AU: mermaids (free! Fandom, you choose the ships)
Thank you, bb!!! <33 Also I’m sorry this is so belated, I was waiting for my day off to post these that way I could sit down and properly gush over them (eyes emoji).
- I’m gonna go with Rin being a mermaid in this one, since I’m weak to that; also might slightly base him off a fic I have in the works, oops. He lives in an environment different than an ocean, a land that’s so saturated with water it’s basically just a giant-ass swamp. So his form is slightly different from that of a conventional mermaid, to accommodate the his surroundings. He’s got that second eyelid that cats do, firstly, that he can see through to protect his eyes from getting damaged underwater. His skin is covered in seemingly random patches of scales, he’s got webbed fingers, and his tail is crazy, crazy long. Like, four times the size of his torso long, and very thin. It helps with his navigation. And his hair is consistently wet, so when it dries it gets all big and kinda crinkly, like fauna.
- Haruka’s enamored by him, because of course he is. He’s so curious about him and the way he lives and his people, and is crushed to hear that they’re a diminishing breed; not only because they’re mermaids, hello, but because in this AU he’s probably a marine scientist, or something, so it’s difficult to learn about any endangerment.
- Nagisa and Rei are scientists as well, and they like to send Haruka out on the weirdest missions they can find, because he can actually manage to do them successfully. It’s troublesome, but he does them.
- Makoto is not a scientist, but sometimes aids Haruka in his missions regardless because he’s smart. He stays home for the creepy ones, though. Like trudging around waist-deep in an endless swamp where there’s unknown wildlife and weird sounds? Have fun with that one, Haru, you’re on your own.
- Sousuke is also a mermaid, because pls. Gou too, obvs. Sousuke’s suspicious of the weird human scientists, but okay, that enthusiastic blond one’s kind of cute. Even though he’s way too insistent about touching Sousuke’s tail all the time.
- Gou’s a little enamored by the nerdy scientist and the hot not-scientist, herself (eyes emoji). Because I can’t decide between ReiGou and MakoGou so it’s an OT3 now. She likes that the taller one gets really flustered over the fact that she doesn’t wear clothing like they do, and she consistently steals Rei’s glasses to make her chase her.
- Rin ends up getting attached to Haruka in the end too, even though he pretends to only be interested in him because he promised to save Rin’s species. Ends up going back to the lab with Haruka at some point, decides technology is weird and pointless; he likes the greenery of swamp life better.
- They can use their mouths to speak btw, but Rin likes not to. So he’ll often communicate telepathically just because it’s more comfortable for him, even though Haruka finds it weird and annoying.
- Mermaids don’t kiss, really. But they nuzzle and hold. Imagine Rin’s complete offense when he nuzzles his forehead against Haruka’s and Haruka’s reaction is basically nothing.
- “See if I do it again, you jerk!” “I don’t even know what it was, Rin.”
- I have no idea what the climax of this fic would be because it would honestly probably just be something really self-indulgent, lord. I assume it would mostly just be trying to find a more habitable place for Rin’s kind to flourish, since their current home is so frequently either scavenged or completely abandoned, leaving the environment to deteriorate. Adaptability issues, enter stage right.