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pudding-head-kenma · 3 years

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My piece for the Once Upon a Dream/Disney AU collab by @katsuverse and @juicykatsuki.

Warnings: none?

Notes: Reader is the sister of Daichi, Suga, Asahi, Tanaka and Noya with their father as Keishin but I never specify if it’s birth or adoptive relationship so you can choose your own familial relationship with them

Word count: 2,045

Distant shouts reach your ears and you know you should leave but you can’t yet find the will to watch the man you’ve watched for months, the man whose life you just saved. It’s risky but you want to stay just a little bit longer with the man you’ve fallen in love with. Your father will be upset that you risked discovery for a human but you couldn’t let him die.

You lost count of the times you had seen him in the sea by now but you never grew tired of watching him playing with the yellow haired animal, never grew tired of watching him interact with his friends. Oh, how you wish you could hear what they’re saying. . .

‘It won’t hurt to get just a little closer, just this once, right?’ You think to yourself, already swimming towards the ship, towards the black haired man with wild hair and the dark haired man with lighter hair at the ends.

“Kuro, shouldn’t you give up this talk of merpeople? Your grandfather wants you to return to court, choose a wife, and take up his crown. You’ve been at this for months and never seen one.”

“Kenma! I can’t give up – the life he wants for me is not the one that will make me happy. When I marry, I want it to be for love, not duty, with a woman who is as carefree and alive as the sea. Besides, they’re out there. I know they are."

‘Kuro? Is that his name? It’s so handsome.’

The man named Kenma goes to open his mouth but is interrupted by barking and a chocolate lab jumps on Kuro who lets out the most handsome laugh you’ve ever heard in your life. Watching as Kuro plays with the lab, you can’t help but wish how you could be part of his world.

You watch for a few more moments until the sky darkens and the waves turn angry, the humans on the ship struggling to fight against the storm. As they try to gain control of the ship, you watch in horror as Kuro falls into the sea. Waiting with bated breath for him to resurface, your heart sinks the longer time passes.

You race beneath the surface only to see he is unconscious, being pulled down in the black abyss. Heart in your throat, you race to save him, rule about not “meddling in the affairs of man” be damned.

Pushing the hair back from his face, you sing a soft melody, wishing you could see his golden eyes up close. Barks sound in the distance followed by a booming “hey, hey, hey!” and you know this when you must part, to avoid discovery. You’ve broken enough rules for today and missed your father’s homecoming on top of it.

You spare one last glance before you retreating the sea, watching from afar as the dog rouses him and a large man with black and white streaked hair lifts him to his feet, shouting loudly an “I found him!” as Kenma and a curly haired brunette walk over, pace only slightly fast. Knowing he’s officially safe and sound now as his friends guide him away, you turn and dip beneath the surface, missing Kuroo’s head turning back towards the ocean to see the ends of your fins disappear.

Back in Atlantica, you rush to your father, King Keishin, apologies spewing from your mouth the second you’re within earshot. You try to explain but he cuts you off.

“You’ve disappointed your brothers with your careless behavior, y/n,” he points to the crab by his side before continuing. “And Tobio’s, too. They all worked so hard on this performance and – “

“It wasn’t even her fault!” Hinata, your most trusted friend and beloved guppy, interjects on your behalf at seeing how despondent you look. “If it weren’t for her, then a human would have died!”

“Human?!” Your father shouts as you bury your head in your hands, knowing how angry he gets about just swimming to the surface and his disdain for humans. “You went to the surface?! You could have been seen or caught! They’re barbarians, looking to catch us –use us – for their own personal gain!”

“They’re not like that! They just want to understand us, understand our world! I’ve been watching them for mon –, “You cut yourself off, hand clapping over your mouth as you see your father turn red with anger.

“MONTHS?! YOU’VE GOING TO THE SURFACE FOR MONTHS?! YOU DEFEND THEM, DESPITE KNOWING WHAT THEY DID TO YOUR MOTHER?!”

“They’re not that bad! If you’d just give them a chance, just get to know them, you’d see! These humans are not like those humans! I can show you if you’d just let m – “

“YOU WILL NEVER GO TO THE SURFACE AGAIN,” he roars before continuing. “Not as long as you live under my reef.”

Anger running through you, you swim away to your grotto – a place you can escape to in solace for your father knows nothing of it.

Once there, you marvel over all your treasures – things collected from the human world you love so much. Your hands caress over watchmacallits and thingamabobs and your favorite – the dinglehopper. Living in the sea, you don’t have much use for it but you long to use it one day. You still remember when Lev told you about it.

Another day of treasure hunting with Shoyo at the bottom of the sea, from shipwreck to shipwreck, you place your bag of gadgets and gizmos on Lev’s favorite rock, waiting for him to fly in.

“Y/n!!!” You hear him squawk out as he flies to the rock. You wave excitedly, waiting for your friend to land.

Immediately, he sticks his head in the bag and a muffled “lotsa good stuff you got here today” reaches your ears. Popping out of the bag, he holds a silver three pronged item in his hand.

“What a marvelous beauty you’ve got here!”

Excitement runs through you as you ask, “What is it?”

“It’s a dinglehopper. Humans use it to style their hair.”

After giving a demonstration as to how the dinglehopper works, he moves to the next item – a strangely shaped object that has a large opening at one end.

“Oh, this! This is a snarffblat! It’s used so humans can dance. You just put your mouth on one end like this and blow and beautiful music will come out.”

At the mention of “dance” and “music,” your face falls and you panic. “Oh, no! I’m late! Thanks for the explanation, Lev, but I have to go! Oh, Tobio and my brothers are gonna be so mad that I’m missing practice!”

Rushing in to the practice hall, you see your older brothers – Daichi, Koushi, Azumane, Yuu and Ryunosuke – waiting beside Tobio.

“Sorry, everyone! I was treasure hunting and lost track of time!” You admitted, sheepishly. They didn’t have to know you went to the surface to find out what the stuff was, especially with Tobio around. He’d snitch on you to your father as soon as he could. Silly crustacean.

“Y/n, you know your father would not approve of this nonsense!” Tobio starts as you roll your eyes before Daichi intervenes, ever the peacekeeper.

“Tobio, she’s here now and only a little late. Let’s not waste any more time, okay?”

Tobio huffs, accepting it, as you mouth a ‘thank you’ to your eldest brother.

Days pass as you avoid the surface; playing along with your father’s request. . . for now. However, you find yourself itching to see Kuro’s face just once more, just to know he’s safe. At least that’s what you tell yourself. Sneaking your way around, you make your way past your father undetected and are almost free when you hear a voice.

“Sneaking out, are we?” Koushi. Why is he the one that always catches you?

“. . . Are you gonna rat me out?” You ask, tentatively.

A shake of his head, grey hair swaying with the movement. “I should. . . but won’t. You were young when mom passed but you have her spirit. Which makes them too protective over you. Go live a little. Shake your fins, dear sister. Just don’t be out too late; even if I cover for you, they’ll figure it out.”

You rush to hug him as thanks before making your way out of the castle. Which is how you were able to end up at the surface against, watching and waiting for him. Kuro. You were beginning to lose hope when you heard a distant bark. Desperate to know if it’s him again, you head toward the nice and see a ship.

Making your way but trying to remain undetected, you stick to the side of the ship, listening intently.

“Kuroo-san, how many days are you going to be out here, searching for a woman who doesn’t exist?”

“Akaashi! I’m telling you she does. A woman saved me that day and I know she’s out there. I’m gonna find her and, when I do, I’m gonna marry her.”

“He’s talking about me! He loves me back!” Your heart bursts in excitement, giant grin forming on your face before you realize and it falls. He’s a human; you’re a mermaid. And father will never give you legs to be with him.

Dejected, with Hinata at your side, you leave the area and swim to your grotto.

Once there, you stare longingly at your favorite treasure – a statue of Kuro – Kuroo? – you found a few days after his shipwreck. Ugh! It’s just not fair! Your father doesn’t understand!

Distracted by your sadness over Kuro and your anger at your father, you don’t notice the new presence until it’s looming over you, anger rolling off him in waves.

“Daddy!” You say in shock, his brown eyes staring at you with a hardness you’ve never seen before.

“Your brothers noticed you had been acting differently. Koushi said it’s cause you were in love, kid. Thought you had finally got your head on straight and moved on from the silly notions of humans.”

Trident turning a bright yellow, he says “Looking at all this junk, it appears I was wrong.” With that, the light leaves the trident, destroyed every one of your gadgets and gizmos until it gets to the statue.

Your pleas of “daddy, stop!” go ignored and, in mere minutes, what took you months to collect is destroyed. Left alone with nothing but your destroyed treasures, you don’t notice the eyes watching you, one glowing an eerie green.

“What’s wrong, little mermaid?” The Hydrophiinaeasks, moving closer to you.

“Who are you?”

“My name is Kuguri, little mermaid,” is the response given as one eye glows again. “Tell me your troubles.”

Wanting someone to listen and understand, you started at the beginning – how you first saw Kuro, how you watched him for months, how you fell in love with him and just wanted to be with him. And that’s how you ended up following Kuguri to the layer of the one you were supposed to avoid – Daishou, the sea warlock.

Seeing Daishou up close was an experience hard to describe, with his fangs showing, serpent tongue slithering out, diamond shaped eyes an enchanting shade of green, surrounding by teal scales.

Daishou slithered over to you, hovering over you as he speaks, “so the mermaid is in love with the human prince? What would you give to be with him, I wonder?”

Desperation seeps out in your answer when you shout out “Anything!”

Smirk on his face, he asks, “Then your soul? If he doesn’t love you back, that is. And your voice, too, as a little down payment for making all your dreams come true?”

Hesitant to agree, you ask, “If I agree to your terms, you’ll make me human? So I can be with Kuro?”

“Of course, my darling mermaid. All you have to do is acknowledge your acceptance on this contract here and you’ll get your chance to be by his side for as long as you desire.”

Resolved to win Kuro’s heart, you dip your thumb in ink and press it to the contract – sealing your fate, unaware of the sea warlock’s hidden agenda.

I was gonna try and fit this all in one but I didn’t want to make it too long and I didn’t want to rush it so I will be doing a part two – maybe a part three? IDK. We’ll see how it goes. Unfortunately, motivation has been scarce so I don’t have a concrete date for when.

#danie recs :)#BABE #THIS IS SO GJDSIGNBHSJA #this is so good???#i love the way you write you already knmew that #but just the way it's a well known story and somehow im still hooked?#as if i dont know whats gonna happen #idk how to explain it #i love this #everyone go check it out 100% worth it #more parts on my table NOW /j /lh #you grow more and more talented every day wtf #ldshnjikogla <3

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