#jade's is shorter than izuku because idk ig it's harder to write an eel-dude

[lumdays]

"cause you could be the one that i love"

a jade leech x izuku midoriya one-shot 😨

idea from @quartztwst 💥💥💥

trope: uuuh mutual pining+childhood friends to crush to maybe lovers when they maybe have the balls to ask eachother out

warnings: english isn't my first language so watch out for grammar errors 😞, jade being cringe (when is he not), lack of azul ashengrotto but it's only because he's actively avoiding downbad jade, jade being the bubonic plague personified, floyd using slang because he does, MY HERO ACADEMIA, strange mha x twst crossover in which quirks are unique magics cause i hate calling a super cool power a QUIRK, BAD WRITING!!!!!!

"and i become hypnotised by freckles and bright eyes, tongue-tied"

jade loved izuku. a shocker to no one but him, apparently.

"whaddya mean how'd i know about you like-liking sea sheepie?" his twin brother floyd drawled, "you ain't slick, that's how."

"stop asking me strange questions on your shift, jade." azul gave him a flat look before readjusting his glasses, "but if you must, i'd say i realised your... feelings for midoriya when you tried to name another one of your mushroom dishes after him for the third time in a row even after i denied your submission the first and second time."

it was an unexpected realisation but not one he found that surprising—now that he thought about it, he had always loved izuku. not the way he loved him now obviously but even when they were younger, he had always appreciated him some way somewhat—whether it was for his notebooks filled with almost scarily accurate and detailed information about famous mages' unique magics, his funny little quirks, the astounding determination and strength laying dormant within him, the cleverness he displayed in difficult situations, his optimism, his laugh, his smile, his freckles, his green eyes akin to grass, to leaves, to seaweed, to sea glass and to well, jade.

he sighed as he leaned over the counter of mostro lounge in a particularly dramatic way, woe is the poor eel who fell head over heels for a human, right? though he imagined it wouldn't be so bad if said-human loved him back. they could hang out like they used to at takoba bay, except they'd call it a date this time.

he started spacing out at the thought of izuku and him, holding hands, under the shade of an umbrella on the beach, laughing, swimming, him diving under the water and dragging the smaller boy with him for a few seconds, maybe kissing—

"ow!" jade whipped around to glare at his brother, who was giving him a dirty look—as if he had been the one to kick him in the shin.

jade shot him a pointed smile, "what could that possibly have been for, brother dearest?" floyd rolled his eyes as he turned away, "dunno, maybe for being a cornball in public??" he cackled, loud and mocking, as jade threw an empty bottle at him, his aim a bit off—enough to miss his twin's back as he slipped back in the kitchen. he could already hear azul berating him for this—for daydreaming on shift or for throwing a possibly harmful item, missing floyd and it hitting the wall instead, he didn't know yet.

throwing possibly harmful items at others and missing... that reminded him of his and izuku's first meeting, though he hadn't meant to throw anything at anyone with his projectiles... the first time, at least. he smiled giddily.

truly, how lucky and fortunate jade leech was to be able to love izuku midoriya.

——————————

"feelin' like a face in the crowd, i'm reaching for you, terrified"

izuku loved jade. he loved, jade. his childhood friend, the eelmer, the sneaky bastard with a silver tongue (endearment), the obscenely tall, nice (to him at least), caring (derogatory), sweet (questionable claim) guy named jade. he sighed into his palms before looking up and staring at a picture of them he stuck on the wall a few years ago, jade had been gushing about a new species of mushroom he had found on one of his hikes when his mom snapped it. he, on the other hand, had been... looking at the other boy. no, that wasn't the right word to describe the look in his eyes then—he had been admiring him. how could he not? the merfolk was so passionate when he talked about something he truly loved... he wondered if he would talk about him that way if they ever—oh.

this was bad, this was really really bad. he couldn't let this happen, but surely he could fix this some way somewhat, right? he racked his brain for a way to cover this mess up, he wasn't a good actor, he couldn't even entertain the idea of pretending he doesn't love him because that would only result in jade teasing him to death—which would be a really pathetic death, even for him. he couldn't avoid him either—that was simply impossible, one because he doesn't actually want to stay away from him and two because he knows for a fact that if he tried doing that, jade could and absolutely would find him and force him to talk to him again.

he flopped down on his bed to roll around on his mattress in self-pity, if it had been a passing crush like what he had felt for uraraka in his first year then maybe he could've ignored the pull—but the tide was clearly stronger than him this time, and the depths of his feelings was scary. the honesty this love would cost him terrified him. he shook his head, how hypocritical of him to fall for someone who could force the truth out of him anytime any day.

after a few more weeks (a month or two) of agony, he admitted defeat. there was no way to escape this, izuku would have to face his feelings, he would have to face jade.

and so he would, he would reach for his hand and it would be up to jade whether he'd take it or brush it off.

...he would rather if he took it though.

also scraps LOL:

though izuku would like to say so, jade hadn't always been his friend. with him running after katsuki and jade doing god-knows-what with his brother under the sea, they really had had no reason to meet when they were children.

until they did, and well, saying it hadn’t been the friendliest first meeting was an understatement.

they were both 10 when they first met, it was winter—just a little while before christmas. izuku had been looking for seashells or pretty rocks to gift his mom while narrowly avoiding the growing amount of trash on the surface of takoba bay's once beautiful shore.

jade, on the other hand, had been grudgingly dragging plastic bags to the surface—he was on cleaning duty that day. 'cleaning duty' mainly consisted of finding human junk in the sea and putting it back to where it came from—land. the little eel thought that cleaning up after others—especially complete strangers—was mind-numblingly boring, but kept quiet while his twin brother floyd complained, rather loudly, for everyone and anyone within reach to hear.

instead, he vengefully threw empty cans and other items like soggy shoes towards the beach. honestly, how unfair was it that he had to pick up some random landdwellers' trash? he didn't tell them to throw their junk in his home, did he? he kept on throwing stuff until one of his projectiles didn't meet the sand but a little boy's face.

in his defence, it had been an honest mistake—he really hadn't meant to throw a dirty swimsuit at someone's head.

——————————

jade wouldn't ever want to tell anyone he had always been izuku's friend, he thought that would undermine everything they went through together—which would be a shame, truly. their bond was really precious to him as it is something he earned—it was not natural like his and floyd's nor was it born out of mutual benefit like his and azul's. it was something that grew with them and soon enough tied them together like an invisible string. he thought that their relationship was fine just like that, more than fine actually.

but it seemed as though he was the only one who felt that way, that strongly.

the eel listened as izuku talked about a classmate, he then watched as izuku walked with a boy and a girl on the beach. he kept on watching and listening as the smaller boy grew away and apart from him—still, they were friends, so izuku kept visiting him. but it felt different, now that jade knew the boy treated him like every other friend he had, he felt... a bit of everything all at once. he was happy his friend had a lot of friends now, really. he was also maybe a bit jealous of how many friends he had too. or maybe it was that he was jealous of the friends because of how much time they got to spend with him? he wasn't sure. he also felt fear, fear that maybe izuku would leave him again, but to bask in the presence of others this time.

he hated that idea.

#definitely took longer than an hour or two sorryyyyyy #jade leech x izuku midoriya #jade x izuku #twst #mha #jade's is shorter than izuku because idk ig it's harder to write an eel-dude #but the quality of jade's is better #what have i done #if this was on ao3 i would've posted this with the tags The Author Regrets Everything+The Author Regrets Nothing #look up sea sheeps they look exactly like deku i swear #jeiku #??? APPARENTLY?????? #twst x mha