The sea is his home, and it calls him. The sea was where it all began, and the sea is where it will all end.

Izuku Midoriya was free, just like he should be. He was held captive for so long, but now he could return to where he belonged.

Then he took a deep breath and breathed in the salty air from the ocean. He curled his feet into the ground and dug them deep, wiggling his toes until grains of sand got stuck underneath his nails. The ocean breeze brushed against his hair, combing its tangled mess back as if it prepared him for his return. He gripped his coat tighter, but he was not afraid nor apprehensive. He was ready. He was more than ready.

Then he closed his eyes and dove for the waters, for he was one with the sea once more. This was his story. This was his tale. This is how he fell in love with the sea and how the sea fell in love with him.


Bakugou Katuski was in a mood. It was an exhausting cycle. He willed the waters, controlling them with his emotions. He pushed the waves, translating his anger into the currents. He called for the ocean to enact his revenge.

Humans were the bane of his existence, and though he crossed paths with some good ones, most of them were rotten. Dirty. Despicable. He hated humans with every fiber of his being, for they didn't deserve forgiveness. They didn't deserve the ocean and the wonders it provided. They take and steal and abuse. There were efforts. He knew they tried. They tried to change, to clean the ocean, to reverse the damage they had wrought, but they barely pulled through. All Katsuki witnessed was destruction, and if the humans were so desperate for it, then he might as well give them an early present.

He was on his merry way to do exactly that, wreaking havoc and sinking ships, until a seal collided into his merman frame and caught him surprise. Katsuki sputtered, caught off-guard by this anomaly and redirected his hand in the mammal's direction. With one flick of the wrist, this stupid seal could end up as lubber and lard.

"Move," he snarled.

Most sea creatures understood his superiority, his status as the protector and leader of these waters. Most sea creatures would swim away in fear of provoking this predator, but this seal was different. This seal refused to back off.

Instead, it swam closer, pleading him silently with those big, doe eyes. It was a pacific harbor seal, Katsuki thought from the top of his head. A short guesstimate told him that it was almost his length.

"Shoo," he flapped his hand away at the seal. "Leave me alone. Go and eat some fish."

Instead of swimming away, the seal went the opposite direction and charged after Katsuki, who was struck by its odd behavior. Though they had the capability to be aggressive, Katsuki was not invading its territory nor was it mating season.

Katsuki said, "What the fu-"

The seal slammed into his abdomen, leaving him off-kilter. His tail swished around, trying to regain his balance, but the seal was having none of that and went on the offense again.

"That's it!" he growled and slapped his tail against the creature's cheek.

He refused to be one-upped by a stupid seal and knocked into its fat body. The seal made grunting noises as he wrestled with it, wrapped around its girth, and slammed it into the sea bed. It wriggled around under his hold, but Katsuki was a merman, one of the strongest of his kind. A mere seal cannot overpower him.

"Hah," he smiled victoriously. "I win."

He transferred all his weight into the seal, and it struggled to be free but couldn't. It was at his mercy. He heard it whine, but it held a flame, a type of determination not commonly found in his opponents.

"Usually I would kill such a foolish creature," he said haughtily and tightened his grip.

For a second, he swore the seal snorted and rolled its beady eyes.

"But I'll spare you since you entertained me," he said and released his hold.

He half-expected it to run with its tail tucked between its nonexistent legs, but after these past few moments, he should have known better as the seal stood its ground. Katsuki ignored its challenging expression and raised his eyes to the surface where the storms still raged on. He tried to tap back into that relentless rage, to rile himself up to continue the chaos above, but the swirling emotions he felt dissipated.

He felt empty, and it was all thanks to this seal who set him off-balance.

"I guess you got what you wanted," he said, straight-faced.

He felt calmer; he despised it.

He rose his hand and clenched it, ending the torment of the surface world. Tonight, the merman was done with his emotional plight. He was about to sarcastically congratulate the seal for achieving his goal and ask if it was happy with snark as a side dish, but when he turned around, the creature disappeared.

"Huh." There was only the sea. "Weird."

He whirled around to double-check its whereabouts, but the seal was nowhere to be found. It was as if it vanished, but no normal seal could disappear out of thin air. Katsuki would have detected its presence by now, but he got nothing. Nada. Zilch. He floated there, waiting for any sign of movement, but hypothetically if the seal escaped, it would have been long gone by now. With a wary glance back at the deep, blue sea, he swam away and returned to his underwater cave where he could once again isolate himself from the humans, from sea life, from the hole in his heart.

Lest did he know, he would meet the seal again. Very soon. And in a different form.


Today Katsuki craved for human flesh, to devour and feast on their meaty carcasses and pick his teeth with their bones. His appetite was insatiable. May mercy rest on the soul of his next victim as he scoured the coastline of the island he circled around, lurking beneath murky waters.

It was early morning, the dawning sun barely peeking out from the horizon. Less people loitered around the sandy beaches, but every now and then, he managed to lure in a hapless bystander.

Katsuki's target was in full view. Katsuki leered at the green-haired man traipsing at the edge of beach, and for a minute, he observed his prey's movement with annoyance. The human hovered between water and land with unsteady steps like a newborn, and Katsuki, if he wasn't so concentrated on eating him, would have splashed a tidal wave against his feeble body.

Katsuki was hiding behind a large rock. His fingers grappled it tighter as the man approached closer and closer. He licked his lips as his eyes graciously trailed over the human's form. He admitted that this man looked better than the other ones he consumed in the past. The human wore an unzipped mint sweater and a pair of swimming trunks, leaving his chest out in display. Katsuki salivated at the thought of plunging his fangs into the meatier parts of the human's chest and abdomen. He delighted in the drained look of their faces, pleading for mercy in their expression. The magic of being ravished by a mermaid was a fluke, a disillusioned lie, and Katsuki was happy to oblige.

Katsuki's grip and insane strength left indents into the stone as he ogled the man, who waddled into the water with a bright smile plastered on his face. The sunlight highlighted his beautiful green locks and the freckles that peppered all over his toned body. The man's sun-kissed skin made him look more delectable, desirable, and Katsuki couldn't wait to get his hands on him. This human was worth more than a measly morsel; he was fresh gourmet. His tail flicked in glee as Katsuki anticipated the moment he could wrap his hands around that lithe body and drown it to the bottom of the ocean, watching him squirm until his last breath. Though he survived off fish and other sea creatures, the taste of a human could never compare.

It has been months since he had a good meal, and though he was surviving through fish and other sea creatures, the taste of a human was fresh in his mind. He sidled closer, confident that his ethereal features would captivate the unsuspecting human. After all, his crimson tail garnered attention and praise from the seven seas. Mermaids would turn green with envy every time he passed by them, his dorsal fin decorated with streaks of red and gold. The fin fanned out, much like a betta, and the lower portion of his tail was speckled with silver scales intermixed with the vibrant, iridescent red ones. Overall, he was a looker, but if all else failed, he could just use his last resort and sing a lullaby to entrance the human, drift him closer and closer until his grabby hands could fully embrace him and plunge him to his untimely death.

He had dawdled long enough. Ready to have his breakfast, Katsuki contracted his muscles, splashed his tail against the water, and made his presence known. The green-haired man whipped around at the disturbance. He sucked in a sharp breath, eyes widening at the sight of his magnificent existence, an existence that shouldn't be remotely possible, but it was.

"Wow," he let out an awed breath.

The man released a blinding smile, one that was so radiant that it was more likely to give Katsuki sunburn than the sun's rays beating down his back. A normal human would have fallen to his feet, kissing the very sand Katsuki touched. Yet, this human approached without a care in the world, sloshing the waters as he practically skipped into the ocean.

"Are you going to eat me?" he asked excitedly, brimming with curiosity.

Taken aback, the merman pulled up his defenses. He was wary by the man's reaction. Well, worst case scenario would be the guy ending up as a psychotic scientist who traveled the ends of the earth to hold him in captivity and dissect him for his unethical experiments. Katsuki hoped that he didn't attract that type of man. He heard rumors and horror stories from mermaids who experienced that type of shit.

"Please!" the man shouted as Katsuki made a break for it. "Don't run!"

Obviously, Katsuki wouldn't run. He doesn't have legs.

However, he doesn't see the harm in the human getting closer. Despite the red flags, Katsuki chose to stay and floated in place. After all, he was not a damsel in distress. He knew how to fight.

The man was soaking wet from head to toe. Water covered most of his body until only his head was bobbing at the surface. With strict scrutiny, Katsuki hesitantly swam closer until he had a good frontal view of the man's face. He was a gorgeous specimen up close.

It looks like constellations were splayed across his rosy cheeks. There were faint dimples at the corners of his mouth. Katsuki was a goner, getting lost in those dazzling, emerald orbs.

His sense of direction was impeccable. Even the mightiest of tsunamis could not leave him astray, but here he was, beguiled by a pretty set of eyes. Merfolk were weak to precious gems and jewels. With that last thought, the realization clicked.

"You," he gasped and pointed at him with a growl.

This man was no human.

Katsuki sounded scandalized. "You're that seal from earlier."

"To be more precise," said the seal, "I'm a selkie."

"You little shit." Well, this ruined his appetite. He was not a fan of eating seal. "What the hell is a selkie doing here in Japan? Isn't your species supposed to," Katsuki waved his hand, "Hang out in Scotland or whatever?"

The seal simply grinned a crooked smile, showed off his dimples, and said, "We selkies can hang wherever we please."

His hand reached out to pet his matted, golden hair. The seal was bold, bolder than any creature Katsuki had ever laid his eyes on. The merman twitched as the seal's fingers brushed against the fins on his ears, but steadily relaxed as they then carded through his bangs.

"So," the seal said quite humorously, "The rumors were wrong. Mermen aren't as hideous as they seem."

Then he jumped when Katsuki bumped his tail against his legs.

"Who the hell said that?" Katsuki said with a raised eyebrow. He glowered. "I'll kill them."

"It's all in the lore," replied the seal, shaking his head. "So I just assumed mermen were inherently ugly since I never saw one."

"What shit reasoning is that?"

"Not my fault you guys rarely pop up," he shrugged.

His nimble fingers traced around his sinewy biceps with interest, and Katsuki may or may not have flexed them as the seal explored his body.

"The elders never warned us how devastatingly beautiful you would be," he told Katsuki, awestruck and breathy.

The seal smiled so much, the merman thought it was permanently etched into his face.

"I'm very flattered that a merman of your caliber chose me as potential prey," he said and let out a light laugh.

Without warning, Katsuki's tail coiled around his leg. The man yelped and shivered from the sensation of the scales skittering across his skin. They tickled.

"Stop that!" the man told him hotly and batted his chest with his fists.

"Or what?" Katsuki challenged. "Your coat is yards away from here," he said cockily. "And you're trapped in my clutches."

The seal attempted to wriggle himself out to test his chances, but his legs were locked tight. He was barred from escape. It was one of the disadvantages of being in this form.

Dejected, the seal grunted out his disapproval and raised his hands up in surrender.

"There, happy now?" he pouted.

Katsuki rolled back his shoulders and lolled back, enjoying the view. Merfolk were famous for being capricious and fickle, so being true to his species, Katsuki let go of his initial anger of being called ugly. He toyed with his new friend instead.

"Yes," he purred, "I am."

"Then…" the seal paused. "Can you put me back on land?"

The merman drifted closer to the shore but still wore a pondering look. "Maybe," he said vaguely. "I will if you tell me."

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me what you're doing here."

When Katsuki mentioned about the purpose of his stay on dry land, the man tensed up and immediately clamped his mouth shut. He was holding secrets. The easygoing attitude he wore was stripped away.

Katsuki continued nonetheless, "Sure, you selkies can travel and mingle with humans. The world is our oyster, but…"

Even though he said that selkies could interact with humans, his personal stance on how much communication was deemed appropriate between the creatures of the sea and humans was stifling. To each his own.

"But why here?"

He knew about the tragedies of selkies. They were often manipulated and taken advantage of. He had to ensure that he was not returning the selkie to some treacherous wretch who stole his coat. The seal bit his bottom lip and casted his eyes downward. Katsuki waited for the affirmation to his fears, but the man still said nothing.

With the silence between them, Katsuki took this opportunity to listen to the sounds of the beach, to the music of his home. The distant foghorns from the ships. The squawking seagulls overhead. The crashing waves against the rocks. Katsuki supposed this was one of the few uplifts of the surface world. The noise underwater had its own charm, but the noise above was more diverse and lively. Some days only the sounds of nature filled the air, but on some nights, there were fireworks, explosions of light and colors painting the night sky. He never told a single soul, but on those nights, they were his favorite. They reminded him of the past. They reminded him of what he had until he lost it in the blink of an eye.

The seal finally recomposed himself in time.

"Once upon a time," he said with a singsong voice.

His eyes twinkled like stardust. He gazed the merman with firm and gentle resilience.

"I lost something valuable here… a long time ago," he explained. "Actually…" he chuckled sadly. "I guess to us it wasn't that long ago, but to him…" he paused, "It was."

Like mermaids, selkies aged slow, and they had long-lasting lives. Selkies rarely died unless their coat was compromised, or the selkies themselves were killed by a predator during their transformed state. Whether he referred to ten years or decades, he looked older when he said that, reminiscing his mistakes from the past. Katsuki felt a tug in his chest because he, too, made mistakes in his youth.

"And what about you?" the seal redirected his attention.

"What are you talking about?" Katsuki groused.

The seal's gaze itched him, as if they could peer into his heart.

"Aren't you looking for something, too?"

It stung to hear that question, as if he was still a small, naïve fry who bravely touched a jellyfish's tentacles. The pain was insufferable, but he toughed it out and withheld the well of emotions rising in his throat. The pain would pass, he told himself. There was no need to dwell into that can of worms.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well," the seal said thoughtfully, brushing his hands against the merman's brilliant crimson tail. "It's because you looked like a fish out of water back there," he referenced their first encounter, the night where Katsuki went out of control.

Unamused, Katsuki released his hold and dropped the seal like a bomb. He hoped he would drown for making such a tasteless joke. The man sputtered around as water rushed into his mouth. His hands were splayed everywhere as he tried to regain his balance and float.

Katsuki wrinkled his nose and clicked his tongue. "You're weird."

Once he righted himself, the seal latched onto his arms and laughed loud and hard. It was an ugly sound, full or snorts and wheezes and guffaws. One would even debate that his laugh sounded similarly to a seal's. In the end, Katsuki stuck up his middle finger and gave him the bird, one of the few customs he accepted and copied from the humans. The seal took no offense to that and swam back to the shore. He waved his new friend farewell, promising that they would meet again. Katsuki scoffed and descended back into the dark depths of the ocean.


"Word on the shore says that you're fucking a seal."

If Katsuki was a normal human with two legs, he would have done the equivalent of choking on his coffee and spewing it out of his mouth. However, he was not, so he choked on his half-eaten tuna and spat it out. His pink-haired friend shrieked in disgust and backed away. Extending her hands, acid was dispersed from her fingertips, melting those bits away in a flash.

"Gross," she said and showed her repulsion with her tongue sticking out of her mouth.

Katsuki was still sputtering from the atrocities he heard. He wiped away his excess spit from the back of his hand.

"What?!" he yelled.

Mina gasped and covered her mouth. "Is it true? Are you really fucking a seal?"

"No!" he hissed. "Stop saying it like that!"

Mina's ears must have been plugged because her thoughts kept running rampant over the distressing news.

"I thought they were joking," she groaned and ruffled her hair until it puffed like a puffball. She was trying to accept Katsuki's taste in partners. "I guess it's possible," she clenched her eyes and tried not to gag as she added, "Since seals typically mate in the water so-"

Katsuki curtailed her train of thought quick by karate chopping her head, a chop that would eventually leave a swelling bump. Mina shielded herself right away.

"Hey!" she pouted. "What gives?!"

"That's for saying stupid shit," Katsuki growled. "I'm not fucking a stupid seal, and I never will," he crossed his arms, daring Mina to continue with her ridiculous fantasies. He was in a sour mood, and it was all thanks to that infuriating selkie. "Where did you even get that idea?"

Tapping her chin, Mina said, "Well, first, I heard it from Uraraka, who heard it from her cousin, who heard it from her sister's mate, who eavesdropped on a conversation between Kendo and Yaoyorozu about how their friend accidentally stumbled upon you getting down and dirty on a-"

"That's enough," Katsuki's voice boomed.

Even though Mina owned the heart of a saint and could deal with Katsuki, the feeling was not entirely mutual from Katsuki's end. She was overly perky and outgoing. She knew how to dig deep into his skin, to reach into his last nerve. Though he blamed half of his annoyance with the rest of his brethren to mermaid culture since they were expected to be vain and obsessed with the next shiny object, he blamed the other half with himself. It was difficult to connect with the mermaids, especially flighty ones who gossiped like crazy.

From the get-go, Mina was in a different category from those extras. Her appearance was already unique by itself. Her skin held a pinkish tinge, and it shimmered like diamonds, sparkling as if they were right under the sun. Her tail had an ombre effect that went from a cute teal to a darker violet hue. Her slim elongated tail held distinct indigo markings, but instead of shying away from their weird designs, she wore them with pride and confidence. Her athletic prowess was easy to see whenever she zipped by her other peers, but her hair would always look as soft as a feather. Besides her beauty, her gifts were invaluable. She had the ability to secrete poison, a poison that was nontoxic until she chooses to make it so. Suitors would swarm to her cave to propose and mate with her irresistible self, but like Katsuki, she was not completely satisfied with the common life. The two of them had their sights on bigger, otherworldly treasures.

To a mermaid, their greatest treasure was their livelihood.

For example, Uraraka's greatest treasure was her speed. Mermaids praised her for her weightlessness, so without that gift, a large chunk of her identity would be absent.

Once upon a time Katsuki had his treasure, but alas, he was a fool to lose it.


Katsuki's next encounter with the selkie happened two weeks later. Mind you, this was unexpected, and Katsuki was not, by any means, stalking him. This was uncalled for. The selkie himself had no right to look that good in plain drawstring shorts and wet, splayed hair. He looked like a goddamn treat with his washboard abs and 1000-watt smile. Too bad seals were not a part of his diet, which was fine. He found alternatives.

This one alternative, also known as his next victim, was some lame ass loser who cheated on his girlfriend. He would know. He eavesdropped the whole conversation as he made out with some random bland-looking woman on a surfboard. Katsuki couldn't help but question humans and their tastes. This guy was average at best. Although the guy was not as aesthetically pleasing as the seal, he was meaty enough to compensate for the looks. Hey, at least he fitted the bill.

With his cravings sated, he can finally interact with the seal with his mouth rather than his stomach. However, the element of surprise was yanked away from him as the selkie stared in his direction.

"Are you following me?"

Crap. Katsuki was stuck there like a deer in headlights. He wrongly assumed that his presence was shrouded, but that was not the case as the selkie swam closer. His swimming was graceful like a butterfly, gliding through the water with ease. Even though he was in human form, he maneuvered around the water as if it was butter.

Katsuki had plenty of time to dive underwater and take refuge in his cave, but he was held captive by his bewitching movements and was left to stare until a moss-colored head popped out. Droplets splashed onto Katsuki's cheek as the selkie shook his head and wiped the salty remains of the ocean from his face.

"Hi," the selkie said breathlessly. "Funny how we keep meeting each other, huh?"

Once Katsuki find out the secrets of what made the selkie so enthralling to him, it was over for the little bastard.

"No, it's not," he glared back at the seal's withering look.

The man bit the inside of his cheek and wore an amused look. Honestly, he wanted to tease this merman but thought better of it since he wanted to keep him as his company for a while longer. He chose correctly.

Inspiration struck him. He took out his hand and offered it to Katsuki.

"Midoriya Izuku," he said.

If possible, Katsuki's frown grew deeper. "Hah?"

"My name," said the man. "We've met before," he stated the obvious, "But we never introduced ourselves properly."

"Midoriya Izuku," Katsuki repeated after him.

"Yup!" His tone was godawfully cheery. "That's my name. What's yours?"

Katsuki spat at the water. "Not telling you."

Izuku gasped. "But I told you my name."

"Yeah, and I never asked for it," Katsuki argued back. "Besides," he said and wiped away an imaginary spot on his shoulder, "I don't care what you're called. You're still gonna be a stupid seal to me."

Izuku did not pout. There was not even a trace of the selkie being upset.

Instead, he tapped his chin in thought.

"Hmmm…"

Well, that proved to be an issue. After all, without a given name, the merman was nameless, which was completely unacceptable to his standards because names held power. They held meaning. They were a title that defined their existence. Since he barely had anything to work with, he had to create a nickname on the spot.

He glanced over at the merman, who was grumbling an earful about seals and selkies and the ilk. Realization crossed his expression. He snapped his fingers with a look of jubilation.

"Dandelion!"

Like a judge, Katsuki struck it down. Hard. "Rejected."

Izuku clicked his tongue and asked, "What's wrong with Dandelion?" He closed his eyes and added confidently, "I think it's a wonderful name."

"The hell is a dandelion?" Katsuki bared his teeth. "I don't know what it is, but it sounds degrading."

To be quite honest, he thought the seal spoke a foreign language until he realized that it must have been human-related. Distaste coated his tongue. He does not want to be associated with humans whatsoever.

"Well," the selkie drawled out, using two of his fingers to tiptoe and climb Katsuki's shoulder, "What should I call you then?"

The selkie was cute. Katsuki would give him that.

Before he was given the chance to say something obnoxious or horrifying like King Explosion Murder, he heard a splash from behind. In other words, a new intruder was here, and they almost scared the shit out of him.

He whipped his tail to attack. Alarm bells were ringing in his head. The seal was with him, so his defenses were cut in half, but he was willing to protect him and his own hide no matter what. He was planning on trapping the intruder into a whirlpool of some sorts, but before he was a hair's breadth from disposing the newcomer, he stopped midway.

It was Mina.

Of course, with his horrid luck, it was Mina. Thankfully, Katsuki had an immense amount of self-control, so Mina was left unscathed.

However, Katsuki was left to fight off Mina. Between a pod of killer whales and Mina, he would try his luck with the whales.

Mina, as usual, did not disappoint and freaked out.

"Oh. My. God."

The mermaid was fanning her face excitedly, squealing with delight as Katsuki stayed in the background.

Katsuki does not dare to look directly at his friend. He was already getting secondhand embarrassment from her performative excitement.

"Is that," she swam to Izuku and stole him from Katsuki's arms.

"Hey!" Katsuki growled as the selkie slipped through his fingers.

Mina's eyes glimmered with childish curiosity as her hands explored the contours of his body.

"Is this the seal you were talking about?" she purred mischievously as Izuku helplessly squirmed in her hold.

He let out a squeak as her hands roamed everywhere. She patted his hair, his neck, his chest, and his-

The merman got the selkie in a headlock and jerked him away from Mina's clutches. Said mermaid puffed her cheeks as Katsuki swam farther away, almost choking his companion in the process. Can you blame her for wanting to get familiar with the selkie?

Last time she encountered a human, which was decades ago, Katsuki went into a frenzy, overreacted, and killed the nice human right then and there. He was livid. He forbade her from meeting humans alone. Sure, they were strict restrictions. One would even argue that they were incredibly harsh, but Mina understood the risks and dangers of associating oneself with humans.

After all, a human had already screwed with Katsuki once. He doesn't want the same fate to befall on another.

Enough with humans. Right now, there was a selkie in her midst, the first one she encountered in this century. Selkies tend to stick near the shores and were a solitary species unlike mermaids. She honestly doesn't know what to make of this seal, but for certain, Katsuki was infatuated. And honestly, that was a good look that she hoped would stay on him for a very long time.

After watching the two banter back and forth for minutes, Mina, the best wingman to ever live, decided to give them personal space.

"Well, I feel like a third wheel here, so I'm going to just leave," Mina told the bickering couple.

"It was real nice to meet you, Midoriya!" she said and gave him a cute peck on his left cheek.

The selkie sputtered, unaccustomed to such acts of familiarity. Katsuki struggled to keep a straight-laced face, but he must have failed since the devilish smirk she wore said otherwise.

"Bye Katsuki!" she blew him a kiss, and with that, she flipped into the air and took a nosedive back into the water.

Then there was a pause.

The seal gave him a wobbly smile, as if he couldn't decide between grinning or laughing. Either way, he won.

"So your name's Katsuki, huh?"

A beat later, the merman screamed, "Dammit Mina!"