Chapter Text
“Prefect, would you do me the honor of going on a hike with me? As a date, of course,” Jade said with a smile and a bow, a massive bouquet of red roses held out before him, offered to Yu as a gift, a token to express his love. He was dressed in a bespoke designer suit, his best clothes. After all, only the best would do for the one both he and Floyd had deemed a suitable mate.
After he finally got over his initial shock at being greeted by Jade in a suit with a bouquet just for him, Yu smiled awkwardly at the merman before him. Behind him, Ace and Deuce were whispering furiously amongst themselves, already preparing all sorts of escape plans in case of emergency. “U-um, this is certainly a surprise, Jade,” he said, carefully choosing his words, the merman’s treacherous nature always in the back of his mind. He put a hand on the one holding the bouquet. “Thank you for your feelings, Jade.” He smiled. “I’m flattered, but I’m afraid I think of us as just good friends. I hope we can stay that way, though.”
Jade smiled back at him as he stood up straight. “Thank you for your kind words, Yu,” he said. “Of course I understand. We can’t change the way our hearts feel, after all.”
Yu almost sighed in relief at the uncharacteristically understanding response from Jade. He had half-expected to be attacked when he refused, but of course, accepting when he didn’t feel the same would have only made things worse. “Thank you for understanding, Jade!” he said with a bright smile that was half born out of relief. “I’ll see you later?”
“Of course you will. Don’t worry about it…” Jade replied, the smile never leaving his face even as he watched Yu hurrying away with Ace and Deuce.
“Wow, Yu! Both Leech twins have confessed to you now. You’re so popular,” Deuce remarked.
“Yeah, I guess you’d better start watching your back before they do something to you,” Ace joked, punching Yu lightly in the shoulder.
“S-stop it, guys. I feel bad enough about having to reject them already…” Yu glanced back nervously, as if expecting Jade to be right behind them. “They’re good friends and they’re fun to hang out with, but I’m just...not sure about dating them.” He shrugged awkwardly. “They’re a little...intimidating sometimes, but...I guess they’re not that bad.” His face broke into a relieved smile. “I mean, they were so nice and understanding, even when I rejected both of them. It was actually...kind of easy.”
“Well...that’s true.” A grin crept onto Ace’s face as he elbowed Yu in the side. “But look at you, player, seducing everyone left and right. Maybe we should get you a chastity belt or something.”
“Shut up, Ace,” Yu laughed as he shoved his friend playfully. “You’re such a jerk!”
Jade watched the group go, the pleasant smile never once leaving his face. At least until they turned the corner. As soon as they were no longer in sight, the smile on his face warped into a sadistic one. “Floyd.” His voice was filled with an almost cold fury when he spoke. “It seems we will have to... convince the prefect after all.”
Floyd, who had been listening to the whole thing from around the corner, nodded at his twin’s words, his lips curving up into a smile that matched his brother’s. “It’s like Dad always says.” He stepped out of the shadows to join Jade.
“ ‘If you want something, you just have to take it for yourself.’ ”
“Um...Jade, Floyd, you’re sure Azul wanted to meet here to tell me something…?” Yu asked, uneasily glancing around the dark hallway they were going down. He had followed the twins without hesitation when they had told him Azul had something extremely important to tell him, something he was too shy to talk to even the twins about. Of course, Yu’s heart had skipped a beat when he let his imagination run wild, wondering if his beloved Azul, who he had had a crush on since forever, would finally confess to him.
Clinging on to such a childish hope, he had let the twins lead him through the sea until they had ended up here , a secret grotto deep below the surface. But now...a sense of unease washed over him, and he couldn’t help but wonder just what Azul could want to talk to him about in such a remote place, especially a creepy place like this, where the walls were lined with glass cases filled with… “Models…?” Each one was in their own glass case, just like the carefully constructed terrariums Jade liked to make so much. “Wow, they’re really...life-like,” he commented, examining them through the glass. Some were so realistic that Yu could have almost mistaken them for a sleeping merperson, but some seemed to have realistic injuries instead. “What a strange attention to detail…” He didn’t notice the grin the twins exchanged.
“Oh, it’s right in here.” At the very end of the hallway, the twins gestured to a set of double doors, imposing, heavy, almost like they were meant to keep people out. Or perhaps, keep whatever was inside in . A shiver ran up his spine, a shiver of doubt. But the joyful anticipation in his heart outweighed the misgivings.
“Azul, I’m here…!” Yu practically threw open the heavy doors in his excitement, ready to see his beloved, ready to be confessed to by the one he truly loved.
All that greeted him in the room was a king-sized bed, and nothing else.
A cold chill ran down Yu’s spine as he realized that he had been tricked, and that the only ones who knew where he was right now were the two who had tricked him and brought him down here. The two he had rejected when they had confessed and told him they loved him. The two staring hungrily at him right now, with menacing smiles on their faces. “No!!” He shoved the twins out of the way as he fled back down the hallway, his heart pounding in his chest as every nerve in his body screamed for him to run. His desperate footsteps echoed down the empty hallways, reminding him of just how alone and vulnerable he really was. Another set of double doors stood in his way and he reached out to grab the handles.
“Ah…!” A cry of pain ripped itself from his throat as he was slammed facefirst against the door, but his fight or flight reaction made him spin around to face the ones chasing him, arms up, ready to fight back. Floyd laughed gleefully as he slammed Yu back against the door again, grabbing a shoulder with his hand to keep Yu there.
“Don’t be so scared, Little Shrimpy. We’ll treat you real good,” Floyd said, looming over him, forcing a knee between the slim legs and grinding roughly against Yu’s crotch. Cornered and unable to think of anything else, Yu bit down on Floyd’s arm, hoping his teeth would make it through the thick fabric of the suit, trying to make the much stronger and larger male let him go. He was rewarded with a cry of pain and Floyd pulling his arm back, but before he could even celebrate, he was backhanded across the face for his trouble. Yu staggered back, slumping against the door, mind reeling from the force of the blow. A hand grabbed him by the throat, tightening ever so threateningly, just enough to start cutting off his air. “That hurt , Little Shrimpy,” Floyd growled as Yu looked up at him through eyes clouded with unbidden tears of pain.
“Tsk, tsk, look what you’ve done, Floyd.” Jade reached out a hand to run a gentle thumb around the bruise already starting to form on the pale cheek. “Look at how you’ve hurt our poor little pearl’s beautiful face.” His thumb slid down to rub Yu’s lower lip, and then suddenly, he punched Yu in the stomach with his other hand, knocking the wind out of him. Before Yu could recover, Jade grabbed him by the hair and threw him roughly to the ground. “It’s all your fault, though, you know,” he said, eyes coldly staring down at the dazed brunet sprawled on the ground. “If you had just agreed to either of us, then we wouldn’t have had to resort to things like this.”
Yu glanced up in terror at the twins standing over him, body shuddering. An involuntary whimper fought its way up his throat. Only one word resounded in his mind, pushing through the pain and fear. One name that gave him hope. He was sure that if he called it, he would be saved, just like in the fairytales. “Azu--!” His hopeful cry was immediately extinguished by a kick to the stomach from Jade, leaving him to curl up into a ball from the pain. The prefect had lived a quiet, innocent, naive life, so he had never been treated so roughly, so violently before. That was why he didn’t know what to do when someone hit him. That was why all he could do was clutch his stomach pitifully, tears welling up in his eyes.
“We just wanted you to like us, Little Shrimpy!” Floyd shouted angrily down at him. “Was that too much to ask for?” He turned and began pacing angrily, taking a few steps before he spun angrily to shout at him again. “And not even both of us at the same time!” The merman stomped his way back to stand over the prefect, grabbing him by the collar, yanking him up so their faces were only inches apart. “Even just one of us would have been fine!” Floyd hissed, voice full of hatred and venom.
“I...I’m so sorry, Floyd.” Yu’s voice came out in a whimper, breaking when he tried to speak. His mind was racing a mile a minute. “I didn’t realize you felt that way.” His trembling hands slid around Floyd’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry I rejected you two so quickly. I promise I’ll treat you two better this time. Maybe we can even try going out for a while and then we can see how it goes.” He rubbed his thumb against one of Floyd’s knuckles before pressing his lips to it. “So please...can you let me go so we can start over and I can treat you like I was supposed to…?” Yu glanced up into Floyd’s eyes pleadingly through thick eyelashes.
“Little Shrimpy…”
“Is that so?” Jade smiled as he slid one hand up to cup Yu’s bruised cheek, pulling the brunet’s face away from his brother’s hand. “Let’s see how true those words are, shall we?” His fingers slid down to grab the delicate chin, holding it firmly in place so Yu had to look up into his eyes. “‘Look into my left eye.’”
“No…!” Yu struggled at the words he had heard before, the words that heralded the start of Jade’s unique magic.
“‘There is no need to be afraid; I want to be of help to you.’” As the familiar incantation continued, Yu tried to close his eyes, tried to look away, tried to do anything to stop it from working, but it was too late. “‘Shock the Heart.’” The brunet felt a warm feeling rush over him as his mind went completely blank and his body fell slack in the twins’ grasps. Faintly, in the back of his mind, he could feel that something was wrong, but he couldn’t form a coherent thought. “You’ll tell me the truth now, won’t you?” Yu felt himself nod obediently at the words, and Jade’s face broke into a smile before he leaned in to whisper in Yu’s ear. “Tell me: what part of your little speech was true?”
No. He couldn’t say. He shouldn’t say. Telling them would only result in worse. He tried to bite his lip, but against his will, his mouth opened to speak. “...I’m...sorry.” The words fell haltingly from his lips.
“And?” The smile never left Jade’s face, even when Yu remained silent. The answer was clear, though Yu didn’t say anything else.
“J-Jade, I…” Yu was interrupted by a backhanded slap to his face, and he cried out as he was thrown roughly to the ground again.
“I don’t think you understand, Little Shrimpy,” Floyd said, crouching down so he was at Yu’s level. “I even wrote you a love letter and everything, and you said “no” before I even got to give it to you.” The merman reached a hand into his pocket, his motion accompanied by the sound of paper rustling. Finally, he pulled out a carefully folded piece of paper, and he unfolded it to show Yu a childish crayon drawing of what looked like Floyd and him holding hands under the sea, bright smiles on their little cartoon faces. “Let me read you what I wrote.” He didn’t give Yu a chance to respond before he started reading. “‘I love you, Little Shrimpy,’” Floyd said, reading the words he had written just like he was reading a passage during class. “‘You make me feel happy when I’m with you. I want to be with you every minute of every day. I want us to be together forever, happily ever after.’” Yu would have almost felt bad about not even giving Floyd a chance to express such feelings towards him, simplistic as they were, if he wasn’t currently under the sea after being deceived by both of them.
“But he didn’t even give you a chance to say that, did he, Floyd?” Jade asked, almost affectionately stroking Yu’s hair as he spoke. “How sad he won’t even give us a chance to show him how we feel.” He gave a sigh of mock resignation.
Floyd frowned for a moment, looking thoughtful, before his usual smile returned. “Oh, I understand now, Little Shrimpy! If words won’t get our feelings across to you, then maybe this will!” To Yu’s horror, Floyd began fumbling at his belt, and he jerked back in shock, every muscle in his body screaming at him to run. But before he could do anything, Jade caught him by the hair and slammed his head against the floor again, hard. “ Why do you keep trying to run, Little Shrimpy!? Just because you’re a little cute, you think you can act like you’re too good for us!?” Floyd growled angrily, in one of his aggressive moods now. He had finally snapped. “Let me tell you: I bet you won’t feel so uppity when you’ve got my dick shoved down your throat!”
“P-please, Floyd--”
“You should have been flattered we even liked someone like you!” Floyd shouted, swinging his arms wildly as he paced. He had seen it in a human movie once, a man shouting at his unfaithful wife before expressing his love physically, and he thought it seemed appropriate for the situation now. “You’re just a boring small fry with nothing remarkable about you!”
Jade sighed as his twin went into an unplanned dramatic tirade. He was wasting time and keeping them from getting to the main event with this little tantrum. He simply knelt on one knee by the prefect and yanked the dazed Yu’s head back by the hair. “Hold his mouth open, Floyd,” he said as he reached a hand into his own pocket. His simple command shook Floyd out of his rage, and his twin gladly obliged, as if he finally remembered their plan. Floyd’s hand squeezed the prefect’s mouth open, fingers pressing in on each cheek, holding it open for Jade.
"Mm...you look real good like that, Little Shrimpy." The twins grinned at the wide open mouth, just like an eel announcing to its partner it was ready to mate. Of course, they gladly accepted the invitation. Yu tried to beg them to stop, to please let him go, but his words were muffled. Not that the twins would have heeded him even if they could understand him, though.
Jade pulled out a glass bottle from his pocket, the transparent material showing a dark murky liquid swirling inside. “We made a “love potion” just for you, you know.” Again, his sinister smile crept onto his face as he spoke. “It’s got all sorts of good stuff mixed in there that we chose while thinking of you.” He held it up so Yu could see it clearly before he continued. “Sleep medication, aphrodisiacs, hallucinogens, muscle relaxers, fertility potions, a special gift from Azul, everything you could ever hope for…” When he saw the horrified look on Yu’s face, he paused in feigned concern even while he was uncapping it. “Ah, but don’t worry. Everything except for Azul’s gift is made especially from mushrooms that I picked for you myself.” He pressed the lip of the bottle to Yu’s parted lips. “Drink up, my little pearl,” he said, forcing the concoction into Yu’s mouth, not stopping even when Yu choked. As soon as the bottle was empty, he clamped a hand over the brunet’s mouth so he couldn’t spit it back out. He leaned in to whisper into Yu’s ear. “You should swallow. I would hate for us to have to hurt you more…” The coldness in his voice left the prefect absolutely no doubt that Jade would carry out his threat without hesitation.
A single tear trailed down Yu’s cheek as he closed his eyes and swallowed, feeling the liquid sliding into his body, leaving a trail of searing heat as it traveled down his throat into his belly. Please...save me, Azul… he thought, even though he knew there was no salvation coming for him. His body swayed in the twins’ grasp as he felt his head beginning to swim. Suddenly, where the potion had settled, his lower half began burning unbearably, and he cried out as he curled up into a ball from the pain.
“Quite the potent blend, isn’t it?” Jade asked, stroking Yu’s hair again, gently smoothing strands out of his face, acting so affectionately, like he wasn’t the one who was putting Yu through this hell right now. “Not even Floyd can argue against the usefulness of mushrooms now.”
“Nope!” Floyd chirped. “I still won’t eat them, though!” He grinned as he crouched down beside Yu, reveling in the joy that ran through his body when the prefect looked up at him tearily through wet eyelashes. “Still want Azul to come?” he asked. He didn’t even bother waiting for an answer before he continued. “Too bad, though! He’s not coming! No one’s ever coming for you, Little Shrimpy,” he said, cackling gleefully, just like a child who had found his new favorite toy. But of course...he had, hadn’t he? “Don’t worry, Little Shrimpy.” He reached out a hand and stroked the curve of Yu’s hip. “ No one will ever want you again after we’re done with you.” His words were ominous, suggestive, promising Yu things that he knew he didn’t want.
“Well…” Jade’s smile as he spoke promised the exact same things. “No one except for us, that is…” His words echoed endlessly in Yu’s mind as he tumbled into the depths of unconsciousness.
“But don’t worry. We’ll take good care of you…”