Tokyo Debunker mermay 2026
Shion/mermaid!reader
Summary: You're a new merfolk student at Darkwick and Shion has conflicted feelings
(Main ship : Shion/reader Background : Shion/Reader/Mio poly )
tropes : enemies to lovers, fluff, romance, mermaid AU,mermay, developing relationships, Reader is NOT MC/player character
[Probably OOC, written in Shion's POV, oneshot]
wordcount: 6534
crossposted on AO3
Author's Note:
This was supposed to be a warm-up after not writing for a VERY long time, so it's even worse than my previous fics but it's also the longest thing i've ever written
Edit: with 6500 words i could have wrote I have no mouth and i must scream. instead i write this. i should be writing straight up porn instead
You are the bane of Genkai Shion's existence.
A logical, far away part of his mind knows that you're probably acting the way you do on purpose, to rile him up for your deranged amusement, but another part whispers that perhaps, your sadistic ways are to blame on your nature. In the same way his own nature takes the blame for his mischief.
Shion glares at you from across the table, narrowing his eyes as you lounge in your chair with a grin too large to be considered anything but smug. He's contemplating leaping over the table to strangle you when a chuckle to his left draws him out of his reverie.
"- I'm glad to see you two are getting along just fine, '' Elias says, as he turns to smile at you pleasantly, '' When Darkwick assigned another merfolk student to Dionysia we were all a bit afraid it would cause trouble with Shion, but I'm glad to see it's not the case. He's always been a bit of a problem child, you see?'' He seems to completely miss the glare thrown at him as Shion hisses.
''- I am not a- ''
''- Oh, of course it's no trouble! '',you cut him off and ignore him, clapping your hands cheerfully and returning Elias' very fake smile with one of your own, '' I would never cause problems for one of my own kin, after all, if you think about it we're almost family!"
Shion snaps his teeth hard enough for his jaw to crack and for the 'clack' to echo in the room. Elias turns to him in confusion, of course, he's human -well, ghoul- so he doesn't understand the universal merfolk way of threatening someone with a slow, painful death. You, on the other hand, are looking positively delighted,a toothy grin still in place as a cheerful chirp escapes your throat. You mock him, you provoke him and that enrages him even more, he curses Elias and the entirety of Darwick’s staff for making him ‘play nice’ with you. Perhaps he can wait for the night to fall, it would be so easy to lure you in the maze that is the amusement park… Mio’s team is still busy fixing the dorm so the part reserved for the rollercoasters and the other attractions is still condemned as it waits for repairs…You could accidentally get lost in the darkness and tragically trip on discarded equipment, impaling yourself on rusty metal. No one would hear you, no one would ever think to look for you, oh poor little thing, you’d have to bleed out in the dark all alone with no one coming to save you! Yes, it would be delightful, you could even-
“- Forgive me for asking, but I was never educated much on merfolk and your customs. Do all merfolks speak the same language?” Once again, Elias interrupts unknowingly. Or perhaps he does know what goes on in Shion’s head and likes to rip him out of his fantasies on purpose. Life and its mysteries.
“- We are sort of able to understand each other but there is actually some ‘language barrier’. Two mers could be of the very same specie and not be able to communicate if they came from different places, customs and body language are very important for communication and is tied to habitat and location.’’
Your answer grates Shion’s ears like nails on a chalkboard. Eager to escape the lesson you’re about to dispense he stands abruptly and turns to exit the room, leaving you and Elias to deal with the shards that were once his teacup, he turns to you one last time before exiting the tent, a sharp smirk on his lips.
“ Oh, by the way, little fish, try not to get lost in the park. You wouldn’t want to get eaten by a stray cat.”
The confusion on your face restores some of his mood even if it’s not quite enough. Soon, he’ll be able to discern fear in your features, but in the meantime; he hopes you explode.
The first time you had met had been strange, he was wary but he couldn't stop his curiosity. It had been ages since he last saw one of his kind, well, he wasn’t sure you two were of the same breed but you were both mer. Professor Nicolas had been the one to inform Elias and Jo about your arrival, a mermaid anomaly who had agreed to experimentation in return for being able to stay at Darkwick. You hadn’t revealed much more about your motives but the Chancellor apparently deemed you sincere enough when you promised not to harm any student. Why would you be on land? Were your reasons similar to his?...Would you know to keep your hands to yourself or would you try to take his family?
According to Jo, you weren’t a ghoul and should have been placed in Obscuary, as a non-human but Hyde had suggested Dionysia instead, suggesting Shion’s presence would help your potential ‘’homesickness’’.
Said boy had openly laughed at the news: Hyde was a specialist in anomalies’ behaviour and biology, surely he was well aware that mermaids were territorial. He’d actually like the man and his chaotic ways if half of his fun wasn’t to his own expanse. That aside, Shion wasn’t sure how to feel about you. He had left the sea behind for a reason and he wasn’t too keen on being reminded of it every time he’d run into you. Obviously, he refused Elias' request to be your ‘student mentor’ and said that if he managed all by himself, so will you.
But still, he wasn’t particularly offended at your existence as he is now, but you had made a terrible first impression.
The moment he saw you, he felt it. You were…wrong. There was this uncanny air about you that had goosebumps forming on his flesh. And it definitely wasn’t the way you were clinging to Mio’s arm. Ugh, did you need to do that? What next? You’d rub your oily face on him and spread your scent to stake your claim? You should be able to tell that he already was someone’s else! Sure, yeah, okay, maybe he was a bit territorial, sure, he could have figured you were fresh out of the water and unused to walking and just using Mio as a crutch, alright, but could you really blame a dog for growling at a stranger eating his food? Ugh, forget that. The metaphor seems offensive to himself now.
While he was busy burning a hole in your skull you were still far too curious and distracted about the myriad of sounds and smells coming from everywhere to notice him. Your wide, almost-sparkling eyes looking in every possible direction, trying to catch every detail of your surroundings, take a picture with your mind and add it to your little mental collection of fascinations.
Mio looked to Jo for help, he had already called your name three times but your brain had visibly melted from overstimulation. They chuckled and gently put a hand on your shoulder, quickly earning your full attention as you whipped your head to them, your slit pupils fully blown in excitement.
‘’- Thank you for coming back to us. I know everything might be a little overwhelming right now but I’d like you to meet Shion, he’s the merman we told you about earlier.’’ You finally turned your full attention on Shion. Ah, acknowledgement, finally. You chirped in greetings. Oh? Still stuck on the old ways are we?
A curt ‘hello’ was all he answered before falling silent once more, not answering the sound of confusion that came out of your throat.
You sounded like some sort of gruff cat, it may have been because you were still not used to using your vocal chords out of water, or perhaps you just sounded like this, rough and…creaky? A far cry from his own melodious voice, which could only mean that the two of you were different sorts. Good. He could handle that better than some random mermaid who’d claim to be family because they shared similar blood.
But still, there was something unsettling about you… your appearance?
‘’- There’s something wrong with your face’’, he said flatly, ignoring Jo who looked about ready to turn him into sashimi,’’ it’s just…plain.’’
“- Shion. You can’t just say that to peop-”, but he just did anyway, he interrupted Mio’s chiding to focus back on you.
“Why.”
Mermaids do not look plain. Never. Mermaids have large shining eyes, delicate features, full lips and long lashes to bat at sailors. Their appearance is made to lure humans, a strategy of evolution, looking like your prey was a sure way to get it to lower its guard, and then, once it was close enough you could lunge and drag it to the bottom of the sea. Or it used to be this way, but then humans grew wary of the merfolks and they evolved again to develop attractive features. Now humans get drowned by pretty mermaids because they’re stupid enough to try and flirt with an apex predator. Whatever. What he was trying to wrap his head around is why you lacked this ethereal beauty that is so hypnotizing to humans.
…He was the only one who thought you were uncanny, he realized. To Jo and Mio you must seem perfectly normal, just another person. You look too human. Only he could smell the sea salt on your skin and the distinctive stench of kelp that clung to your hair, only he could tell that your blood circulated differently in your veins and that no matter how close you tried to cling to Mio your skin would remain just as cold as Shion’s.
But to everyone else, you looked perfectly human. Unlike him. He knows he sticks out with his perfect face and his odd behaviour, he’s still not really integrated, human customs are still a strange concept to him and he struggles to abide by their rules. You’ll probably catch on quickly unto said customs and with your perfectly mundane appearance, even if you don’t, you’ll just be seen as some weird rando, no one will ever figure out what you are, while he’s been trying for so long and he still looks so out of place. He knows how everyone looks at him. The staff, the students, even his family.
There’s a pang of something in his chest. Envy. Anger? Resentment? Against who? You? Haru? or himself? But then again, what are you if not another fae here to sweep away another member of his family? The forest boy and you, all the same, himself included. Maybe they should all be branded with a rod of black iron. A warning to all foolish enough to leave their loved ones unguarded: Beware the thief!
Meanwhile you observed him silently, unblinking eyes focused on his face, the expressions he made. Searching for a weakness perhaps? You remained ignorant of his inner turmoil as you finally answered him.
“ You’re a coastal fish,” You stated plainly. He couldn’t discern any kind of judgment in your tone but your guess being spot on irritated him anyway, so he huffed and left without another word, ignoring Mio’s long suffering sigh of exasperation and Jo’s fretting over you and your feelings, something about not being your fault and him waking with a cactus up his ass. Of course this was your fault. He ignores how you call out to him to ask if he’s a singer of all things. You’re awful. And rude.
He might have retreated then but that did not mean he gave up. Shion had worked hard to build this family, and while he might not act like it, they were all very dear to him. He would not let you steal them away.
Elias’ ambush still fresh in his seething mind, he opted instead to observe you from afar. No more tea party traps for him, the fourth year was banned from talking to him until the end of the week. Unless he had more of these brain shaped chocolates. The merman is easily bribed.
Yellow eyes observe you from afar as you talk to a general student from.. the hospital house? Blue tie. The kids that always bother him with tests and prodding at his fins. Hm, maybe he could try to befriend you just to use you as a decoy while he escaped the gloves and needles.
He notices you freezing in the middle of your sentence as your eyes fall on a delivery cat.
“- What is that?,”you ask the Mortkranken girl next to you.
“- Oh, it’s just a cat! Is this the first time you see one? I thought you might have seen some before, they’re everywhere on the campus!’’
“...Why does it look like that..?,” as your fellow student takes the time to observe the cat, she must not notice anything amiss since she tilts her head in a silent question, you continue, “ It’s all round and weird. Like a drawing. Also it sounds weird. Like a human pretending to be a cat.”
The cat meows at you in a tone that sounds offended. A very accusatory, human tone.
“ Oh! Sorry I keep forgetting but they’re some kind of anomaly. Don’t worry about them, they wouldn’t be allowed to roam freely on campus if they were dangerous. Ah, if you want, you can think that they are a bit like you?”
The student excuses herself, says something about getting back to the lab before Yuri bursts a blood vessel and leaves you to your musings. You hold the “cat’s’’ stare, neither of you breaking the silence for a long moment. You lean down to quietly question it;
“ …Are you going to eat me..?”
Shion snorts loudly and slips away before you catch him. Oh, you really took his warning into consideration then. Cute.
The next meeting is unplanned. And really weird. He was just sitting in front of the spooky house messing with a pop up wooden monster that had been punched out of fearful instinct,(really, it would have been funny if he hadn’t painted the thing himself) when you appeared in front of him, eyes wide and wild with urgency. You weren’t the most stealthy on land it seemed, he had heard you running from afar but was too busy moping to give you attention.
“ Shion! Quick! You come with me!”
“-What? Why? Wait I don’t wan-” Ignoring his protests you grab his hand to pull him to his feet but Shion is tall and there is weight in his bones and he really wants to be an annoying little shit, so he leans back like dead weight, fully intending to make you struggle. Instead, you lift him seemingly effortlessly like he is a weightless cardboard cutout of himself and not an seventy kilograms uncooperative brat. You seem not to notice his grimace of surprise as you drag him to where you came from: a tree.
You crouch like a monkey and gesture for him to do the same, which he obliges out of sheer bewilderment (and perhaps a bit of amusement at your antics. But he’s probably not going to admit that yet.) you point to a low branch where sits ... a cat.
‘’ -That’s a cat.’’
‘’ -No, no! You don’t understand. Look at him. He is a normal cat!’’
‘’ Yes that’s the point of him being a cat.’’ He humours you and inspects the furry creature, two pointy ears, pink little nose, a tail, and a judgmental stare. Yep, that’s a cat. He nods to himself.
‘’ Shion,” you hiss ,” he is exactly like the ones in the books! His pupils are slit and it peed on the tree!”
“ Ew. What are you trying to say, little fish?” he whines and then jumps out of his skin when you grab his shoulder to shake him like a faulty vending machine.
“ The weird kart-wun cats don’t have slit pupils, their eyes are round. They don’t pee because they’re anomalies, this is the first real cat ever!”
He blinks at you and doesn’t correct your pronunciation of ‘cartoon’ when he realizes you are right. He looks at him: the first real cat ever. The pupils have gone round in the darkness but they reacted to light, when he stands up to poke the cat, it hisses and bats his hand away, leaving a raw streak on his skin, it’s also the first real cat he’s ever seen on the island. You blabber something about how ‘’fake cats don’t have claws’’ and he hums thoughtfully.
‘’ I guess it’s my first time seeing a real one then.’’ You stare at him for a minute before nodding solemnly, he doesn’t need you to tell him that’s it also your first cat, he just stands in silence with you, to stare at him. The first real cat ever.
Your cat experience has consequences: you’ve grown closer to Shion. There is something growing there, being built between the two of you. Perhaps not quite friendship yet, but acknowledgement at least, camaraderie at best. You strike conversations when you run into him now, at first you speak about the cats, the real ones and the fake ones. Shion’s theory is that the principal himself is a demon and his cats are actually his evil minions. You think the cats are spies and work for the CIA, you’re not quite sure what it is but you heard it from Elias. You both agree to meet again later to question him about it. The man in question is ready for you, and has prepared an extensive youtube playlist about north american conspiracy theories. Mio doesn’t bother arguing when you come asking for tinfoil hats. He makes them and calls you two cute but bothersome. Perhaps that is when the friendship is born, and you officially become partners in crime. You both complain about the weird human food, you’re still not used to the meat on land but at least you have to admit that humans are very creative with things they put in their mouths. You learn that he likes everything sugary and that he hates the taste of toothpaste. He laughs when you tell him you cried when you saw a vacuum cleaner for the first time. Conversations go and time pass and your talks are less mundane and more intimate, you open up about being from the open sea, far away from any land, with currents too rocky for any ship to bother sailing through. You tell him about the hunger that would keep gnawing at your stomach at all times, about the loneliness beneath the endless waves, about how you had to venture closer to the coast to find food and about the first beach you saw, filled with humans, laughing and playing in the shallow waters, their colorful clothes and strange floating toys you wanted to touch. In turn he tells you about himself, his other family, the one he doesn’t like to talk about and the humans who could swim and walk and climb and looked so free. He tells you he wants to be human too and then he talks about the facility cell, about the clash and about Taiga and Haru.
Once you seek him out in the night, complaining about how you can’t sleep. How wrong it feels to sleep out of the water, how you miss the crushing weight of the sea that felt like a constant embrace. That night he sings a lullaby for you, swearing that it’s the first and only time he’ll ever sing for you, and when you fall asleep in his bed he doesn’t bother moving you, he just curls up next to you. When morning comes you are alone tangled in bedsheets that smell like cotton candy, but you find him pestering Jo about something he won’t tell you about. You find out soon enough when the blonde presents you with a weighted blanket, explaining it helped Shion when he still wasn’t used to sleeping out of water. They ask if you can keep a secret and then reveal that it was your new friend who had demanded such a gift for you. They joke that it’s too bad he is too shy to give it himself and you clutch the soft blanket to your chest, it’s warm but the tingling that travels from your chest and down your back is warmer.
Some time later, Mio jokingly asks if Shion has any plan to have you replace him in his family and he hums, contemplates saying yes just to keep his little brother on his toes and then decides against it. There’s no need to kick anyone out, you are simply getting added to it. He wonders what title he should grant you.
Time passes quickly when you have fun, and the dreaded day is upon us: the evil bi-monthly mandatory medical exam. Shion hates going to Mortkranken and hates getting in the tub just to get prodded at by weirdos. More than anything he hates feeling like a specimen, something that needs to be trapped and studied, something that’s not human. Some thing. The first year was the worst in his fussing, so much so that Elias tried decorating the tub in stickers to ‘’make it feel cosy’’ Haru also had to dub the examination pool as ‘ Shion’s tub ‘ with a label maker. When the blonde bartender of death and failed romance heard that he said “hashtag my tub” for some reason and Shion felt like he was kept out of a joke that was made on his behalf. Well, at least this year you would have to share his suffering and he will be able to commiserate with you. Small wins.
Still that doesn’t mean that he’d go willingly and it’s Mio’s turn to drag the merman to his appointment with Yuri. This time he stalled for twenty three minutes. Not bad but his best score was thirty one. But hey, there’s always next time.
Mio lets go of his hand when they reach Yuri’s office and sends him off with a plea not to cause trouble, so he groans and sighs and whines with the dramatics of a five year old who has been asked to clean his room and resigns himself to his fate.
The first thing he notices upon entering the room (without knocking, of course, lest Yuri start getting comfortable in his own space) is the absence of his tub.
“Where’s my tub?” He demands cleverly. Jiro slaps on a new pair of gloves and gestures for him to follow.
“- We’ve had to change the examination equipment to a bigger pool to accommodate both you and the new merfolk student.”
There’s a pang of irritation -and loss, oddly enough- as Shion wonders why both of you need to be in the pool at the same time. Couldn’t you just take turns? Well, still that wouldn’t just be his tub anymore, he guesses. ‘Our tub,’ he rectifies. Our. Something that is both yours and his at the same time, something only the two of you share. It’s an oddly satisfying thought. But alas the tub is gone, you can share a pool now he supposes. And so he follows after the taller ghoul in another room and-
You’re here. In the water. In your mer form.
Realization clicks in his brain as he takes in your real appearance. There is a primitive, instinctual part of his mind that begs him to get away from you and he actually has to swallow down the lump of fear that grips his throat.
You are not a siren. He knew that, but he didn’t expect you to be so damn big. You’re easily fifteen feet in length, your tail is long and sleek and covered in scales that might as well be armor. In the clinical light, they shine a dull grey with a slight greenish undertone, the same color as your skin. You are all webs and spiky fins, your hands are webbed in the same way his are, but he certainly lacks the talons you sport on each fingertip. You tilt your head toward him and offer a smile. And what a smile it is, rows upon rows of razorsharp teeth glint in the white light, they are so long that they stick out from your mouth, which, by the lines and shape of your cheek, might actually split your face in two from ear to ear. The plain and ‘average’ looks of your human form makes sense to him now, you have never needed to lure humans: you are a hunter and your prey are simply fated to be overpowered by your nature. And with how every cell in his body screams for him to escape, he knows that many of his kin -and perhaps even yours- had met their fate at your claws to become your dinner, another part of sick little head is really enjoying the rush of adrenaline and the way his blood flows south.
He barely shakes himself free of his torpor when the whiny doctor starts screaming at him for his tardiness, among other things, so he does the same thing he always does and strips himself bare without a care to get over it quickly. He only half-registers the amusement that comes from seeing Yuri stammer and blush and shriek at him to have some decency, usually he’d laugh but today he is far too entranced by you. You watch him with unnaturally bright eyes as he slips in the water, his bones crack and break as they reshape themselves into their original shape, his pale human skin leaves place to an otherworldly hue and scales break through like teeth in a baby’s mouth. He barely winces at what used to feel like agony, it still hurts like shit but he learned not to show any sign of weakness. Especially now, in front of you. He is showing off, after all.
As expected, even with his tail adding to his length, you still dwarf him like a shark next to a goldfish.
“- If I had known I wouldn’t have nicknamed you ‘little fish’,” he purrs as he circles you,’’ why didn’t you say anything?”
"I didn't mind and you never asked.”
He rolls his eyes at your answer, he pulls at your dorsal fin and swims away from your batting hand. Your size makes you slow in this limited space, and he uses the advantage to poke and prod at every little appendage he can find. You giggle in delight, trying your best to poke back at his own fins. You’re just a playful littl- uh, big fish, it seems.
Jiro calls your name and starts explaining that he will be in charge of your medical exam while Yuri will deal with Shion. He requests your permission to ask some personal questions for further study of your specie and you agree easily. The first question is expectable.
“- Could you tell us why mermaids hunt humans? Are you anthropophagic?”
“-Ugh,” Shion rolls his eyes and answers in your stead,’’ why must everything always be about you humans? The average singing siren eats fish.”
“ - Then why do they drown sailors?”
“ - For fun, obviously. They always make delightful sounds as they try to scream underwater, desperately flailing for their lives until the end… Also, humans taste gross. Once we’re done with you we just throw you away.’’
‘’- My…kind eats larger prey,’’you try to answer helpfully, “we usually go for sharks, whales, seals and the occasional bear, but the land meat is very different in taste from the sea meat. The elders say it’s an acquired taste, though. We don’t see many humans where I’m from so I’ve never eaten any, but you are edible to us.’’
“- Does your kin practice cannibalism?”
You take a nervous glance at Shion as you think about your answer for a moment.
“ …yes. Both other types of mer and each other if there is no other food. It’s not systematic but we avoid living in groups for this reason.’’ You cast another wary glance toward your fellow mer but he is already staring at you in awe and wonder, his pupils dilated so wide that the gold of his irises is barely perceptible. Oh, he wonders, could you eat him? Would you let him eat a part of you? Would you be poisonous to him or could you both survive from eating a part of each other? How wonderful that would be, to have a part of you inside him forever and know that he was forever a part of you. The fantasies are getting wilder and his skin starts to feel feverish, if he was out of the water he’d be clammy and sweaty for sure but he wonders how he’d taste, would you enjoy him? What would you taste li-
“ And what about the legend about mermaid flesh granting immortality?,’’ Great. Way to turn him off. “We actually have a patient that attempted to cure his illness by consuming mermaid flesh.”
“ Huh, and how is he now?”
“ He’s become an over regenerating anomaly. He’s in a tank by the main lab, you passed by him when you came here.’’
‘’Idiot.’’ is all Shion says about the guy, ‘’Dumbass.’’ is your official confirmation.
‘’ He ate it raw, didn't he? ‘’
‘’ Yes. Does cooking the meat affect the effects?”
You shrug.
“ Nobody really knows if mermaid immortality is true but we have a children's tale about it,” Shion leans on your shoulder as he starts his dramatical recitation,
“ Long, long ago, when the sirens still ruled beneath the waves and the humans still prayed to the Goddess of the sea before they dared to brave the waters, there was a sailor. He was the first human to get accustomed to the sea, the first that dared to stop fearing. He had seen many tragedies and experienced such trials that his heart became hard and cold. He was a skilled fighter, a fierce captain and a ruthless killer, his greed was beyond every sin we thought the humans capable of, and he believed himself to be the Pirate King of the seas. Having grown bored of stealing from his kin, he turned towards our Old Kingdom, hoping to take from us instead. But he met his greatest opponent yet: a young mermaid, still naive and kind, who hoped to spare him from the bloody fate that awaited him, she offered him a deal: she’d bring him legends and secret maps instead, and he could be an adventurer who would never grow bored of the world. The man agreed, and guided by the mermaid, his ship sailed through the seven seas. But in their travels, the man had grown soft and had fallen in love with his guide. He introduced her to the human concept of family and asked that she become his wife. The young lass, charmed by her fearless sailor, accepted and offered a bite of her flesh to the pirate, so they may stay together without fear of age separating them and the years passed in happiness. But alas! One day she left and never resurfaced! In reality, her days of peace had lowered her guard and she had been captured by fishermen, soon to be killed and sold for coin, but her husband never knew what happened to his beloved, thus he kept sailing the ocean, searching for her, but now, he was so very old and his body weary! The years had passed and his body had begun rotting on his bones but yet he could not die, for the siren he loved had cursed him with immortality. He continued to scour the waves until all of the soft flesh and muscles withered away and his bones fell apart. It is said that even now, his soul clings to his bony remains, forever lost to the sand and the sea, he never dies and never rests, and his beloved never comes back.’’ Finished with his speech, Shion bows proudly as both you and Jiro clap politely. Yuri looks at the both of you with a mix of contempt and exasperation.
“ So it’s a cautionary tale, then. Immortality is a curse and the human body is not made to endure it.”
“ It’s a romantic tale about interspecies love actually!,’’you counter with intensity,’’ the human still loves his wife and waits for her even now!”
“ But how did he gain immortality though? Mermaid flesh is poisonous.’’
“ Obviously the answer is right in the tale. You have to get the meat from a live source,” Shion answers with disdain.
“ If it is indeed a children’s tale,” Jiro quips, “it would be an example of consent. Mermaid flesh would be poisonous to anyone that eats it without its owner's consent.”
Everyone falls silent to ponder theories about the tale and its accuracy.
“ It could just be because everyone insists on eating it raw…like Fugu sashimi…”
‘’ You are suggesting that what stops humanity from gaining immortality is an anomalous tapeworm?!”
There’s a rumor going around campus lately, some people say that the freak from Dionysia is apparently cheating on his partner with the cursed honour student.
..what? Shion(the freak) freezes, stopping his current normal activity of digging with his bare hands to find smelly mushrooms. Normal stuff. The Vagastrom students have not noticed him as they keep gossiping. He’s cheating? Him? On what test? What game? He isn’t quite sure about this saying but putting ‘’cheating’’ and ‘’partner’’ in the same sentence seems suspicious. Sounds like betrayal. What partner by the way? And what about the honour student? He gave her an impromptu haircut, tried to steal her phone, added her to his family, threatened her with torture and death, nothing strange or even unusual. He hasn’t cheated in any way. He scoffs, clearly he’s done things more impressive and gruesome, if the general students want to talk about him, they could focus on his cooler accomplishments. Whatever. He stands up from his crouching position and puts a muddy hand on the nearest student’s shoulder, relishing in the way they yelp in surprise, and pale in recognition and terror. Yes, do be afraid. You have every reason to. He leans in menacingly, his canines peeking from the grin he adorns, crowding the kid’s personal space.
“- Wanna tell me more about it?”
You’re half-asleep, curled on the floor with your head in Mio’s lap as he tinkers with a new invention when Shion bursts in the workshop, disrupting the peace and effectively making you jump and knock your forehead in Mio’s chin. Both of you yelp in pain and surprise, the artisan drops his tools to cradle his chin as you lay back on the floor, moaning in pain as you hold your head.
“ Shion, what the hell.” Mio hisses and glares but he isn’t rewarded with any kind of attention, instead Shion points to you dramatically.
‘’ Big fish, I think the other students married us.”
You turn to him fast enough to give yourself a second headache, concern clear on your features.
“ That’s illegal! The Ace Attorney twink from Sinostra said you had to sign papers for that kind of thing!”
‘’ Where did you hear this word…”
“ Attorney? The first year ghoul from Jabberwock taught me.”
“ Not that one. Twink,“ Mio runs his hands down his face in exasperation.
“ Ah. Also from that guy.”
“It doesn’t matter,’’ Shion cuts you off,’’ I’m adding the honor student to the family, but she can’t be my wife if I already have a spouse. One of you will have to change your title.”
“ Family?,” you ask, “I thought that was called a polycule? You can’t just add people in it on your own.” Mio groans and asks if you also learned that word from Ren. When you answer that it was actually Haru who taught you he looks about ready to keel over. It’s a bit funny.
“Why not?” He asks with frustration seeping in his tone,” If I want a new family member why can’t I just add one?” Mio sighs at that.
“ What they’re trying to say is that we should talk about it together first. You’re not alone anymore, Shion, your decisions affect the other ‘family members’.”
You nod your agreement as Shion ponders on these wise words, still you can’t help but look at you Shion sourly. There’s something else you’re not telling.
“...Can’t the new girl be your cousin or something? I could be your wife. Or Mio could be your wife, we were there first anyway.” You hear a snort in the background from another artisan (They don’t bother running away from these antics anymore, they’re used to it.) A smirk slowly curls Shion’s lips.
“ Is my big fishie jealous?”, he singsongs as Mio pats your head in support, “don’t worry you’ll always be my favourite~”
You huff in annoyance -and then squeak from distress as the boy drops all of his weight on your body- he’s worse than you. He was raised around other mermaids, with humans nearby and he’s been human for longer than you. How come you’re better than him at social cues? Maybe Mio is right, maybe there’s something wrong with his brain. Or maybe he’s just doing it all on purpose. You just know you just have shit taste in mermen. You card your fingers through his hair, once again marvelling at the sensation of dry, silky strands moving under your un-webbed hands. He makes a purr like sound and nuzzles against your neck, like a snake trying to burrow in the sand. A catfish snake. He’s cute you think. He’s stealing all the body heat you just worked hard to steal from Mio but he’s cute. You think you like him so you do the most logical thing that should be done and clumsily press your lips to his in an attempt to mimic what you’ve seen in movies. It’s not quite right yet, but in your defense there weren’t many people to practice with on damned Point Nemo. He doesn’t seem to mind though, instead he makes a pleased, approving little noise that makes something stir in your belly. Perhaps this is the butterflies disease humans talk about so often, maybe you’re dying of dehydration, you can’t find it in yourself to care right now. You feel yourself pulled out of your B movie romance thoughts when Mio presses a kiss to your cheek and murmurs something about ‘having an audience’ and ‘public decency laws’. It’s very hard for the thoughts to register when you’re contemplating kissing him properly too but that’s the moment your brain chooses to light up with a question.
“ Shion?,” You ask hesitantly.
“ Hmm?”
“ Does the honor student…know about us? Did she even consent to the family addition?”
“ No, why?”
…You are going to murder a merman you think. You’re pretty sure you can convince Mio to help you hide the body easily.
“ So obviously you know about marriage but have you ever heard of divorce.”
