start notes—
In which Marinette is a mermaid and Adrien's the cute TA with a penchant for water-related puns.
my tellonym: milkisande
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au
lights out solo in the blue,
but now i've found you.
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.
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HUMANS suck.
Marinette bites back the need to scream, instead settling for a cold glare pointed at anyone who dares look at her— some even having the audacity to laugh .
This is a terrible idea.
Why did she think this was a good idea in the first place?
Her mind races back to last summer, where Alya was animatedly telling her about the wonders of the human world: how it was filled with knowledge and treasures that she could never find back home, where the people were so interesting and diverse, pointing out that she'd likely never get bored with the sheer amount of things they could do way up there.
"Come with me, Mari!" Alya had begged her. "This was literally the best summer I've ever had and I can't imagine going back to college without you. I swear you won't regret it."
But as she stands in the middle of the quad, soaking wet from head to toe, Marinette only finds that she wants to curse her best friend's name; to grab Alya by the shoulders and shout, "I regret it, you land mammal— how do you live like this!? "
She really should've just stayed at home.
Her dad was right, after all. Marinette doesn't belong here.
(Not with creatures like them.)
The mermaids are a proud people; ever since they had shown themselves to the humans (though the land people insisted they 'discovered' them— Marinette has to roll her eyes, humans could be so selfish and egotistical. ), active attempts to integrate and create peaceful unions between the two species were being implemented.
It was one step further into blurring the line between the real and the mythical— though really not all that noticed, as most mermaids didn't care about the world on land in the first place.
Only a handful were actually interested in human life, and even fewer made an attempt to live within it.
Marinette, to her deep regret, happens to be one of them.
After a fair amount of begging and convincing, her parents had allowed her to take a kind of 'exchange program', where she'd be attending university with Alya on land for the next year.
It's exciting, at first.
Walking on her own two feet is a struggle ( really , how humans survived with these two weak limbs, she'll never understand), but decides that it'd be worth it if Alya had been telling the truth.
Sure, there are times Marinette misses her mermaid tail.
Though, at this moment, she really could be doing without it.
Marinette growls, looking irritatedly down at her scales, gleaming pink as they reflect in the sunlight. Her tail serves her well underwater, definitely, but it has become completely and utterly inconvenient on land: flopping uselessly as she tries to make her way to her next class.
She has no intention of transforming back to her original form, of course, but some other students thought it would be oh-so-funny to force her to do so— attacking while Alya wasn't with her, so they knew Marinette would be stuck without being able to do anything about it.
After all, it's common knowledge that a transformed mermaid exposed to water would automatically revert back to her original form, and stay like that until they dried up— which meant one thing:
Because of a couple of immature college kids with water balloons, she'd miss her next class.
Again.
They're only too lucky that a mermaid using their powers is illegal, or they'd be in a whole new hell of trouble.
The sudden ring of Marinette's phone distracts the mermaid from her thoughts, as she quickly retrieves it and answers the call.
"Girl, where are you?" The voice asks on the other line. "I dropped by Mme. Mendeleiev's class and you're not there yet? You know she's tired of you being late all the time."
Marinette groans, running a wet hand down her face. "Water balloons." She only responds, flatly.
"Oh."
From the static of the phone call, she can hear a hiccup, evidently her friend's poor attempt at trying to hide her laughter.
"It's not funny, Alya!" Marinette cries, hissing as a few teenagers point and take out their phones to record her. "I'm stuck in the middle of the goddamn quad because of you land mammals ," she spits. "Your species sucks."
"Hey, not all of us!" Alya protests back. "I'm a great land mammal." The line suddenly goes silent, as Alya pauses if in thought. "Why don't you just dry up? Where's your towel?"
"Sure you are," Marinette only drawls. "And it's still wet; this wasn't the first attack I got today." She snarls, tightening her grip around her phone. "Now get over here and help me out. It's hot and if another teenager tries to take a video of me, I'm going to end up breaking more than a few laws, and that'll get us both in trouble."
A gasp. "You wouldn't dare."
"Try me."
From the other line, Marinette hears sudden scuffling and books being thrown into her bag. "Fine, fine, give me fifteen minutes. I'm on my way."
"Hurry up," the mermaid responds curtly, before hanging up the phone.
She sighs, putting away the gadget, and looking upward. "This is so annoying," Marinette complains, squinting as the sun shines down on her. Muttering to herself, she grabs at her tail in an attempt to drag it to some place that was shadier, with little to no success.
Marinette glares at her lower half.
Betrayal.
Humans are the absolute worst.
She decides that the next person who even attempts to look, much less talk to her, would understand why mermaids remained as creatures to be feared.
— And as it turned out she didn't have to wait long, a cautious tap on her shoulder sending a sudden shiver down her spine.
Who the hell is dumb enough to touch a mermaid without her consent?
"What?" Marinette finally snaps, turning (with great difficulty) to the guilty party.
Only to flounder as bright green eyes meet her icy blue ones.
"I'm sorry," the boy says, an awkward laugh escaping him. "I just thought you might need help," he begins, clumsily gesturing at the lower half of her body, "with… all that."
Marinette squeaks, a high-pitched sound of disbelief, before laughing— a notch too high for it to be considered genuine. "Oh, this? " She asks, awkwardly patting at her tail. "This is nothing! No big deal! I'm cool, I'm cool, it's cool… because I'm a mermaid, get it, it's always cool underwater, haha …"
An awkward pause.
She cringes.
Did she really just say that?
Marinette wants to swim into the deepest trench in the ocean and stay in there.
Until she hears laughter.
The mermaid looks up, and to her complete surprise, the boy is laughing: amusement evident in his expression.
"Yeah!" He smiles ( a toothy grin that rivals even the rarest pearls she had scavenged back at home ), then continues. "That's really funny, Marinette."
She pauses, looking at him in disbelief. "You know my name?"
"Of course!" He replies, that same kind look in his eyes. "You did make quite a splash when you got here," he winks.
That's corny.
Really corny.
So why in Poseidon's name does she find that absolutely adorable?
"And I'm also studying mythology," the apparent student continues. "I see you around the building sometimes."
So the very pretty human boy who reminds her of sunshine (the good kind— warm and comforting, the kind of sunlight that reminded her of home; not the heated and dry sun that'd been constantly beating her down as soon as she started living on land) knows her name.
That's nice.
Marinette continues looking at him, dumbstruck.
As if only realizing something, he smiles, offering his hand. "I'm Adrien, by the way. Nice to meet you."
She stutters, awkwardly taking it.
His hands are smooth — nothing like the rough and calloused hands of the land people she'd met thus far.
"I— uh— Marinette."
The corners of his mouth tilt upward. "Yes, I know." He laughs.
Oh.
Right .
Why is she so nervous? This isn't like her at all.
"So, about my offer?"
"Huh?" Marinette asks, still reeling from the sudden attention.
The mermaid isn't used to his attitude, after all, knowing that most humans typically don't take all that kindly to her species.
Friendliness, Marinette isn't quite used to yet.
(Alya being the sole exception. If she arrives in the next five minutes, at least.)
The amused smile never leaves the human's— Adrien's face. "You're a literal fish out of water. I don't think you're stuck here because you want to, right?"
She nods, the joke easily going over her head, as she remembers what happened. "Some girls thought it'd be funny to force me to transform back here." Marinette growls. "You humans are all the same —."
A pause, as she looked at the friendliness in his eyes.
There's no hostility, fear, or disgust in them.
It's a nice change of pace.
"Well, most of you are, anyway," she amends, then gestures down the rest of her body. "I'm stuck like this until I dry up."
Adrien hums, sympathetic. "That's pretty inconvenient."
"It is," Marinette agrees. "But my friend's on the way, so don't worry— I mean ," she pauses, "not to say that you were worrying about me or anything, I'm just…"
The mermaid fumbles on her words, before resignedly just shutting up. "That is to say, I'll be just fine."
Adrien quirks an eyebrow, before looking around. "Really? Your friend's nowhere to be seen, are you sure you'll be okay?" He pauses. "And don't you have class with Mme. Mendeleiev right now?"
Okay, now he has to be some kind of mind-reader, right?
(Not all that farfetched, considering the co-existence of humans and mermaids in their world.)
"Wh— how do you know that?
"I'm actually her TA," he explains. "I keep track of all her students and classes. So helping you would actually be doing my job."
"No, it's really alright—"
"I have some papers to give her anyways, so it's on the way," he points out, patting his messenger bag. Then, his lips quirk upward. "And besides, I'm pretty sure you're in danger of being dropped from her class if you're late again."
She gulps.
Of course he'd know about that, wouldn't he?
Marinette sighs, defeated. "Fine," she began. "There should be some towels in the restrooms; it's a little far, but if you could—"
"No time," Adrien only states, suddenly kneeling down in front of her. "I think you only have five minutes before you're late, and it's a ten-minute walk to our building."
He grins, before suddenly scooping his arms under her tail and waist, raising her up.
Marinette can't stop the surprised squeak escape her throat, as she feels herself get lifted off the ground.
The cute boy is carrying her.
And not just any carry, but a princess carry .
"What are you doing put me down I'm gonna scream …" Marinette rushes to say, swatting helplessly at his chest.
This is so undignified for a mermaid, to have some human's filthy hands on her —
Adrien smiles.
Marinette feels her mermaid-equivalent of a human heart skip a beat.
Then, he winks.
She's sure she's the color of her tail, now.
"Let's go!" He only says, before running with surprising speed, so light and quick on his feet that she feels like she's flying. His hold on her didn't falter either, carrying the mermaid with both strength and gentleness.
It's a strange feeling, being in his arms.
But as he easily runs into the building and up four flights of stairs, she decides that it's not entirely uncomfortable, maybe .
.
.
Marinette shows up in the nick of time, only a few minutes before she'd officially be considered late.
Mme. Mendeleiev looks at the two as they burst into her classroom, hands crossed against her chest. "Late again, Marinette?" She asks, evidently unamused.
The mermaid is about to protest, until Adrien decides to speak up:
"Actually, ma'am, Marinette's just in time."
"I take attendance at 10:15 sharp, Adrien."
"And she got here at," Adrien exhales, out-of-breath, as he looks at his phone, showing the lock screen. "10:14," he states.
Mme. Mendeleiev pauses, eyes narrowing at the two, before sighing.
"Fine," the professor sighs. "There are towels at the back. Dry yourself up then take your seat, Marinette," she states, then pointedly looks at Adrien. "And you," Mme. Mendeleiev stares at the floor, dripping wet from their entrance. "Go get a mop and clean up this mess…"
The sudden "woah!" from outside following a crash makes her frown.
"... before anyone gets hurt."
Adrien has the decency to offer a sheepish smile, before immediately nodding, helping the mermaid to the back, then setting her down.
"Sorry for getting you in trouble," Marinette mutters, apologetic, taking the towel in her hands. "And giving you extra work to do."
He shrugs, visibly unbothered, as the kind smile remains on his face.
"You didn't get me in trouble, I decided to do this myself." He responds. "I couldn't leave you alone helpless like that."
"You'd be the first," she points out, using the towel to wipe her hair. "I guess humans aren't all that bad."
"Yeah," Adrien chimes, a bright laugh escaping him as he runs a hand down his wet hair. "Not all of us land mammals suck, I can promise you that."
Marinette manages to look the slightest bit embarrassed. "You heard that, huh?"
He smiles. "Yup," he responds easily, before leaning over to her ear. "But I get you. Some humans really stink up here." He wrinkles his nose, then scrunches his nose up in a way that she can only describe as absolutely adorable. "Must be because they aren't taking a bath 24/7."
Marinette feels herself laugh, ready to reply, when—
"What's taking so long?"
Mme. Mendeleiev finally barks, glaring at the two.
The two look at each other, then burst into laughter.
"Guess that means I have to go," Adrien says lightly, then bends down, kissing her hand. "I'll sea you around, Marinette!"
He runs out, and for the first time, Marinette feels like she's falling.
Or sinking , if she's being technical about it.
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end notes—
april 1st surprise? :D
this fic was a revamped draft from last year's mermay (prompt from tumblr), which i never really got to post for,, life reasons. but yes, we're going to try this 30-day challenge thing again:)
future updates will probably be much shorter, and i'm still on-the-fence about continuing with the mermaid au for the entirety of it, or whether to make one-shots for each prompt (see that level of preparation? ~ non-existent ~). thoughts and comments are always appreciated!
thank you for reading! ( ´ ∀ `)ノ～