Chapter Text
Green Sea Turtle Migration Map
Whales and Orcas Migration Map
Antarctica Map, Falkland Islands
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It's been years, though Katsuki has lost count of just how many. Time tends to pass oddly when the open sea is one's only loyal companion.
At this point, he's of the belief that there just aren't any others to be found. Years of swimming around the oceans, through channels, and even coral cave systems. All that time spent searching, and Katsuki's only ever found the broken and disarrayed skeleton of a mer that, seemingly, lived long ago.
With each season that passes, Katsuki falls deeper into the endless pit of lonliness, accepting that, after nearly three or so decades of searching, he's likely the last one. Alone in a sea of creatures and species, entirely unlike his own.
Though, he isn't....technically alone anymore.
He swims with the orcas, now. A pod had taken him in when he shared his gutted prize of a dusky shark that strayed too far from it's own group, and barred its teeth at his fin. The migration weeks for the orcas were particularly thin of food sources that year, and they had two adolescent orcas, stlll small and young, so how could he not? And with strength, witt, and teeth like his own, a shark doesn't stand a chance. Never has, and never will.
The pod's matriarch takes him under her fin when ice fishing boats stray too far from land. To protect and conceal his bright orange and tapered sunset colored scales from poachers looking for highly profitable goods.
He can't really communicate with them, as their songs and sonar are at entirely different levels, but if he tries hard enough, and burns his throat doing it, Katsuki can get out short, high pitched croons, strong enough for the older orcas of the pod to find him when he hunts ahead or strays closer to the ocean floor.
He's wandered too far again, but based on his own sonar, there's a school of herring big enough to fill the pod's bellies until morning.
And this pod has a very....unique form of hunting.
Turning in the water, Katsuki strains the pockets of muscle around his vocal chords and attempts to click high enough that the pod's matriarch gets the message. And when his sonar bounces back in rippled waves, it's clear that she does.
The pod breaks formation, swimming wide to cast a net of sorts around the large herd of herring. The two males circle around the sides, the youngest of the pod follow the matriarch, and the other females take south. Katsuki stays behind one of the females, keeping his brightly colored scales out of sight as to not startle the herring.
The males will frighten the fish, and herd the cluster deeper, tighter, into one giant sphere of fish. And when the females swim upwards, the herring will only have one direction left to go, and that's when the matriarch, in all her decades of mastering the art, will strike.
A swift smack of her tail, and the cluster closest will lose consciousness, while the others attempt to flee. And they will, just straight into the mouths of the surrounding orcas.
Katsuki, unable to eat quite like the orca do, will hold open his satchel, woven of seaweed and kelp, and catch dozens of herring in one go. He ties off the bag, firmly encassing the smaller fish, then hit his tail against it twice, effectively killing each herring. They have small delicate brains, and can't handle the twenty of so tons of force that his tail can pack in one hit.
Watching the orcas eat their fill, Katsuki takes note of just how much the pod has grown since he joined. The eldest female leads them, but she's still got several years of life left in her. The younger ones seem to be not as young as Katsuki had originally thought, and could even be looking to mate soon. Which means more mouths to feed, more bodies to safeguard, and more hearts to keep beating.
The pod is growing, and Katsuki should do the right thing and find his own mate too. Find a mate, create his own pod, migrate when cold waters sweep in.....
Of course, it would be easier if there were other mermaids, or even other species of them, but no. At least from what Katsuki can tell and now knows from the thousands and thousands of miles that he's swam and sung and searched through, they're just...gone.
He should leave the pod anyways, as it wouldn't be right to over-stay his welcome. They provided him with company and security, and additional skills for hunting the waters, and truth be told, it has been rather nice, not being entirely alone, but....this pod and it's members are a family of blood. Katsuki's orange hues, fleshy skin, limbs, tail, and songs, prove that he's an outsider, and other pods may see him as just that, an outsider. An animal that the orcas of this pod simply took a liking to.
Being on his own again won't be too bad. He could go to and from whichever climate, hunt with only himself in mind, and not have to break up any rolling and bobbing fights between teen whales.
The cold waters aren't where he belongs anyways. Katsuki truly thrives in the tropics, but surviving there is harder with more humans and fishing boats out for mere fun.
He's spent his years in the freezing waters, watching at his scales lose vibrancy and dull in color. It's safer, in the north. Less humans, less boats and nets, but that also means less food, and sharks hungry enough to fight for the chance to bite into what little blubber lays beneath the scales of his trimmed body.
Moving forward again, catching the warmer currents as they do, Katsuki begins to wonder if he should just....settle down. Find a cave near the warmer waters, watch the orcas and salt salmon migrate each year from a distance. If he's luck, he might even find some bioluminescent algae to feed and care for, so long as they light the cave walls and scare away any other toothy predators. Not that Katsuki couldn't fight them off, but a good hibernation is much needed after years of icy waters.
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With the currents now warm enough that even the orcas are starting to shed, Katsuki's scales are too, for the first time in years.
No one ever really taught him how to shed his scales. The few times he's done it himself, he used the sand beds to roll around in and watched as the shedded scales fell from his tail.
The flesh of his arms starts to itch, so Katsuki pulls a broken piece of coral from his bag, and gently rubs it against the scales of his arms and lower abdomen. The orcas seem to have paused to log themselves at the surface of the water for some sleep, so he has a few hours to himself as the sunlight starts to fade from view.
Katsuki has no memory of a mer-pod of his own, no recollection of a family or of carrier parents, nothing. The only two memories he does have, are of being called by the name Katsuki, and a blurred memory of a...necklace...of some kind. A necklace made from shells...and...bronze colored scales, maybe. Bound together by some kind of rope or....hair, even.
He's had the strange desire to make a necklace before, but never really understood why, or what it's purpose would be, other than just to have something pretty hang from his neck.
Outside of just those two memories, his only others are of the vast sea, and unanswered cries.
And Katsuki's reminded again, of just how lonely he really is.
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As the days blur together, turning into weeks, that desire to make a necklace is back again. At this point, the desire to make one has gotten desperate enough that it doesn't even have to be a necklace. A shiny rock, a pretty shell, Katsuki keeps picking shit up off the ocean floor and from what sand and debris is picked up from the waves. He puts them in his seaweed satchel, and goes about his day.
But what's the goddamn point?!
Even when the small pocket of thick saliva and muscle within his mouth starts to ache, Katsuki digs his claw into his cheek and fishes out the small pearl that was once a tiny grain of sand, and starts to toss it out into the ocean, but this disturbing sense of panic takes over and he snatches it from the water and jams it back into his cheek.
But why?!
It's uncomfortable! It's hard to eat around! All the shiny junk and pretty shit in his bag is just taking up space!
Katsuki growls and snarls in frustration as they swim in the same direction that they have been for weeks.
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Okay.
So, he's given it some thought.
It's probably a courting thing? Like the dolphins do with sea sponges, and the penguins of the arctics do with smooth rocks? The crabs dance, and the pufferfish draw intricate shapes in the sand for females, so...mermaids...give...necklaces?
And Katsuki is migrating with the orcas to their breeding grounds, so...it's probably....instinct? He always gets a little itchy and more irritable this time of year, too.
Okay, so it's just instinct, just natural instincts, nothing to get too bent out of shape over. It's fine.
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Katsuki has decided that it's not fucking fine.
Everything was fine, he was fine, it was an itch that was very easily ignoreable. They were making great time, and the breeding bay was only a few more days worth of travel away, he was so close to not showing up to the grounds, looking like a fool, with a courting gift to give and no other mermaid on the godforsaken planet to give it to.
But here he is, biting through the knots of an old net found hanging off another sea cliff, caught by the current and left behind for god knows how long. He bites through the knots, leaving only one decently sized string of woven material that doesn't seem native to the ocean, then drills his sharp pointed claws into the bites of random shit he's uncontrollably collected over the last week. It's a waste of time, but he can't seem to stop himself.
He wraps the shells, ties off a few of his more brightly colored scales, and finally makes a small netted pouch to hold...something.
His jaw aches, so Katsuki slips his finger into the pocket of his cheek again to fish out the small sun colored pearl that he's held on to for no other reason besides this, he supposes. He slips the pearl into the small pouch, watching as the rays of light from the surface bounce against it.
It's not...bad looking, though he can't help but feel like it's missing something.
These instincts are nothing but an inconvenience. An inconvenience that will only leave him heartbroken and alone, because with unmanageable expectations, comes unavoidable pain.
The pain of lonliness, all over again.
Katsuki's grown all too familiar with it, but time has yet to lesson the ache of his heart.
At the matriarch's song to regroup, Katsuki slips the necklace into his pouch and follows the vibrations to find the pod again.
Just a few more days, and Katsuki will have to say goodbye, but at least a still life of ocean watching awaits him.
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Now that's he's made the necklace, that stubborn need to make one has vanished. But an even more annoying one has replaced it, the full force and a non-negotiable instinct to croon in the natural decibel of his voice.
Which is, again, a giant waste of time and energy.
Katsuki ignores the feeling as much as possible, though a trill or a hum still slips out from time to time.
The waters are warmer now, much warmer. The sun reaches the sand beds and the distance between the surface and the sandy floors has grown smaller. They've made it, thousands of miles north from the icey landscapes and freezing waters of the south, there's nothing but clear waters, soft white sand, and fish that Katsuki hasn't even seen with his own eyes in years.
Breeding bay, the mating grounds. Higher north, the humpbacks have their own territory, west is the dolphins. If Katsuki's memory is right, then the swift currents of this side of the ocean are called...Maivella Waves. The waves that crash back into the water bring a shimmering pattern to the sand. Even his scales reflect the warmth of the sun in bright hues of vermilion and pantone. Reds and oranges that Katsuki hasn't seen on himself in far too long. Even the black trim of his tail and tapered fins sport a healthy gloss.
The orcas sing, spin, and dance. The songs of different generations and dialects create an echo so loud, that Katsuki's head is starting to hurt. Watching the orcas of his pod drift away from the matriarch to find a mate of their own, is almost bittersweet. He's watched the adolescents grow into fine young whales, strong, stubborn, and powerful. There is no doubt in his mind that come six or so seasons from now, there will be at least a couple more infant orcas welcomed into the pod.
This is where he says his goodbyes.
The matriarch, perhaps expecting his decision, bellows a deep enough sound that Katsuki can almost hear the feeling deep in his spine. A feeling he is not accustomed to, but it's a kind gesture nonetheless.
She bobs her head, tail flapping as she swims underneath him, the nose of her snout presses between his shoulder blades in playful encouragement. She pushes him forward, bumping into his arm. Katsuki places a hand on her head, where a crown of power should rest to display her strengths and status to the pod. Orcas do not wear crowns, but Katsuki quite thinks this one should.
Katsuki croons back in a tone that she would not understand, no matter how hard he pitches his throat, that means...."thank you."
The mating calls and echoed vibrations from the breeding bay follows him for several miles. Katsuki only slows when the sensation dulls to a modest hum. He followed the current for a while, until reaching a break in the whipping waters that forked off towards the West. With two strong currents practically in sight, a field of seaweed and kelp, hills of sand, clear waters, and deep rock formations off a jagged cliff.....Katsuki can't find much wrong with the area.
The currents can provide schools of fish, the kelp is high in necessary vitamins, and even the sandy ridges of the cliff provide small crustaceans and a self-sifting treasure trove.
The only thing it seems to be missing is a shelter of sorts. Somewhere to hide from any passing predators with a vendetta. Somewhere covered just enough to mask his scent and keep any easily provoked sharks, pissed off stonefish, or box jellyfish far the fuck away.
He searches the cliff edges first, looking for any ledges, breaks, or fall away rocks. Everything seems solid, sturdy, even when he pushes against the formations. Katsuki searches for what feels like far too long, based on the slowly fading sunlight. He flips his tail out in front of himself and sits on one of the ledges. It is a beautiful place, and surely he could survive long enough to maybe....construct his own cave? Or dig a pit in the sand and layer the top with driftwood, debris, and seaweed? He props his chin onto his fist, thinking of which would be the safest out of his options.
Katsuki watches as small fish swim past him, minding their own business and going about their way. He leans over the ledge to peer down at the crevice. It doesn't seem too deep, nor narrow. Even the sunlight touches the sand beds between the steep rock formations.
Temperatures get cooler deeper into the sea, but these waters are warm. Even the upwards draft hitting his tail from the crevice is warm.
Katsuki kicks off the ledge, floating a few meters down between formations. The sand is soft when his fingers brush against it. As though nothing has disturbed it's sifted place below. There's a thick layer of algae in some stretches of rock and stone. Halodule and eelgrass grow on the ledge of parts of the crevice, masking the depth from certain points of view.
On the sandy floors between the crevice walls, redtide blooms vibrantly in patches. Wireweed grows in thin long blades against the corners. There's a mess of tangled brown seaweed hanging from it's place wedged between stone flats. Katsuki pushes it away, lifting to tuck the mess above the larger stone platform.
There's a cave.
A smaller one, but brightly lit with sunlight and spacious enough to store anything Katsuki collects. There's even a flat stone on its back, perfect for laying sea moss and layers of weeds to sleep on.
It's just big enough for two mermaids to swim around with ease, maybe even three!
Katsuki grimaces at himself.
It's perfect for just one. He and himself, alone. A place to rest his head, to call home, after so many years of floating through oceans and drifting from climates to new shores.
Katsuki's tired. The kind of tired that's bone deep, heart aching, and soul strumming.
It's about time he just.....stopped. Stopped getting his hopes crushed everytime a blue whale sings hundreds of miles away and Katsuki first registers it at as the call of another mermaid, stopped searching the sea floors for even just remnants of his kind from the past, and stopped praying to whatever damned God of the sea had cursed him with such a lonesome life.
Nearing three decades of being alone, Katsuki's decided that being alone is better than being dead, and chooses to stay safe in this little cave he's found, and live out the rest of his days.
It's a farewell, of sorts, to his youth and nomadic lifestyle. He's not done it in years, but...maybe one last song wouldn't hurt. One of a somber tone, loud and clear, deep in his natural pitch, sparing no thought for communication with no other animal besides his ancestors in thanks of the life he does have.
It has been a long, long time since he let out a traditional call within his normal range. No one and nothing would answer him, so he gave up years ago.
Kicking his tail against the sand and swimming upwards, Katsuki sits on the ledge above the cave. Satchel bag at his hip, Katsuki digs through it and pulls out the necklace of shells, scales, and old twine. He drapes it over his lap, then....well, he croons.
He calls out into the vast never-ending sea. The vibrations carry and the call reaches far, but the distance of his voice has never really been an advantage when there is no one for it to actually reach.
The somberness of it has his throat aching to cry and his gills fawning out around his collarbones to cling helplessly to any other hints of a sound that calls back. Still, Katsuki sings. He sings for himself, for his past, and for those who've lived before him.
Dreams of being answered still haunt him enough that he can almost feel the call of another, but his imagination has always been so vivid. Even now, the ghost of a vibration sends chills down to his tail.
Katsuki calls out again. The sound low and riveting, as his natural tone is. There's no telling how far it reaches. The fleeting sensation of an answer calls to him again, taunting and eerily frantic. He croons back uncontrollably. Tears of murky salt build at the corners of his eyes with an emotion he's far too familiar with. The vibrations of his call tremble with sadness and an ache that far surpasses desperation at this point. He clutches the necklace, nails dragging across the scales and braided twine with empty sentiment.
Perhaps it's his blurred vision or the ache in his chest, but Katsuki could damn near swear that something is answering him. Something, or someone, farther north, close to the break in the currrents where the east and west waters crash together but do not mix.
Whatever it is, it's song is hauntingly beautiful. Ghosts of the sea, spirits of the past, and hope of the prevailed. It comes in waves, hitting his spine and warming his frilled fins like summer sun at the surface. Even if it was a mirage, a figment of his imagination, it's beautiful. Katsuki has never heard anything quite like it before. Nothing so close to his own sound or near this decibel. He can't even recall any other species that could sing in such a way, besides....himself.
Hope, the painful wretched thing, crawls it's way back into every orifice of his body. He had stamped it down too many times to count, but this...this feels so....sure.
Katsuki holds the necklace to his chest and tries not to cling to that hope as it shakes his core. He attempts another croon, but it comes out too weak to travel such a distance. Once again, that echoed song reaches deep into his soul. Like an extended hand, pleading to be taken.
He doesn't sing back to it, guarding himself from the inevitable. The reveal that it's only a blue whale, young and inexperienced in differentiating sounds. Or that it's his own voice, echoing back at him from a deeper crevice half a mile away.
Katsuki sits on the ledge, unmoving. He stays motionless to ride out the storm of emotions that's brewing inside his heart.
Then....there's a click.
A repeated sequence of them, higher in pitch, followed by another desperate song. Clicking and chattering, a form of echolocation, meaning-
Something, someone, is trying to find him.
A clicking sound that blue whales do not make, and entirely different from the ones of orcas or dolphins.
Katsuki's head flings back, searching the waters before him. The clicking starts again, sounding closer. His tail hits the wall beneath him, launching himself off into whatever direction his instincts tell him to go.
He'll end up heartbroken again.
He could find himself lost in the open sea, miles from the guiding currents.
He might get lured into a sharks den.
But.....
Katsuki swims forward at highs speeds. Finding his voice again with the help of hope, he croons as loud as the muscles around his vocal chords will let him. It almost aches, but it frees a part of himself that he'd hidden away long ago.
The clicking starts again, desperate and repetitive. Katsuki chases the sound, swimming towards the source of the vibrations and rippled sound waves that carress his flesh. He calls to it, just as frantic, just as desperate.
Sonar buzzing unclear in his head, he knows there are green sea turtles ahead, but they are of no danger.
Katsuki swims above a forest of kelp, ignoring passing schools of fish. The drop off opens the sea to a depth that not even he could survive in. He swims above it, praying silently to whatever Gods may be listening.
The clicking is louder, the calls more clear. Clear enough that a message is heard that makes his scales tingle and body alight with the need to find the source like his life depends on it.
"Where?"
Katsuki croons back, loud as he can, "here."
There's a sound ahead, much like a trill of relief. He swims towards it at speeds reserved for hunting or fleeing predators.
The next song is closer. Close enough to feel with his soul, but not close enough to see with his eyes.
Katsuki croons again, fearful of the silence.
And the singer answers instantly.
He swims even faster, tail whipping with immense strength. In the far distance, a blur of green approaches. A sea turtle? Tangled moss and seaweed caught in the waves?
Katsuki croons, not as loud, but deeper in tone.
And the green blur seems to move faster.
Suddenly, it's as if the entire ocean stands still around him. The sun sets above the water, casting warm rays of light across the surface. Any other sounds have become too far to really even notice. His eyes stay fixated on what he can only describe as....the most beautiful shade of seaglass.
Rich, shimmering, beautiful shades of green.
Another mermaid.
A male, based on the scent and build, with dark green scales with shimmering specks of what Katsuki can only describe as the color of milky pearls. His scales travel higher up his abdomen than Katsuki's, and his flesh seems supple with lean muscle. Scars in various healing stages scatter over his skin, focused on his arms. His hair curls in tight waves and coils against the push and pull of the sea. His lashes are lighter than his hair, framing his seaglass eyes perfectly.
Katsuki's never seen another mermaid before, but out of all the times he ever imagined meeting one and what they'd look like, he'd never imagined one even half as beautiful.
"Errrahh?" He speaks, and Katsuki thinks it was a question.
"Sorry, I...I don't-" he pants through whirling thoughts.
"Mrrrrpp?"
Katsuki blinks at him, eyes wide and unsure. "Uh...my name is Katsuki."
The beautiful mermaid's head tilts, gills fidget and fan out like he's listening.
"Katsuki," he repeats while patting his chest.
"Ka-" the other starts, slow as though the sound was foreign. "Kaacahe?"
"Katsuki."
"Ka-....cchan?" The mermaid says, lips pulling into a smile. "Kacchan?"
"You can call me whatever you want, anything at all, I'll answer." He whispers with a croon of approval.
The mermaid pats his own chest, making a low trill that vibrates strong enough to reach Katsuki's chest. "Izuku."
Ah. Different dialects. His name is a sound Katsuki struggles to form, finding the shape of his mouth and punctuating it with another croon.
"Deku?"
The beautiful mermaid seems to giggle. A clicking sound that rolls at the back of his throat. "De-ku," he repeats, tilting his head and smiling.
"Deku," Katsuki croons, getting another rolling giggle.
He braves a half tail whip closer. This mermaid's torso is smaller in size, but his tail is just as long as his own. He carries a satchel similar to the one at Katsuki's hip, though his is made of pieces of bone and braided string that must have been human made.
Deku, in all his beauty, looks Katsuki over with just as much attention and awe as Katsuki does him. The fins of his tail have thin tappered edges and tips, with near black veins that show though the thin layer of flesh. He has steering fins that fan out at his hips, moving gracefully in the water. He lacks a dorsel fin like Katsuki's that sits low on his tail bone, but Katsuki has no doubts of his speed.
Eyes lowering, Deku notices the nearly tangled necklace held tight in Katsuki's hand.
A new instinct takes over, a strong desire that he's never felt before.
Deku makes a curious sound, light and bubbly. Katsuki unfurls his hand, letting the necklace tumble from his fingers and dangle off his claws. Deku's eyes widen at the sight. A gentle cacophony of trills and rumbles build and fall from his lips. Katsuki lets him take it with lithe fingers. His hands are tan, decorated in spots of sunlight and scars of victory against whatever may have barred its teeth at him.
At that moment, Katsuki grimmly realizes their....
Compatability.
Deku is...male, and Katsuki never even considered the possibility of genders and romance and the like. What if Deku...doesn't want to stay with him? What if he has no intentions of living side by side?
"Mrrrp?" Deku rumbles gently, holding the necklace and tracing the pearl. "Eaanne?"
"I...I don't know if your species can do this...but-" Katsuki reaches to hook a claw into his mouth. He searches the soft muscle of his cheek, finally finding a small uneven pearl bead that's not been there long enough to be of significant shine or size. He holds it out to Deku, and those kind eyes marvel at it like its the most fascinating thing he's ever seen.
Then, at unnatural speeds, there're fingers in his mouth.
Katsuki coughs in surprise. Deku's small, blunt, round tipped claws search along his cheek, poking the muscle and feeling the flesh gently.
"Wha-re-you-doin?" Katsuki says through the fingers that push aside his tongue. A toned chest presses to his own, a cautious claw slips into the pocket of muscle, swiping and feeling with utmost care, and Katsuki's brain zapps itself into a dumb state of listlessness.
Practically nose to nose, Deku starts to purr.
God's, please, mercy, Katsuki's gonna faint.
"Aaeevi? Avanesi!" Deku coos and praises in fluttered clicks. His fingers finally move from his mouth with a slick sound that makes Katsuki's eyes roll a little.
"Yeah, kind of...weird...I know," he says sheepishly while rubbing at his throat.
Deku smiles at him before opening his mouth wide. His jaw doesn't seem to unhinge like Katsuki's can for larger prey, and his teeth are shorter, more blunt and like smooth rocks. Two small fangs sit at each side for biting, but his mouth doesn't seem to be one of his defensive/offensive marks.
"What am I looking for?" Katsuki muses lightly as Deku makes more clicking noises.
At the very back of his throat, two glossy looking orbs hit together to make what Katsuki can only describe as music. A clacking noise, more like a chirp through his teeth. Its....a sweet sound.
"Oh." Yeah, he doesn't have that ability. The muscles of his vocal chords vibrate roughly to create a deep rumble, but nothing quite as soothing or pure as Deku's sound.
Deku's mouth closes with the clack of his teeth. He looks down at the necklace again, holding it with both hands.
"You can keep it...if you want," Katsuki says, and Deku looks up at him with curiosity again. He tries handing it back, but Katsuki pushes it into his hands again with a shake of his head. "Yours."
Deku preens, seemingly, and spreads it out onto his chest, trying to drape the ends over the back of his neck. His tail swishes forward then to the side to spin himself around, and Katsuki, without further explanation needed, reaches up to tie the ends in a neat loop at his nape. It's snug enough to not get tangled in the fawned out frills of his gills, but loose enough to not hurt.
"Evannea," Deku trills, touching the necklace now draped beautifully at his neck.
Oh.
That's what was missing.
A pretty neck on a pretty mer, to wear it.
That itch fades, instead blooming like sea flowers with a whole new desire.
Tentatively, almost with apprehension, a hand reaches to hover over the center of Katsuki's chest. Deku does not touch, showing that he means no harm in the action and is waiting for permission.
Katsuki puts his own over Deku's, pressing it flush to his sternum. His chest rises and falls with each gilled breath of the water's oxygen. His eyes meet the deep pools of seaglass before him, and Deku blinks like he's holding something back.
"Anone?" Deku tries, searching for the words. "Alae?" He makes another noise, just like the one he'd use to call out to Katsuki, a searching sound, locating and feeling out into the waters.
"Alone?" Katsuki asks. "Are you asking if I'm alone?"
Deku's eyes soften in what looks like sadness. "Alone?"
He shakes his head, squeezing the hand at his chest. "Not anymore." His other hand reaches up to lay gently over the netted pearl of the necklace that dangles just above the center of Deku's chest. "Are you...alone?"
With a sweetwater trill, Deku's other hand takes his and presses it firmly to his chest. The vibrations of Katsuki's croon and Deku's trills sends heat up their arms, straight to their thrumming hearts.
"Kacchan," is all he says. And it feels like, after years of searching and mourning and praying, finally coming home.
His head bows, body curling forward, and Deku catches him. His face digs into his neck, a trembling smile is pressed to the cusp of his ear. So many emotions, so many thoughts and feelings rushing through their bodies. Deku's lean arms wrap firm around his shoulders, just as Katsuki's wrap around and up his back. Deku's blunt nails dig into the flesh of his upper arms and shoulders.
Katsuki's croons come in waves of shaking relief. Deku's trills against his ear and it's the most soothing thing he's ever had the privilege of feeling. The vibrations between them wrecks through their bodies, down to the tapered fins of their tails.
The momentum and push and pull of the ocean steers them sideways, floating listlessly, tangled together in a fated embrace that has shifted the course of life permanently.
Katsuki welcomes the beating heart pressed against his own. He welcomes it, and any trials or tribulations that's to follow. Joy has never felt like this before. Perhaps because Katsuki had never really known what it truly felt like, but now that he does, he will never let it go.
Their embrace floats for a while. Long enough that their tears have long since mixed with the current and drifted away. Deku's blunt rounded claws have loosened from his flesh, though the pads of his fingers still grip tight.
Abruptly, his head snaps back, turning this way and that.
"What is it?"
His eyes drift closed, torso turning to whatever calls for his attention. Katsuki follows the angle and finds a wave of turtles in the distance, following the break in the warm waters to drift below the undertow.
Deku's family.
Just as Katsuki ran with the orcas, he'd swam with the sea turtles.
Without pulling away, Deku turns in Katsuki's hold and keeps him close as the turtles closed in. A large one with a battered shell and paler skin seperates from the group first to swim around their knitted bodies in a slow orbit.
"Kōkara," Deku says as a form of introduction. "Inko."
A female well into her years for a sea turtle.
Deku's adopted mother.
Katsuki doesn't move a muscle as Deku reaches out to pet along the mother turtle's shell. She floats in the water with a heaviness and more wisdom than Katsuki could ever hope to have himself.
Deku speaks to her in clicks and sounds similar to the quieted noises he'd hear from a short distance. He takes Katsuki's wrist gently, holding it out to brush the turtles shell too.
"Kacchan," he says, and Katsuki rumbles a noise of pride.
The other turtles linger, swimming in slow circles beneath and beside them. Another turtle, slightly smaller in size with yellow marks down his back, approaches the female's side. Deku flips up and rolls playfully over the male's back, hugging his shell.
The elder male, Deku's father.
Unlike orcas, sea turtles are typically loan roamers, but will often form groups to migrate, feed, bask, or mate. Sometimes they even form attachments.
Katsuki doesn't know much about the sea turtles, aside from what he's only witnessed over the years, but he's sure Deku will teach him, just as Katsuki will teach him all of what he knows.
The female turtle bobs her head in an unspoken request, and Deku immediately flips over the male to float up to her front. His forehead leans against hers, eyes closed and cooing in reassurances.
He's....saying goodbye?
The female turtle pulls away first, flapping her fins to pull back. Deku lays a hand on the male's head, brushing under his jaw in bittersweet farewell.
Deku speaks in a soft clicking that only the turtles would understand. Katsuki lays a hand on his shoulder to pull his attention for only a moment.
"You can see them again next migration," he croons sympathetically. Deku doesn't fully understand what he says, but he still trills back with big watery eyes.
A few more sentimental moments of cooing and clicking, and the sea turtles turn to head back towards the current heading east. The female, before leaving, looks Katsuki in the eyes with what can only be worry.
"I'll take care of him, I swear to you." Is all he says, and she...seems to understand. With a bob to her head, she follows after the male who waits for her between the dole and Deku. They swim off together as a group, leaving behind who is likely their youngest family member, to be watched over by Katsuki.
Deku watches with nothing but sweet farewell in his eyes. It isn't until they are well out of view, that he turns with a timid smile.
"Home?" Katsuki asks, holding out his hand. "I....found a place, but if you don't like it, I'm sure we can find another."
Deku takes his hand, fingers entwining as much as possible with the webbing between their knuckles.
"Home?" He echos in question, and Katsuki answers by gently pulling him forward.
They swim over the reef's edge, through schools of fish, and past cliff living sea life.
Deku doesn't pull away once, curiously looking around and clicking here and there to gather a better feel for the surroundings.
The crevice comes into view, and Katsuki squeezes Deku's hand as a warning before they dip between the ridged walls. Light is fading rather quickly now that the sun has further set, so he hopes Deku will accept it as a temporary home at least for the night.
Slipping between the cornered crevice, Katsuki stops at the threshold and turns to Deku with a croon that poses as a question.
"Home, if you like it."
Deku's eyes flit between his and the dark space. Katsuki swims in first, still holding his hand. Deku pokes his head in to look around with wide searching eyes. He makes that echoed clicking noise again, a neutral pitch, turning his head this way and that.
With no signs of danger, Deku's tail flips slowly to and fro to propel himself into the darkness.
He feels around the walls, touching the flat stone that Katsuki intended to be a bed of sorts. His blunt claws scratch along the uneven piles of sand, and he tsks.
Katsuki makes a dejected croon, but Deku answers in a confusingly cheerful one laced in approval.
"Do you like it?"
"Faneal andes," Deku says, pushing at Katsuki's chest to move him to the threshold.
"Uh, I'll stay here then?"
Deku nods at him, then flips backwards and lands on his belly on the sandy bed. His satchel has been removed and sat on the flat stone.
Is he supposed to take watch? Are they going to sleep in shifts?
It's his first time sleeping in the same vicinity as another mermaid, okay?
Deku uses his hands and arms to steer himself along the floor. His tail smacks at the sand, stirring it up. Katsuki can't open his mouth even the slightest to make a proper sound, because then he'd get sand in his freaking mouth and have to deal with dozens of pesky damn pearl growths in the pockets of his cheek.
Tail smacking and patting down the sand, his hands smooth out piles as he goes.
Why is he packing it down? What's the purpose?
It takes several minutes, but Katsuki waits, and Deku works diligently to smooth the floor and free it of bumpy piles or rocks that tumble up from the sand. Deku 'tsks' at each one, tossing it through the small opening that sits higher on the other side of the cave.
Finally, Deku clicks as if searching the floor blindly in the dark again. He finds the miniscule piles of sand near the corner, and pats them out too. His dull claws dig into the sand to rake it out. Another minute passes, and a sweet trill of approval vibrates all the way to Katsuki's spine.
"Eneasla?"
Katsuki's not sure of what he's asking, but a croon leaves his chest nonetheless.
Deku then flips back onto his belly at the center of the floor, moving his arms through the sand and flapping his tail side to side with an odd shift of his hips.
He's....digging....a concaved pit? A wide one, based on his twisting and, oddly adorable, flailing. Deku's hands then pat the sandy walls of the pit to flatten the edges, and his nails drag circles through the edges in swirling patterns. He clicks his teeth a few more times, chirping and hearing the clear location of the cave. Satisfied, Deku rolls onto his back, arms stretched out with a happy smile and even happier chorus of chirping.
Katsuki can't help the pleased chuckle he makes.
"Kacchan," Deku calls, patting the sandy spot next to him. "Kacchan, eauna!"
"Oh, you want me to-" Katsuki says, shaking his head because asking seems pointless with Deku's obvious invitation. He pulls the harpoon shaft from it's seaweed sling at his shoulder. "I need to take watch while you sleep. What if something gets in here while we're both passed out? What if a barracuda shows up? Or-or a box jellyfish just floats on in here and hurts you? A bull shark? They're fast little shits and hard to see coming even when awake." Katsuki reasons, albeit, a little irrationally.
Deku just looks at him, unimpressed. With an impatient sigh, he slowly pulls himself out of the sand pit and floats over to where Katsuki hovers at the threshold. He reaches out both hands and pulls the satchel off from Katsuki's hip. When Deku goes to take the harpoon spear, Katsuki's hold on it tightens, and Deku fuckin' nips at him.
"Oi, don't get nippy with me. I'm trying to protect you!"
This time, Deku rolls his eyes. Katsuki has half a mind to growl, but then those soft scarred hands caress his face and there's honestly not a damn thing he could do to get out of whatever Deku's about to drag him into.
"Nest."
"Wh-what?"
"Kacchan, nest," Deku repeats, firm like there's not a shrimp's ass room for argument.
Katsuki lets himself be pulled forward by the gentle hold on his face, floating in such a way that pushes himself over Deku's form. His back hits the sand, and Katsuki's left hovering listlessly above.
The feather soft ends of Deku's tail sweep up to pillow against his, then wrapping the lean muscle around his own to steer his lower half down. Deku's hands move from his face to his shoulders, so gently, so painfully delicate as if Katsuki could be startled off. He pulls him into an embrace, and Katsuki all but goes dead limp.
Deku is purring again. It's a soothing vibration that lowers his blood pressure, and he can't get enough of it. Katsuki rumbles back, crooning quietly. He summons the courage to wrap his arms under his back to hold him with all his might. And Deku purrs a little louder. His cheek nuzzles against Katsuki's before his face digs into his neck.
At least this way, if something does get in the cave, it'll have to go through him before even laying a fin on Deku.
They lay there in the pillowed bed of sand, just holding one another and trading soothing sounds of happiness. The necklace around Deku's neck is pinned between their chests, and Katsuki's pride grows to inconceivable levels.
He's found another mermaid.
After all these years, after searching and begging the gods for even just a sign, he's found one.
Katsuki doesn't need to know what any other mermaids of the past had looked like, because this one is the most beautiful. Deku compares to nothing. There's not a damn thing in the entire ocean, no...the entire world, that could even claim a sliver of his beauty.
He can't explain it. It's territorial, almost. A proud declaration that he knows, without a doubt, is true. Deku chose to stay with him, and Katsuki made a promise to protect him, and he will make damn good on that promise.
"Sealen," Deku says so soft, so quiet, against his gills.
Katsuki shivers.
"I'm sorry," he whispers back. "I'm just so...happy." His croons begin to shake again.
Deku hushes him with a tight grip around his shoulders and what feels like a feather soft whisper to his gills.
"Naena, Kacchan. Icau naena lou."
Now Katsuki don't speak tropical angel, but whatever Deku just said has his shoulders relaxing and his jaw unclenching. It's smooth, sweet just like his scent. Deku smells of sweetwater and....starfruit. He's tasted it only once, when one of the human ships had lost some of their cargo and spilled the fruit out near the channels, years ago.
He briefly wonders if Deku...tastes like it too.
Is that cannibalism?
No, it's desire.
"Kacchan?" Deku moves to rub his cheek against his jaw, tilting his head so their eyes meet again.
Oh god, no. No no no no-
This hasn't happened since he first shed his adolescent scales and went through a painful growth spurt.
Fucking, urges. Deku's a male! There's no way that could work!
What's even worse, is that the beautiful mermaid underneath him giggles.
"Taellano, Kacchan," Deku rubs the pads of his fingers into his shoulders, up his neck. "Taellano, bao sealen."
"Sorry, I know...." Katsuki grunts out a strangled noise. "I'm sorry."
Well if that ain't the single most embarrassing thing ever on the planet, he don't know what is.
Deku hushes him, and doesn't utter another word or seem uncomfortable with the....obvious bulge pressed to his lower stomach. Katsuki tries to move away, but those arms around him only tighten.
"Sealen," Deku says firmly, teeth grazing his nape in a warning. "Kacchan, sealen." His left hand moves, and the soft pads of his fingers brush down his face in an effort to close his eyes.
Right.
Sleep.
Maybe if he does close his eyes and pretends to sleep, but then stays alert through the night for any predators or trouble, Deku will actually sleep and Katsuki can just rest in the morning once he's awake.
Sounds like a pretty solid plan to him.
Katsuki closes his eyes and slumps against Deku's warm body again. He gives off sleepy croons and nuzzles the mossy green curls atop Deku's sweet head.
It takes several minutes of steady breathing and quiet hums, but Deku seems to have fallen asleep. His vibrations have pulled, but haven't stopped. It's a rather quiet sound, sending out pulses into the water as he rests with a shallow breathing pattern.
Oh...he's...using sonar, in his sleep? Keeping watch while he rests? But is his echolocation strong enough? Would he be able to sense something before it gets too close? Staying alert is still probably safer, especially in the new area. There's no telling what might be hidden nearby in another cave, or deep in the drop off. How is Deku even able to do that? Katsuki can't, that's for damn sure. Would have been so fucking helpful while logging with the orcas. A full night of sleep for once.
Katsuki closes his eyes and feels the rhythmic hum through his sternum, radiating in soothing waves up his spine. It's so calming, so smooth and warm. It feels like someone's hugging his very soul.
He listens, feels, and sinks deeper into Deku's sounds and scent. Bliss washes over him, and his body finally, for the first time in far too long, relaxes.
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