izuku was eagerly eating the creature alongside Shigaraki. Shigaraki was ripping into the shark as well, but he wasn’t being as messy as Izuku. He was eating the shark much more calmly while Izuku was ravaging the creature as if he was about to die.
Chewing on the shark's tough skin, Izuku sighed contentedly—his shoulders relaxing. This meal was...it was really nice. Eventually, the two of them finished eating their share of the shark and small little fishes began feasting on the leftovers. With a soft purr rumbling out of his chest, Izuku was swimming around lazily—enjoying the afterglow of his meal.
His skin felt nice and warm despite the cold ocean water, and Izuku felt like he was on cloud nine. Everything around him felt hazy and out of focus, and his body just felt...felt pleasant.
Glancing over at Shigaraki, Izuku then noticed that the other mermaid was watching him quietly—his face content. With a loud purr, Izuku was swimming over to the other mermaid and circling him—his tail brushing up against him. Izuku felt really good right now, and seeing Shigaraki’s eyes on him just made him happier. He wanted the other mermaid to keep his attention on him.
With a lazy smile stretching across his face, Izuku was nuzzling his cheek against the top of Shigaraki’s head—happy content purrs spilling out past his lips. Izuku then continued to rub his cheek up against the other mermaid, his tail sliding all over him. Eventually, Izuku began rubbing his and Shigaraki's cheeks together—enjoying the warmth that came with their faces being pressed up against one another.
Shigaraki then began growling quietly, the sound coming from deep within his chest. Izuku could tell, however, that the growling was—well—happy growling. Shigaraki wasn’t mad, he was pleased. With a soft gasp spilling past his lips, Izuku was nuzzling into Shigaraki’s face some more—intertwining their tails together.
However as Izuku intertwined their tails together, Shigaraki was growling loudly, his pupils dilating. The mermaid then seemed to lose control of himself and he was biting into the right side of Izuku’s neck—marking the skin there. Immediately, Izuku was screaming silently as Shigaraki’s sharp fangs pierced through his flesh. Shigaraki then began rubbing his tail up against Izuku more insistently while he marked him, and Izuku was twitching weakly. Steeling his nerves, Izuku then reached forward and pushed the older mermaid off of him. “W-What are you doing?”
Shigaraki, however, just tilted his head at Izuku, his face confused. He didn’t understand why Izuku was upset. “What do you mean? I was just following your lead.”
His...his what?
Staring at Shigaraki softly, Izuku shifted around nervously—his fins twitching. “I...I don’t understand...what was that? Like—all of that. What were we doing? What do you mean you were ‘following my lead’?”
Shigaraki then just stared at Izuku incredulously, his eyes widening. “You...you don’t get it. You were raised as a mermaid, so you don’t get...siren stuff.”
What was he talking about?
“I-I’m not a siren.” Izuku stuttered, his voice more unsure than before. “I don’t need to get...siren stuff.”
What did Shigaraki mean by ‘siren stuff’?
The other mermaid then began circling around Izuku, his eyes heated with an emotion Izuku couldn’t name. “You don’t understand what I’m doing, you don’t understand anything I’ve been doing, because I’m a siren. You’re used to mermaid rituals, and a mermaid lifestyle. This is all new to you, but your body still recognizes it. You’re still responding to it."
What was the other mermaid even talking about anymore?
Shigaraki then drifted in closer to Izuku again, his eyes soft, and Izuku’s navel was warming up. He liked it when the other mermaid would stare at him—would fix his gaze on him. It made Izuku feel important—coveted. Shigaraki then moved in closer and began entwining their tails together, and Izuku was sighing breathlessly. The other mermaid then began sliding their tails against one another slowly, rocking them together, and Izuku’s eyelashes were fluttering.
His stomach...it felt so warm and weird …
“Yeah,” Shigaraki purred, tightening his grip around Izuku’s tail, “you’re reacting all right.”
Before Izuku could moan loudly, however, Shigaraki was unentwining his tail from Izuku’s and swimming away. Izuku was then left baffled and alone, his eyes comically wide.
“Come on,” Shigaraki snickered, an amused smirk stretching across his face, “we have to keep swimming.”
Spluttering incoherently, his cheeks flushing a dark coral red, Izuku began flailing his arms around in confusion. He could feel his heart racing in his chest, and he felt strangely disappointed. Why did Shigaraki stop...stop whatever he was doing?
With a pout forming on his face, Izuku swam after Shigaraki. Izuku couldn’t help but brush up against Shigaraki, however, as they swam. He really wanted to be close to the other mermaid. Izuku then began rubbing up against him, wrapping his arms around his bicep, touching him, as he swam. The urge to bite into Shigaraki’s neck as well, to mark him back, was also incredibly strong. Izuku, however, was able to ignore that desire.
Eventually, the two of them swam further and further away—exploring the deep blue sea together.
Izuku could still feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest, and he would be surprised if Shigaraki couldn’t hear it. The taste of shark blood was still strong in his mouth, and the bite mark on his neck was still bleeding. With a soft sigh, Izuku was nuzzling his cheek up against Shigaraki’s bicep—enjoying the heat emanating from the older mermaid. His insides still felt weird and gooey, and he just wanted to be close to Shigaraki.
Snorting loudly, Shigaraki rolled his eyes at Izuku. “You’re such a dumb little siren. You really know nothing.”
Izuku, however, found that he couldn’t be mad at the insult, and he just continued to nuzzle into Shigaraki’s side—his chest rumbling as he purred. He couldn’t believe that he was purring. Izuku never heard any of the other mermaids purring before, was it some weird thing that they never really did?
How odd.
The two of them then continued to swim together, enjoying one another’s company.
Izuku couldn’t be happier.