So, sometimes I feel like life just wants me to suffer. Sunday my grandmother (who I live with) had a heart attack and is now in Hospice. I'm hoping she still has another year or so, but I think we can all agree there are no guarantees in life.
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Kirishima woke up before Bakugo, still straddling his lap. His movements were slow and careful as he lifted himself off, partly so that he wouldn't wake his new mate, but also from the pitiful state of his recently deflowered slit. Midoriya had likely been penetrated instead of Todoroki, and Kirishima idly wondered if he would wake up sore and burning too.
Of course, he highly doubted that Midoriya had approached sex as... vigorously... as he had with Bakugo. Midoriya seemed more like the slow and sensual first-time type, unlike him, who impaled himself without a second thought. Kirishima smiled at that though. It had hurt, sure, but the look on Bakugo's face was well worth the tearing sensation then and ache now.
"Don't move if it hurts, Ei." Bakugo muttered, eyes still closed as he reached out to trap his lover, holding him close while they shifted and curled into each other.
The redhead was confused as to how Bakugo even knew he was in pain at first, certain that he'd kept his face neutral in case his mate woke up. But then he saw an intricate pattern woven into the skin of Bakugo's neck, right at the juncture of his shoulder. It was beautiful and delicate, but pulsing red.
"I can feel it—You," Bakugo added contentedly. "You've got one too, you know."
Proving his words true, the blonde nuzzled at the area he'd bitten into the night before. Kirishima felt a pang of warmth rush through him like he'd drunk far too much wine, body tingling until his genital discomfort was sated.
It was more than just a physical reaction though. While Kirishima was grateful his slit was no longer hurting, he was suddenly calmed of all prior worries. Being a non-transforming hybrid wasn't a source of insecurity anymore because he could feel how Bakugo felt about him, about their future. Doubt was erased from his psyche for the first time in his life.
"Katsu..." He whined happily, pulling himself even closer to his mate. "I... I never thought I could feel this way...Never thought anyone would feel this way about me. Thank you, Katsu. I love you so much..."
Bakugo hummed that he felt the same, words not needing to be spoken. He captured Kirishima's lips with his own and held him tightly, relishing his new life. He had a pod again. A family. His mate loved him, and he had the best friend anyone could ask for. The four of them were going to change this world so that Merfolk would be safe once more...
This was what Bakugo had dreamed about since the moment he'd been orphaned, and he finally had it; he was happy.
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Midoriya startled awake, his neck stinging with such intensity that he thought he'd been stung by a box jellyfish. It was only a moment later that he realized what the sensation meant, his mate was hurting.
"Shoto?" He gasped, twisting in the soft blankets wildly to find and soothe his lover. "What's going on? What's wrong?"
The prince looked startled by the sudden thrashing in his arms, blinking in confusion as Midoriya rocketed up to a sitting position before whirling back around to stare at him in frantic worry. "What are you talking about, Izuku?" He sat up as well, equally unsettled but still uncertain as to why his lover had abruptly woken from a peaceful sleep in such a panic.
Midoriya squinted and heaved in breaths, focusing on the feelings pouring in from his neck. It wasn't fear... not panic, or anger. Sadness and shame; Shoto hadn't gotten the mark. He gingerly touched the area he'd latched his lips to, confirming his suspicions.
"Shoto..." he soothed, shaking his head in disagreement with the teen's thoughts. "It's alright... We knew that this was the likely outcome. I'm only sad that you can't experience what I can, feeling you—feeling what you're feeling... it's unlike anything I could have imagined and I'm just happy that the ritual worked at all."
He cupped Todoroki's face when he couldn't get those mismatched eyes to meet his own, willing his mate to see the truth. "Look at my neck, Shoto. Can you see it?"
The prince hesitated, but eventually shifted enough to see the spot he'd bitten, blinking in surprise at the softly pulsing design that twirled around the punctures. Written descriptions and drawings were nothing compared to the real thing; it was truly a miracle to behold.
"It... It's glowing," he explained, reaching out to touch the puffy, sensitive area.
Midoriya's response was immediate, rippling through him with an intensity that made Todoroki concerned he'd hurt his lover until he saw the bliss on those freckled cheeks. Angry pulsing gave way to a soft pink aura before settling into black lines.
"It's like a tattoo," Todoroki continued, smiling as the folk stories he'd heard from sailors finally made sense. Before the war, seamen had been so enthralled by the markings they saw on merfolk that they decided to attempt to replicate the patterns, showing that they were children of the ocean too; even now the tradition continued despite the hatred between their species. "It's beautiful, Izuku."
"And it works perfectly," Midoriya assured, leaning forward to kiss his mate. "Your life has become mine, and mine yours. If you ever doubt that, just look at our mark and you'll know... I love you Shoto. So much."
Todoroki may not have been able to have the flight of sensation coursing through him that Midoriya did, but the honesty in his eyes and the permanent etching on his neck were proof enough. They were bound to one another by more than just some ritual and knowing that he was loved by Midoriya was more than enough.
"I love you too, Izuku."
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"Okay, so," Bakugo started, his head still fuzzy from the continuous feeling of bliss pouring in through his mark. "Uh... Fuck. Deku, what were we going to tell everyone again?"
Midoriya snorted in amusement, still on his own high. "At first light, we're going to rush to the infirmary in a panic, pretending to freak out about how our marks aren't right because they don't match. You're going to be doing most of the talking though, because we both know I'd just mess up."
"Right," Bakugo nodded, memory starting to return. "And if the ancient bag doesn't know what we do about how mating marks can be different, then we move on to phase two. You'll pretend to be overly depressed; I'll sneak out for a few days like I did before and act like I'd just gone and found the tablet. I'll give some epic speech about how I couldn't stand my mate being so distressed and basically didn't have a choice but to go to Atlantis to figure out what 'went wrong' when we mated."
"And hopefully that will keep you from receiving any terrible punishments…" Midoriya finished, his stomach somewhat in knots at the web of lies they'd have to weave perfectly for this to work.
Despite having wanted to stay with their partners longer, they'd begrudgingly left fairly soon after waking up, not wanting to push their luck even further by staying out too long. Now though, all they could do was wait in the darkness of Bakugo's—now their—home, until light began penetrating the ocean's depths.
"Heh… Hey Deku, can you believe that Eijiro was asleep when I went to our spot tonight?" Bakugo chuckled, still reeling from the new sensations flooding into his neck. "Even I was nervous about our first time and that handsome fuck was napping like it was no big deal."
Midoriya covered his mouth to stifle the rush of laughter bubbling up his throat. Bakugo had been a little more than 'nervous' about having sex and taking a mate, so he could only imagine what the blonde's face looked like upon finding his partner completely unphased on such a life-altering occasion. "You can't be serious!"
Bakugo couldn't help but laugh again, having somehow fallen even more in love with Kirishima at that moment. His face changed then though, expression softening from amusement to a mixture of sadness and gratitude. "I uh… I want to thank you, Deku…" he murmured, rubbing at his burning eyes. "Without you, I'd still be that same lonely asshole that brought you to Yuuei."
"Kacchan…" Midoriya breathed, realizing just how overwhelming his emotions must be. He'd never seen Bakugo behave like this.
The blonde sniffed in roughly and swam over, wrapping his arms around Midoriya in a tight hug, further shocking his best friend. "I've got a pod again, Deku. First you, and now Ei and even that clown-fish-colored prince. I didn't think it would ever happen and it has… Fuck. Thank you for not giving up on me."
Midoriya wrapped his arms around Bakugo just as firmly, returning the unexpected embrace with intensity. "Heh," he hiccupped, equally emotional. "I should be thanking you, Kacchan. I'm so grateful you brought me to Yuuei instead of just letting me swim off after I attacked you. Our pod only became a reality because of you. You protected and supported me when I wanted to see Shoto and you're the one that risked your life to get that tablet so that we could mate."
"Guess we're both fucking awesome then," the blonde stated proudly, pulling back just as the first rays of light began filtering to the sandy ocean floor. "Alright, come on. We've got to make this shit believable so that we can keep our pod. Let's go."
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Chiyo was indeed a very old woman.
In the human world, a single Kingdom could sprawl for countless miles and include dozens of cities and small villages. But in the ocean, numbers meant strength, and strength meant survival. It was because of this fact, that all Mer 'cities' were more like individual Kingdoms.
When one Kingdom would become large enough that its population threatened to throw the ecosystem out of balance, a new one would be started somewhere else, the palace, individual dwellings, and defense systems all built long before civilians were moved in.
Before the war started, there were Mer Kingdoms scattered all over the world, each with its own King and brimming with power and prosperity. This is what had allowed the Merfolk to hold out for years—even decades—after the initial blitz attacks commenced but ultimately what doomed the survivors who eventually had to flee as their homes fell one by one.
No one could even remember when exactly the genocide of their species had begun; such specificity was hardly important given the dire situation. What was known, was that the last Mer Kingdom to fall had been Atlantis, the vast metropolis having been conquered around a century ago.
Chiyo was the only living Mer to have been alive at the time of their last stand, the now withered heading into her early teen years when the final attack came. As with all the Kingdoms who'd fallen prior, the young and a select group of adults were evacuated just before their defenses were overwhelmed. Numbers meant strength, and strength meant survival. That's what they'd known all their lives.
But by her early twenties, Chiyo was the sole survivor of the group that had left Atlantis together, the others having perished from surprise attacks, lack of survival skills, predators, and other ailments. In her care were a few pups, all having been born in the open ocean and bequeathed to Chiyo before their parent's untimely passing.
Over time, she found more children like the ones she'd been entrusted with, all born into the chaos of uncharted waters and raised by slightly older children, the adults and teenagers all having given their lives to give the next generation a chance to continue on.
It was this originally small, half-feral group that banded together and eventually founded Yuuei. With the children knowing how to survive the harshest of conditions and Chiyo's unique knowledge of Mer civilization, the beginning of their new era began. Even now, she was still considered the guiding hand to all of Yuuei, her memories of reading the many tablets in the Palace library a source of unprecedented information.
But now, Chiyo was a very old woman.
Her mind was nearly as sharp as it had ever been, but even she would admit that remembering information she'd read out of boredom so long ago was becoming more difficult. As such, she was particularly frustrated with herself given the current situation.
Midoriya and Bakugo—the future King of Yuuei and his official guard now turned mate had come banging on her door at the crack of dawn, panicked about what they feared was a botched mating attempt.
Chiyo had needed to disturb quite a few pet glow fish in order to see what they were trying to show her, cataracts having already degraded her eyesight significantly and it still being mostly dark out to boot. But sure enough, the two young Mer's did indeed have mismatched marks on their necks.
"Very, very strange…" She hummed, rubbing her chin as she gave up trying to find something in the tablets she'd recreated from memory years prior. "If only I was a few decades younger… I feel certain that I've read something about this before, but I just can't remember it after all these years."
The old woman looked over her patients, unsettled that even the ever-unphased Bakugo had cried at some point that morning. Clearly, something unusual happened, but they didn't seem to be becoming ill or experiencing any discomfort.
"Well?" Bakugo grunted impatiently, pulling Midoriya into his side protectively. The smaller teen had his head down low, upset as he leaned into his new mate.
Huffing to herself, Chiyo floated over, her tail too arthritic to move effectively anymore. "I'm going to be honest with you both. I know I read something about this particular situation when I was young, but for the life of me, I can't remember what the text said. My advice is to go home and rest for a few days; come back if anything strange happens."
"Strange?" Bakugo questioned hotly.
Chiyo simply shrugged nonchalantly, seemingly unconcerned with his frustration. "Well, everyone knows if something goes wrong with a mating bond, one or more likely both of the marked die. So, either you'll be dead, or you'll end up being just fine. I'm inclined to think the latter is true… Feels like I'd remember if that tablet had said something about death or ailment. Now, run along… You two interrupted my beauty sleep."
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Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you feel like it! I'd love to hear feedback on the chapter/story and what you think will happen next!