TITLE IS MISLEADING, ITS GENDER NEUTRAL. Heyyo, so, um Merman Matt yas. Please boy. Beautiful fish boy. uwu hhhhhhh, forced myself to fucking finish this. It kinda turned The Shape of the Water a bit? Then stopped?


There he was. The prettiest thing you've ever seen in your entire life. His pale skin and orange hair that floated softly in the water of his tank. His ocean blue eyes and freckles that were everywhere on his body. He had lovely lilac colored fins and sharp fangs. He was your first love, and he probably will never know.

You see, your name is Y/N L/N. You are a marine biologist. You love the ocean, and everything that lives in it. As a little kid, you wish you were a merman/mermaid as you saw The Little Mermaid about a million times growing up. You didn't care about finding your true love, you just wanted to spend time with the aquatic life and research everything.

You were recently asked to help with a certain and special case at the Marine Wildlife Center. You didn't say no, and you went there to see which animal they needed help with. You knew alot of animals that pertained to the sea, and you were certain your knowledge would help someone out.

But what they had wasn't even an animal. You were stunned to see the thing you wished to be since you were a little kid. There was a merman sitting injured in an open tank in front of you. He was beautiful. Yet, he was badly injured in what seems like a fishing accident gone wrong. He had pretty bad hook marks and what looked like a harpoon sticking out of his tail. You needed to help him.

And that's what you were gonna do.

"Ok buddy, relax, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help you." You cooed at the panicked ginger merman in front of you. You had him moved to an enclosure where he had an open space to frolic and such. It was an empty tank where in the middle was a cove filled with random stuff he had stolen from the research team.

He hesitated, inching up slowly to where you were sitting near the edge of the container. He waded through the water easily as he peered over the top and up at you.

You smiled at him kindly, holding out a fish. He hadn't eaten yet today, and you were kinda the only one to get him to eat. "You have to eat, you need your strength back up when we release you back into the ocean." When he didn't take it, you dropped the fish into the water watching his reactions and movements.

The boy hesitated for a minute before diving after the fish and began to tear at its flesh for nutrients. Once he was done, he carried the fish bones back up to you and laid them out like a present. Or maybe he didn't want fish bones to be cluttering up his new home.

You took the bones and put them in a plastic jar where all his other 'presents' were. He gave you alot of things. Some shells from the bottom of his new home or trinkets he managed to swipe from the other humans. You treasured them anyway; it showed that he at least trusted you somewhat.

The merman watched you with his big blue eyes and tilted his head to the side. He watched you take some notes. He wandered back to his little cove for some sleep.

/.../

It had been around a few months with the captive and healing merman in your custody. Everyone just let you do whatever you wanted with the merman because quite frankly they didn't like him as much as you did. No one got along with the fish boy but you. It was like he favored you more than anyone else.

You learned alot of things from this merman; like what he liked to do. What his favorite food was, what he liked to talk about. He had a very nice charming voice. Kinda squeaky at times, but when it wasn't, it was very charming. The only thing you couldn't learn about this merman was his name. He didn't want to tell you.

It hurt your feelings because you thought you were doing so well with him. Like did he not trust you enough? You spent all your damn time with him! Were you not trying hard enough? Your thoughts must of shown through to your face because the merman was poking you on the legs. That startled you out of your thoughts.

"Are you ok?" He asked worriedly. He tilted his head to the side. He had a British accent which caused you to literally swoon.

You smiled sheepishly at him. He was fucking adorable. "I'm fine... Just thinking about things.." You trailed off, looking to the side. You felt him poking you on the leg again. "What is it, pretty boy?"

The boy's face flushed. "W-Why are you calling me pretty boy?! I have a name you know!" He crossed his arms as he looked over at the side with a pout on his face. His tail flickered for a minute.

"Then what is your name?" You teased, hoping he would just give it to you. You had told him everything about yourself in order for him to open up about himself. Even though he did tell you things about himself, he never not once mentioned his name. He didn't even give you a damn hint! You leaned forwards, raising an eyebrow at his flustered actions.

"My name is Matthew Grove! I'm the heir to the Grove royal family! I'm not just some pretty boy! I'm a prince, and you should treat me like one!" He snapped, his hair and fins puffing up. He seemed to be angry at you as he was baring his fangs.

You flinched backwards, hoping he wouldn't bite you. He was pretty much docile is what you told the staff so they wouldn't fear him, but now that he did show you he had fangs, you were worried. You smiled nervously at him, "It's alright Mattie, I'm not gonna hurt you. Please don't do something you will regret." You noticed that there were other people in the room, watching this discovery and some had their guns loaded and aimed at Matt.

Matt looked around the room to see everyone aiming their guns at him, and he hid his fangs and his fins fell back down. He looked scared and looked back at you to see that you were scared of him. He whimpered, sinking into the water. He had made a mistake.

You saw Matt was scared, and you glared at the people around you. "Stop! He meant no harm, I just annoyed him and he retaliated. Humans do the same thing, put the damn guns down!" You shouted at them. You stood up, waving your arms and pointing angrily at the guards and researchers. "He's just a hurt and scared merboy! Don't hurt him."

Matt whimpered, diving back into his ocean home to hide from the guns as he began to think what he had done wrong.

You snapped at the researchers as you watched Matt flee to his home. "Look what you fucking did! I was getting somewhere with him! He finally told me his fucking name, and you scared him off!" You jabbed your finger into the guard's chest. You were filled with so much rage. "Get the hell outta here! There's no need for guns!"

"Miss/Mister L/N. We have guns because he is a monster. We need these in case he attacks, and what we saw today seems like we do need these. He almost attacked you. He is a threat, not some little toy for you to play with when you are bored." The head guard calmly said to you. He was brought in to keep people safe from beings like Matt. He ended up torturing them though in the process and dumped their dead bodies in a furnace.

"He is a living being! You better not fucking touch him or so help me I will-" You shouted at him, stopping when he grabbed your wrist and pulled you close to his steel gray eyes.

"Or you will do what Miss/Mister L/N?" He growled lowly, a small smirk growing on his face. "You're just researcher. You have no means to actually hurt me, do you?" He leaned in closer, bending your arm in a way it was starting to hurt. "If you do try to hurt me, I will not hesitate to take you down."

You whimpered, trying to twist your arm free from his graps. "I-I understand, Mister Hansen... But please don't hurt him... I need to learn many things about him." You pleaded, cradling your injured arm when Mr. Hansen let you go.

Mr. Hansen's eyes narrowed as he smiled. "Only if he doesn't hurt you. If he puts a scratch on you, I will tear him limb from limb." He started walking off with two other guards behind him. He paused at the doorway, looking back at you. "And if you try and protect him, I'll kill you the same way with no regards." He laughed, slamming the door behind himself.

/.../

"Matt, please just listen to me. You need to eat or you won't get any better! You've not touched your food in weeks! Are you sick? Is something wrong?" You were very worried about him. He wasn't acting like himself these past couple of days. After Mr. Hansen threatened you a couple of weeks ago, Matt was acting iffy. He was very snappy and rude.

Matt looked to the side pouting as he splashed you with water. He was very very pissed off about something, but he wouldn't tell you. "I'm not hungry." Which was a lie because he was absolutely starving.

"Matt, you need to eat. Don't you want to go back home? You need your strength!" You leaned over the water carefully, trying to grab him by his necklace and pull him over. You didn't want to fall into the water. "Matt honey, please eat! You're worrying me!"

Matt looked back at you, biting his cheek. "You're worried.. about me?" Matt inched towards you where your hand was outstretched with a fish.

You smiled in relief as you saw him inching his way towards your hand with the fish. "Yes, baby! I'm worried you'll get sick. I care about you. Don't you know by now with how much I spend my time here? I'd be really sad if you got sick." You softly said as Matt held your hand in his.

Matt was inches away from eating the fish when he pulled back, "If you are worried about me, why do you spend your time with the security guard?" He blinked his blue eyes at you.

You blinked for a minute. "Wha... What?" You were stunned and confused by his question. It took you a minute before you realized Matt was jealous of Mr. Hansen. Obviously you should of realized it since Matt was very clingy to you before Hansen went and threatened you. But now that Mr. Hansen was forcing you to come to his office alot, Matt was left alone. "Matt, are you jealous?"

Matthew Groves sputtered and blushed a bright red color. "N-No! I am not jealous! Why would I be?! I am a prince! I do not get jealous over the fact some dude is spending more time with someone I care about!" He looked away.

You hit the nail on the head. Matt was jealous of Mr. Hansen. "Matthew, do you like me?" You asked him. He did say he cared about you, but did he ... return your other feelings? You fell in love with Matt as soon as you saw him. He was such utter beauty.

Matthew looked back quickly. "Yes, of course! You're my friend! I like you!" He said a little too quickly and stopped as he saw a brief emotion of saddness flash through your eyes. He tilted his head, grabbing your hand with his claws and threw the fish away so he could slip fingers against yours. "Unless... You like me the other way?"

Now it was your turn to blush. You looked away, noticing Mr. Hansen watching from a distance with an angry expression on his face. His hand was on hip which held his gun holster. You glared at him. "I uh..." You struggled to find words as you were still leaning over the edge of the aquarium tank. You were about to fall in.

Matt noticed this and pulled you back a bit with a sly smile on his face. "If you don't tell me, I will pull you into my tank." He didn't know there was a reason you weren't allowed in water because you never told him or got to bring it up.

"Matt, baby, wait. I can't... I can't swim. Don't do this." Even though you loved the ocean, you couldn't swim. You were never taught to swim. Never had the time. You looked fearful as Matt's playful grin subsided, and he stopped pulling you. You smiled in relief before squeaking as your grip on the side of the tank loosened, and you fell into the cold water.

/.../

Everything was dark to you because your eyes were closed. You were scared. You were gonna drown in the tank. You opened your eyes quickly to see everything was blurry. You were alone. Matt was no longer with you. You must of scared him when you were waving your arms around.

Suddenly, there was a pressure around your waist. You turned around quickly to see Matt was holding you. He looked really beautiful in the light of the aquarium. You were vaguly aware there were people watching you from behind the glass. Your lungs were burning though as you tried to wriggle out of his grasp and get back to the surface.

Matt sensed this and instantly shot up to the surface with you in tow. Once he broke the surface, he held you in his arms as you coughed up water and held onto him for dear life. Matthew was blushing and smiling as you hugged him. "Y/N? Are you ok now?" He patted your back.

You breathed in more gulps of air as there was a sound of a gun cocking. You whipped your head around to see Mr. Hansen aiming his pistol at you and Matt, specifically Matt. "Wh-What do you think you're doing?!" You managed to spit out.

"He tried to drown you. I saw it with my own eyes. He needs to die." He growled out.

"I did not! They slipped and fell in!" Matt snapped back, hissing at Hansen. He gripped your sides tightly. "I don't like you very much, and I think you need to leave Y/N alone!"

Mr. Hansen raised an eyebrow, chuckling. "And why is that, fish boy?"

Matt hissed, "Because I'm in love with Y/N." He turned your head around and kissed you on the lips. Matt's lips were salty due to him being in a salty aquarium tank, but he tasted sweet too. He did eat alot of sweets you sometimes brought to him. Once he pulled back, he hissed at Mr. Hansen and pulled you away to his little cove.

You were dumbfounded because Matt had kissed you. And he also told you he loved you. "He likes me back?" You whispered to yourself as Matt had pulled you in his little makeshift bed filled with seaweed. You didn't feel Matt's lips on your neck.

"Yes I like you. I like you alot." Matt giggled, moving your head to face his as he kissed you again. It was sweet and short. He peppered kisses around your face. "I just had to... get the nerve to kiss you..." He mumbled, nipping your neck a little playfully.

You let out a noise and instantly turned around on Matt, startling him as you began to place soft kisses on his face. "I love you too." He started squealing and giggling as you assaulted his face with even more kisses.