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The first time that Inko Midoriya found a strange pile of bright seaglass on the railings of the deck of her houseboat she almost left them there, assuming that they were a treasure that her son had brought in from the beach and left there for safekeeping. But she didn’t want them to fall into the water, so she scooped them into her hand with a smile, putting them in a small glass jar and setting them on the kitchen windowsill where they could reflect the light until he wanted them again. They brightened her day, sitting and glinting back at her, and she found herself looking up at them as she worked at the table, doing her best to finish the manuscript of her next book.
Her publisher was on her back to complete it within the month but there was something missing and she wasn’t prepared to turn in a work that she wasn’t happy with. So she sat and pondered, letting the little glassy fragments cheer her in the moments when she grew frustrated with her struggles on the page.
When Izuku came home from his playdate he didn’t ask for the glass, and with the chores of the evening well underway Inko forgot all about it too, tucking her son into bed and reading him a story written just for him about heroes and villains and a little green haired boy who went on to save the whole world. It had been the first story she’d written, and the favourite of her littlest fan who begged for it every night before bed.
Outside of the window, floating on his back in the shallow waters of the marina, someone else listened in, delighting in the story that he came to hear every night without fail. He’d fallen in love with that smooth beautiful voice, more lovely to him than the call of any siren could be, and as soon as she was finished and the lights of the small boat went out he dove back down into the deep, searching for another gift to bring her, a treasure for the beautiful woman who he hoped, in time, to ask to be his mate.
***
The next morning Inko rose with the sun, stretching and making her coffee in a practised routine that took almost none of her attention after so many years. She would have an hour before Izuku woke with a burst of energy that she could never keep up with. A little time for her to spend on her manuscript before she was drawn into his world of games and adventure.
She padded out onto the deck with her coffee in one hand and her laptop in the other, enjoying the gentle breeze in her hair, stopping when she saw another small pile of perfect polished seaglass. In the same place as the pile the day before. There were more colours, each more beautiful than the last, and she beamed when she swept them into her hands, turning the pieces over and examining them. When they were in the jar with the rest she turned that over too, watching the light reflect and dance across the deck in her own personal rainbow.
“Beautiful,” she breathed, a new idea suddenly swimming into her mind. She set the jar down on the railing and snatched up her laptop, typing the idea as quickly as she could into the ‘ Ideas for later’ document that she kept running at all times. A story about a sea witch who stored her spells in tiny colourful fragments of glass.
By the time Izuku woke she almost had a full plot outlined, and scolded herself for getting lost in a new work when she should have been putting all of her energy into the one that had already been purchased. Still, there were more hours in the day, she could afford a diversion now and then.
“Good morning Mama,” Izuku yawned, padding onto the deck with his tatty yellow bear under his arm.
“Good morning Zuzu baby. Thank you for my pretty glass.”
“Glass, Mama?”
She showed him the jar but he just shook his head, green hair flopping over his eyes from the exuberance of the motion.
“You didn’t collect these lovely things for me when you went swimming with Katsuki yesterday?”
“No mama. I did pick up a worm, but Auntie Mitsuki said I had to leave it in the water.”
“That was very clever of her,” Inko said, sending silent thanks to their neighbour for not letting her son try to adopt a worm. “But you’re sure you didn’t collect this too?”
Izuku shook his head again. “I’m hungry Mama, what’s for breakfast?”
She chuckled, enjoying the way her son so easily moved from one thing to the next. She wished she could be as carefree as he was, but breakfast did sound like a good idea. “Why don’t I whip you up some pancakes?”
“Okay!”
He pulled himself up into a chair whilst she padded about the kitchen making them both a stack of thin pancakes, looking every now and again at the glittering glass in the jar that she had set safely back on her windowsill.
If they weren’t a gift from Izuku she couldn't think for the life of her where they might have come from, but she decided not to worry about it too much. It was very unlikely that anyone had come onto her ship in the night and left them there. Perhaps they had been set by a child on a passing houseboat, a friend or a neighbour who knew that she liked pretty little things and wanted to do something nice for her. There was no sense thinking the worst, after all, when the best was also possible.
“Mama Mama, can I go and swim with Kacchan and Eijichan today? Auntie Mitsuki said that they would be going to the beach all day and I can get some pretty shells for you and-”
“Yes,” Inko laughed, “of course you can, little one. Shall I call your auntie now?”
“Please please please!”
She chuckled to herself, watching him shovel the rest of his pancakes into his mouth as fast as he could, throwing himself out of his chair and running to his bedroom with a giggle to change before she had even managed to pick up the phone.
“Bakugou residence.”
“Oh hi Mitsuki, Izuku has been asking if he can come and swim with Katsuki and Eijirou today, are you happy to have him?”
“Of course, he’s no trouble compared to my brat and his best friend. Do you want me to swing by and get him?”
“If you don’t mind, I’m-”
“Swamped in deadlines,” her friend chuckled down the line. “I know, don’t worry about it. I can keep him for a sleepover if you like? You know these boys love to camp out on the deck and there’s more than enough space for them all.”
Inko accepted without a second thought. The Bakugou’s lived on a huge boat at the other end of the marina, they could definitely find space for a little one for the night, and she would be exceptionally grateful to be able to spend the whole day writing without her little whirlwind needing her. As much as she would miss the sound of him playing a few feet away, she knew that she would get more done if he was out playing with his friends.
Mitsuki arrived within the hour, walking down the dock with the two boys charging around her like noisy planets, locked in the orbit that kept them out of trouble but causing about as much chaos as it was possible to cause in that small space.
“Now you have so much fun,” Inko said, pulling Izuku into a tight hug, “and remember that you don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. You can ask Auntie Mitsuki to call me any time and I will come right over to get you, okay?
“I know Mama.”
“Alright then. I love you, Zuzu baby.”
“Love you too!”
He ran down the little gangplank, crashing headfirst into Eijirou who seemed to delight in being knocked over, jumping up and banging his two tiny fists together, laughing and shouting for Izuku to do it again.
She rolled her eyes at Mitsuki, who shook her head with a laugh that said ‘kids’ all too clearly, before scooping the boys back the way they had come, promising ice cream if they could manage to get all the way to the house without a single one of them falling in the water.
Inko settled herself into what promised to be a productive day sitting out on the deck. She read through her manuscript aloud, correcting the flow, adding little snippets where she needed them and cutting an entire chapter that she realised was filler. She just needed to find that one final side plot to make it all come together and she would be happy, but by nightfall she had no more ideas, turning instead to the new story that was bubbling around her mind as a kind of reward for making any progress at all on her main work.
Somewhere along the line she fell asleep in her small swinging chair, letting the sound of the water lapping against the edge of the ship lull her until she was so relaxed that she couldn't keep her eyes open. It was set to be a clear warm night, so she leaned into it, setting her laptop on the deck and tucking her legs up, telling herself that she would move inside just as soon as she stopped being comfortable.
But sleep took her quickly, and when she woke up in the morning she was still there, tucked up in the small chair with one foot completely asleep and a wicker print on her face where she’d leaned against the less padded areas sometime in the night.
“Oh Inko, you’re too old for-”
Something sitting on the railing next to her caught her attention as she blinked the sleep from her eyes, and she saw – to some amazement – a single shining pearl sitting atop a beautiful pink shell, resting as though it was waiting for her. She looked around wildly, trying to find a source for the strange and beautiful gift, but most of the Marina was still asleep, the sun only just peeking up over the horizon, the water lapping as calmly as it always did.
“Well now I know someone is leaving me things,” she whispered. “I just wish I knew who .”
She picked up the pearl carefully, rolling it between her fingers and smiling. It was so smooth, round and perfect and glinting in the light. Somewhere in the back of her mind a glimmer of concern awoke, telling her that whoever was leaving these gifts might be dangerous. After all, she wrote a villain into every story, why not assume there would be one in her own? But she shook the thought aside. If someone wanted to hurt her they certainly would have, she’d been asleep in the open for hours and all that had happened was the appearance of the pearl.
With a confused smile she padded through to her bedroom, pulling some supplies that she hadn’t used since she was a much younger woman out of her dresser and fashioning a necklace from the pearl, securing it around her neck as soon as it was finished. She would have to ask around the Marina to ensure that nobody was missing the new treasure, , but it really was beautiful and she didn’t want to not wear it unless she had a reason to think that it was somehow dangerous. She couldn’t let herself think the worst and end up afraid of every little thing.
She was a single mother, after all. It was her job not to be afraid of anything.
A little way under the water Toshinori watched his prospective mate accept his gift with a smile. She had looked so happy to receive it, and had immediately secured it around her neck to display for all of the other humans to see. She was pleased with him, and his heart fluttered when he thought of it. His chosen was wearing his gift the moment that it had been given. He wanted to rise out of the water, to take her hands and declare his affection right there, but he was afraid, too.
Afraid that she might not accept him once she knew who and what he was.
Afraid that he might never again hear her beautiful voice telling stories in the night.
No, he would wait a little longer, until he was certain that he had a gift good enough to present to her himself. He darted back into the open water, searching for something that might be enough. A true treasure fit for such a perfect mate.
***
For a whole week the gifts continued to appear on the railing of her little house boat. One morning there was a single old coin, another she found a few fresh wet unfamiliar flowers that looked as though they might have been brought up from the floor of the ocean. She asked every boat that passed if they had similar experiences with strange items being left on their decks, but none had. Most suggested that birds were dropping them, seagulls who had assumed that they were food tossing them when they learned the opposite. But Inko wasn’t so sure. There was a kind of care to the items that were chosen, things that felt as though they had been picked just for her, not dropped at random by a passing bird.
It was almost enough for concern to start creeping up again. There were very few ways for someone to get to the sides of her boat without being on it. What if someone was just lulling her into a false security so that they could harm her? So that they could harm Izuku?
She set her mind to finding whoever it was that was leaving the items, rising earlier and earlier until she was awake before the dawn, making her coffee and padding out to the deck to watch the sun rise, leaping and dropping the mug when she found herself face to face with a towering blonde haired man.
Or at least… most of a man.
Her eyes met his, bright blue and suddenly full of panic, and then they raked down to a muscled bare chest dappled with patches of gold and blue scale and, what she was certain were gills at the side of his throat. His mouth was open showing sharpened pointed teeth, his large hand reaching out towards her with something small and delicate grasped within it. She was almost ashamed of the shriek that rose from her throat, a sound that was sure to wake half of the Marina. But the feeling only worsened when the man's face contorted from panic to pain and she watched him dive from the boat back into the water, speeding away faster than she was able to recover herself.
When Inko finally managed to breathe clearly again she cleared away the fragments of the broken coffee cup, trying to reconcile in her mind what she’d just seen. She was an educated woman, she had been to the best schools that she could afford and had learned history and science…and none of it had prepared her for the fact that she had definitely just come face to face with a merman.
A merman .
If she had been told a day earlier that she would have seen a creature of legend less than a metre away from her home she would have laughed, and told whoever had said it that they needed more coffee, or more sleep, or both. But there he had been and as she picked up the last pieces of mug she found the evidence of it.
Laying on the deck was a dainty bracelet that looked as though it had been hand woven from grasses and kelp into a beautiful intricate braid. She’d never seen anything like it, and her fingers trembled when she picked it up afraid that she was going to break it. But it was sturdier than she had given it credit for, and slipped perfectly over her hand to sit on her wrist as though it had been made for her.
It took her a moment to realise that it likely had been. That this huge man had been the one leaving her gifts, and instead of stopping for even a second to ask him why, she’d shouted at him as though he was a monster and scared him away, maybe forever.
With the shock gone all that remained was a lingering curiosity about the merman. She wanted to know everything there was to know about him, from where he had come from to where he lived to why he had chosen to bring her such beautiful gifts every day. Once Izuku was safely awake and playing she took out her jewellery supplies for the second time in as many weeks, selecting several strands of fine soft leather and doing her best to replicate the woven pattern on the bracelet that he had left for her, making it large enough – she hoped – to fit his huge hand should he return to see her again.
***
On the ocean floor a little way away from the marina Toshinori pulled his tail up around himself, sniffing back a sob. His chosen mate had seen him, and she had screamed . She had rejected him the moment that she’d laid eyes on him and he was certain that he could feel his heart breaking at the memory.
He knew that he should return to his home, should do as his friends and family had advised and find a mate of his own kind, but he couldn’t bear it. She was the only one that he had ever wanted. The human with the voice of a siren, telling him stories in the night. So he would remain there until he could stand the hunger and the sorrow no longer, and only then would he return to his kin. When enough time had passed that he could bear their sympathy. But not before.
***
The next morning Inko made sure to rise early, holding the leather band and standing on the deck waiting for the man to arrive, but he didn’t come. Nor did he the morning after, or the one after that, and she couldn't help but be disappointed. She wanted to see him again, if nothing else to apologise for screeching like he was a monster when – the more she thought about it – he was just a sweet, handsome man. Very handsome. With his hair hanging down around his shoulders in wet waves, his chest wide and chiselled with muscle and those eyes . He was everything that the heroes in her novels tried to be, the kind of man who was too handsome to be real.
She was resolved on the third day since seeing him that she was going to look for him. Just once, and just in the area around the marina. If he was gone then she would accept that she had lost her chance to speak with the most interesting being that she had ever beheld. But she held out a secret hope that she would find him. So with Izuku running to school behind Bakugou, Mitsuki waving to her from the road, she made her mind up. She pulled on her wetsuit, shuddering at the rubbery feel of the fabric against her skin, setting up her diving equipment as quickly as she could and, with one more moment to check in with herself and make sure that she wasn’t doing something completely insane, she lowered her little row boat from where it hung on one side of the deck, dipping an outboard motor into the water and setting off in the direction that she had seen the merman go, hoping that she wasn’t too late.
There were few places where she could secure even a small boat so far out in the open water whilst still being safe to dive, but she knew all the best ones from the many trips she’d taken in the years before she had been a mother, and before too long she was pulling her tanks onto her shoulders, securing her mask and mouthpiece, and flopping backwards over the side down into the cool clear water below.
She let herself sink, taking in the sights around her that had once been almost as familiar as the world above, running her hand over rocks and letting her fingers skim through weeds that swayed in the gentle currants. It had been years since she had really swam and she found that she loved it just as much as the day she stopped, twirling and laughing at the freedom that came from being weightless in a world so different from her own.
After an hour of swimming she was almost ready to give up and make for the surface, willing to admit that she had come out for nothing, when she saw a glimmer of gold in the distance, something too big to be a fish curled up on one of the rocks near the surface, basking in the morning rays of the sun that fell that far.
It took every ounce of reservation she had to approach slowly, to swim around in a wide arc so that he could see her coming. He was far larger than her, after all, and if there was any chance at all that he was dangerous – however slim – she wanted to give herself the best position to run.
His head flicked up when she approached, and a moment of confusion turned to surprise when their eyes met, and he saw the familiar bright green hair, the waving hand that she hoped came across as friendly. She couldn’t speak down there, but she reached into the pouch on her belt and pulled out the leather bracelet, holding it out to him, treading water and trying to keep calm even when her heart was hammering in her chest.
The last time they’d met she hadn’t got a good look at him, but now that she could see him in all of his glory he was incredible . Gold and blue winding around his tail in a pattern that she was sure she could look at for the rest of her life, thick arms that looked as though they carried enough muscle to let him lift her entire boat out of the water if he chose, and bright blue eyes that shone with as much intelligence as they did kindness.
He reached out to her, taking a bracelet with a wide smile that took her breath away. She began to move towards the surface slowly, hoping that he would follow, finding herself smiling even wider when he did. They swam together all the way back to her little boat, and when she went to pull herself up she found him there with an outstretched hand, an offer to help lift her into the vessel which she gladly accepted.
He rose out of the water behind her, cocking his head with a gentle smile when she pulled off her mask and let her hair fall free. For a long time they simply sat, looking at one another. The grassy bracelet on her wrist and the leather on his, sharing so much with that one look that she knew she could never capture in a hundred years of stories.
Finally she reached out one hand, resting it against his face with a breathy laugh.
“Please,” she said, hoping that he could understand. “Please don’t stop coming to see me.”
“If you wish it,” he rumbled, his voice low and smooth, making the hair on her arms stand on end. “I will come every day.”
She nodded, not able to stop the blush rising on her cheeks when he took her hand and pressed a light kiss to the back of it before bowing and sinking back below the water. Her heart swam, and she found herself smiling all the way home..
***
The next morning her merman returned with a large salmon in his hands, presenting it to her as though it was a great prize, and though it was somewhat stranger than the other gifts he’d brought she accepted it, setting it in the sink until she could warm the grill to cook it.
He stayed with her that day talking with her, looking at her as though she was the only creature in the entire world. And though she had promised herself that she would be a parent before anything else the day Izuku’s father walked away from them, she couldn’t help but enjoy the company.
Every day after that he returned, staying with her for long hours, listening to her stories, helping her tease out the areas in her plot that she didn’t care for, delighting her with tales of his own life deep below the waves.
For weeks they continued that way, Toshinori arriving with a gift every morning once little Izuku went to school, respecting Inko’s wishes to not introduce them for a while longer, keen as he was to meet the small man who made his chosen mate light up so much brighter.
But finally, as the weeks became months, Inko decided that perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to have someone to share her life with, even if it wasn’t quite the relationship she had imagined for herself. So, one morning when Toshinori arrived with a crop of her favourite underwater flowers, she reached out to cup his face just like she had the first time, and when he leaned into her touch she pushed herself up onto her tiptoes, pulling the surprised merman in for a kiss that they had both been aching for.
One of many more to come.