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Hizashi grinned widely as he swam through the clear ocean waters in search of a proper gift for his mate. Shota and Hizashi had been mates for five years now, meaning this was a special occasion whether the mer’s husband thought so or not.
Hizashi was in the middle of admiring a particularly large conch shell when he heard it. There was a loud and distant distress call. Hizashi whirled around and took off at full speed, his hip length yellow hair easily flowing behind him as his equally bright yellow tail pushed him forward.
He may be a seahorse mer, but he wasn’t weak. His special magic ability, the power to manipulate sound waves, was what gave him an edge in most fights where he couldn’t just use his teeth and or claws. Others, even Hizashi and Shota’s friends, tended to forget that despite the fact that Shota was the eel and more outwardly aggressive, Hizashi was the actually violent one.
There it was again. Hizashi froze, tilting his head from side to side in order to place the sound of the distressed cries. And… There. Hizashi swam upwards, closer to the surface than he usually dared go. He avoided humans like all other mers, but he and Shota went as far as having their own fissure specifically for themselves and the other members of their pod. That’s besides the point, because Hizashi finally pinpointed the source of the screams and sobs.
A child. No… a baby. A mer baby. One with their entire body wrapped in thick fishing line and close enough to the surface that seagulls were starting to try and grab them. Baby mers were small, small enough to fit into an adult human’s palm when they’re young enough, and Hizashi was an extra half length in comparison to a normal human male.
“Hey, it’s ok. You’re ok.” Hizashi tried to soothe the baby only for them to continue screaming and flailing around. The poor thing had stunning green and black hair and a matching dark green tail with sharp black spines and scales. “Sh…” Hizashi tried once more when another seagull tried to dive bomb the baby once more. “That’s it!” Hizashi swam up and clawed at the fishing line with his sharp nails, easily tearing through it and pulling the sobbing mer into his hand.
That’s when he spotted the red coming from the surface. Lots of red.
Hizashi chanced a peak to see what the color was coming from. He felt his heart sink when he caught sight of the remains of what had to have been the baby’s mother already sprawled out on a few rocks for the birds. The fishing net must have caught her and held her above the water for too long. Hizashi peeled his eyes away with a weary sigh. He already knew where this was going.
“Hizashi, where have you been? I was-” Shota cut himself off when he saw the shell shocked look on the other mer’s face as he swiftly swam into their cave. “I need you to blindly agree to what I’m going to suggest we do, ok?” Hizashi interrupted, wiggling in place uncomfortably. “Ok…?” Shota edged, his red eyes narrowing slightly when he caught sight of Hizashi’s nervous lime irises.
“I…” Hizashi started only for a pained whimper to interrupt him. “Oh, come here, baby. Let’s get you taken care of.” Hizashi cooed, slowly opening up the pouch he had on his belly from being a seahorse mer. Shota tilted his head, mostly out of confusion but also to get his long black hair out of his face. The sight of his hair was quickly replaced with the sight of dark green curls on the head of a child his mate had just pulled out of his pouch.
“Hizashi?” “He’s injured.” Hizashi explained, moving to get to the area of the cave where they stored their medical supplies. “His mother…” Hizashi trailed off when the baby in his hand started to sob in pain once more. It seemed that losing the comfort from Hizashi’s pouch was enough to have him paying attention again.
Shota didn’t ask anymore questions, only moving so his tail, which was over twice the length of his body, was protectively curled around his mate and the baby he was treating.
“Here.” Hizashi said once the small mer was finally asleep. “Huh?” Shota backed away slightly. Contrary to popular belief, Shota adored children, but being an eel mer meant that his appearance was… for lack of a better term intimidating. His mostly black color scheme didn’t help much either. Shota often made most adult mers uncomfortable just by looking at them, so having this injured and likely traumatized baby gently but forcefully shoved into his arms by his mate was nerve wracking.
“Shota, please?” The eel mer caved when his mate gave him puppy eyes. The baby was light, very light, so Shota had no trouble holding him while Hizashi went about his business around the cave.
“Hizashi?” “Hm?” “You found the kid.” “Yes.” “You found him alone?” “Mhm.” “And you put him in your pouch?” “Yup.” “And, if I’m remembering correctly, seahorses usually reserve their pouches for their young, correct?” “Yes.” “So, let me get this straight. You left the fissure to go get me something to celebrate while using our pod as a distraction for me, you found a child, grabbed them, adopted them, then you brought them back and are expecting me to go along with this?” Hizashi very slowly turned to face his mate with an embarrassed smile. “Uh… Surprise?” Shota sighed, deeply. “If the kid doesn’t get scared half to death just by seeing me then fine.” “YES-!” Shota snapped his head up to glare at his mate when the loud cheer had the baby stirring. “Sorry.” Hizashi offered, not looking apologetic in the slightest.
Hours later, the baby would wake up.
To Shota’s complete and utter shock, the small mer swam over to him immediately, poking and prodding at the yellow patterns down his mostly charcoal black tail while babbling. “So…” Shota shot his mate a glare, which had him laughing loudly in return.
Becoming parents wasn’t what Shota was expecting for their five-year celebration, but he couldn’t bring himself to complain when that night, long after Hizashi had fallen asleep, the baby wriggled out of the blond’s hold to snuggle against Shota’s chest. The older mer huffed out a quiet laugh while he brought a clawed hand up to very gently run through the thick curls.
The rest of the pod seemed far too excited for their own good.
Nemuri, an angelfish mer with a dark purple color palate, had squealed so loudly it startled both Shota and the baby. Hizashi quickly swam over to join her in her excitement while Shota glanced down at…
“Hizashi! What’s his name?” The seahorse froze, giving his mate a wide eyed look. “Me?” “You found him. You can name him since I think he’s too young to remember his old name.” Hizashi shoved a fist into his mouth to muffle another squeal. “Let’s see…” Hizashi hoisted the small mer into his hand and lifted him up, as if the light would make a difference. “Hm… Izuku?” Hizashi tilted his head, the baby giggled, Hizashi nodded. “Izuku.” He decided with a sunshine bright grin.
Oboro, an octopus mer who knew Hizashi since they were younger and both still stuck in the royal castle, was beyond thrilled at being an uncle. “I’m gonna shower him with gifts!” Oboro was practically buzzing in place as his ink clouds slowly appeared and made the shapes of a few fish around the baby. Izuku giggled, reaching out to touch the ink clouds that Oboro’s magic let him control at will. The mer’s light blue hair was just as puffy as Izuku’s, and that led to Oboro showing a few plants he’d found to the couple that would work better with Izuku’s curls. While that was happening, Izuku was poking and prodding at Oboro’s white tentacles, occasionally squeezing them with the baby strength that left Oboro wincing.
“How lovely.” Nezu, a one of a kind sea otter mer, hummed happily when he finally got a peek at the baby napping in Hizashi’s pouch. “Yes. Here, let me heal the boy.” Chiyo, an older barracuda mer with the magic ability to heal others, said as she held her hands out. Hizashi reluctantly handed Izuku over to the woman. Her wrinkled eyes softened as she pressed a light kiss to the boy’s temple. “He’ll be fine in a few hours.” “Thank you.” Shota nodded gratefully.
That’s when Tensei and his little brother Tenya, both blue swordfish mers, stopped by. Tenya was actually close to Izuku’s age, meaning the boys would be able to play together often.
Emi, the clownfish mer who always jokingly flirted with Shota, stopped by later that day to introduce her son to Izuku as well. Hitoshi was also a little older than Izuku, but him being a shark mer meant that he was already almost twice Izuku’s size, especially with Izuku being a quill fin blenny mer.
The others all loved Izuku too, each and every one of them welcoming him into the pod with open arms and fins.
By the end of the day, Izuku was sleeping peacefully in Hizashi’s pouch while he and Shota made their way back to their cave.
A year went by before something new happened. Shota was in the middle of fighting off a random mer thief when he heard a loud trill followed by his son babbling. Shota spun around, making sure his tail was tightly holding the other mer, to find his son swimming out of the fissure followed by the mer who was supposed to be watching him. Luckily, the thief was too busy trying to escape to notice the baby.
Shota sighed, turning to use his magic on the other mer. His powers let him temporarily erase other mer magic, meaning he was the perfect counter to all other magic. “If I see you around her again you won’t be leaving with all of you limbs.” He hissed, red eyes gleaming slightly brighter as the bandit nodded vigorously.
“Oboro.” Shota’s voice was low and threatening as he watched the mer thief disappear into the distance. “You were supposed to be watching him.” Oboro flinched, pulling Izuku into his many limbs before swimming over. “I know, I know, but look! I brought him here to surprise you!” “Hm?” Shota raised an unimpressed eyebrow, if this was another one of Oboro’s games he was going to kill him. “Dada!” Izuku finally squealed. And just like that, all of the irritants and anger pooling in Shota’s body was quickly replaced with a warm mushy feeling.
It wasn’t too long after that when Hizashi finally heard a quiet “Papa.” from the baby he was transporting in his pouch to go grab some shells for Shota. It had the older mer in tears, and Nemuri never let him forget it.
The day Izuku first used his magic was… chaotic. Hizashi had been swimming around with the toddler mer, showing him a few fun dance moves. Izuku was following along as best he could, but his moves were still pretty clumsy. Hizashi was too focused on helping Izuku to see the glint of the harpoon being fired.
The weapon sank itself into Hizashi’s right shoulder before a cloud of blood exploded from the wound. Hizashi went wide eyed, staring at his child in shock. That’s when the human, a hunter, started to reel Hizashi backwards. He was too panicked to even try to use his magic, only using his tail to frantically shove Izuku away as fast as possible.
“Oh! Look at that! This freak has a baby!” The human shouted, his gruff voice still making it through his large helmet. Hizashi snarled, moving to lunge at the man with his teeth and claws when the harpoon in his shoulder suddenly expanded. The bone it was previously dug into was now shattered, the muscles and flesh around his shoulder torn to shreds. Hizashi’s vision went hazy immediately. He was having too much trouble to attack, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t see. What he saw, moments before the human had Hizashi close enough to wrap him in some fishing line, was a small green bullet of lightning slamming into the man so hard it sent him crashing into the side of the fissure.
“Hizashi!” Shota screamed as he swam as fast as he could to his mate and their child, Chiyo and Oboro right behind him. “I’ve got the hunter!” Oboro shouted as Shota moved to grab his son and mate to drag them over to the older mer.
Hizashi was barely awake, eyes glazed over and droopy while Izuku was sobbing hysterically.
“We need to bring him to another healer, I can’t fix this by myself!” Chiyo was panicking, her magic not strong enough to do more than stop Hizashi from bleeding out more. “Fuck! We need to get him to the castle! They’re the only ones strong enough to fix this!” Shota grit his teeth, praying that this wouldn’t end badly.
“Go! We’ve got this!” Oboro shouted, wrapping his tentacles tighter around the hunter.
Shota moved, bringing Hizashi onto his back and Izuku onto his arms. Then, he took off. Eel mers are the third fastest mers of every species of mer, meaning Shota was out of the fissure and on his way to the mer royal capital in less than a second even with the weight of his mate and son.
“Hizashi! I need you to use your magic!” Shota yelled, doing his best to swim through the city of other mers as fast as possible. Hizashi lifted his head up slowly, now letting his gaze fall on his former home, the royal castle. Even as dread pooled in his stomach uncomfortably, he listened. Hizashi screamed, loudly. The force of his magic amplified the sound, making the earth shake violently. In response to the familiar call, the guards around the castle walls instantly backed away, letting Shota swim past them.
“Hizashi is hurt!” Shota screamed the second he burst into the throne room. The king and queen, Hizashi’s parents, were stunned. They hadn’t seen their son in almost ten years. They were both lionfish mers, with magic related to water and air respectively. “Please!” Shota collapsed, the last bit of his energy used to flip himself over to apply pressure to Hizashi’s wound now that he was bleeding through the seaweed wrapping Chiyo set.
After another stunned moment of silence, the royal couple moved. Shin, Hizashi’s father, went to grab the various royal doctors and nurses while Asahi, the queen herself, swam to cup Hizashi’s face to check him over.
“What happened?!” She demanded. “Hunter.” Shota snapped back, wanting nothing more to slap her for even thinking he had anything to do with this.
“Hizashi!” Sagen and Genta, the princes and Hizashi’s younger brothers, both cried when they swam in with their father and the medical team.
“Papa, no!” Izuku screamed, trying to fight his way out of Shota’s hold when the medical mers tried to move Hizashi away from them. “Papa?” Asahi’s eyes widened in shock.
“Izuku, sh…” Shota moved away from the other mers, attempting to comfort his son while using his magic to prevent the kid from hurting himself with his new powers. He’d been close enough to see it. The seemingly infinite energy flooded Izuku’s body in the form of green lightning before the small mer had shot forward to headbutt the hunter.
“Who are you?” One of the guards finally asked. “Shota. I’m Hizashi’s mate.” “Mate?!” The royal family all cried out in shock. Shota glared at them in return.
“Does that mean…” Asahi motioned towards Izuku, who was still sobbing his little heart out. Shota coiled his tail up to cover him from view. “This is our son, Izuku. Hizashi was stabbed with that harpoon while he and Izuku were playing outside of our home.”
“Why weren’t you there to protect him?!” Genta shouted. Shota glared harder. “Hizashi doesn’t need my protection.” “Ha! Tell that to him right now!” Genta roared, pointing a clawed finger to the medical wing where Hizashi had just been dragged into. Shota bared his fangs and snarled. “How about you thank me for trusting you assholes to actually help him instead of me taking him to the Mammal Kingdom.” “Obviously we’d help him! We’re actually his family! Unlike you, a pathetic eel mer that probably seduced him into leaving us!”
Shota hissed in warning when the other mer got too close to him and Izuku for comfort.
“I didn’t even meet Hizashi until a year after he left this hell hole. Now stop blaming me for shit that had nothing to do with me, or I’m going to show you exactly what I was about to do to that hunter before I brought Hizashi here.” Genta huffed but moved.
Shota ignored the royal family completely after that, staying by Hizashi’s side with Izuku the entire rest of the time they were in the castle.
Other mers tried to separate them or at least glare Shota into submission, but he just glared back while daring them to make it physical.
When Hizashi was finally healthy enough, they left. Hizashi didn’t so much as look back as he held his son in his pouch for safe keeping on their way home.
“Do you ever plan on going back?” Shota found himself asking once they were finally curled up in their cave together, safe from the outside world. “Yes. I’m just…” Hizashi glanced down at his baby. “I may not have wanted to be a prince, or crown prince, or even king, but maybe Izuku will. He’s technically next in line since he’s my son, even if I left. I’m going to wait until Izuku is old enough to make that choice for himself.” Hizashi decided. Shota snorted. “Sounds good, Sunshine.” “Aw…” Hizashi cooed at the rare use of a nickname from his grumpy mate. “I love you.” “I love you too.” Shota replied, tightening his grip on both his mate and son comfortingly.
“Besides,” Hizashi continued with a snicker. “maybe Izuku will end up being the one to really change the system. Make it so all mers, even eels, are treated equally.” Shota hummed. It was a nice thought.
It was so nice it became reality.
At the age of fifteen, Izuku returned to reclaim his birthright with his parents by his side.
The Coral Kingdom was changed drastically under his rule. Former criminals were rehabilitated, hunters were repelled with deals, discrimination was stomped out swiftly, and Izuku improved the basic needs of all in his realm.
Other kingdoms took notice of it, offering out their hands for contracts and deals to help their own. Izuku agreed easily, forming connections with the Mammal Kingdom, Deep Sea Traders Guild, Tropical Community, and Volcano Kingdoms in less than five years.
This was the beginning of an era. The Era of Izuku, the King of Energy and Hope.
And to think, none of this would have happened if Hizashi hadn’t wanted to find his mate a shiny shell. Fate really does do crazy things.