A Mess of Magic and Mates

Chapter 5

Oikawa breathed in then out slowly, and drew a teleportation sigil slowly, thinking about Atsumu. He closed his eyes and materialised there, standing on the boat. He listened for anyone, and could hear noises coming from below deck.

He watched, arms crossed as Atsumu hoisted himself over the edge, along with his brother, and flopped onto the deck. "I don't know why the fuck we have to- oh, hey Tooru."

"Kawa?!" Tsumu jumped with shock, and Osamu looked on unperturbed, knowing the mage through Akaashi, they'd hung out before. Atsumu's tail was gold with streaks of white, and his two-toned hair glittered, his ears morphed and white as well. Oikawa slid down and put his hand over Atsumu's mouth, listening to see if whatever human was downstairs was still busy. The sound had stopped, and Oikawa held his finger to Atsumu's lips, before leaving him with his brother who had the good sense to remain silent anyway.

Atsumu didn't look capable of sound anyways, Oikawa had him more flustered than he could handle. "Fuck, those eyes, and that look..." He whispered. Osamu raised a silent eyebrow, brushing seaweed and grime from the side of the boat off his dark blue scales.

Oikawa walked towards the front of the ship, the mer's watching in the distance. They would be recording this, for sure. Their mates seeing through their minds, the rest of the school through the mage-web which had been created as a substitute, and each student had special little cameras and magic proof devices that they used to access the website.

He could practically feel them boring into his back as Oikawa reached the stairs leading down into the small quarters of the boat. The staircase was small and rounded, so he crept down, sigils ready. He peeked around the corner, and saw two older men, maybe 45, dressing in wetsuits.

He looked around, and saw spearfishing guns, along with a picture of a large fish tail, which looked suspiciously like Suga's.

He estimated another two minutes before the men would come above deck, so he slid back up the stairs, and signed to Atsumu the words for spear, gun and danger. Osamu raised an eyebrow and pushed his brother into the water, making a splash Oikawa could only hope would be drowned out by the sound of sea birds.

He looked questiongly at Oikawa, and the mage only smiled, he shrugged his shoulders, and whispered, "Someone's gotta make sure they dont come back, right?"

Osamu smiled, nodding at his friend. "Be careful."

Footsteps and voices coming up the stairs. "Just make sure everyone videoing gets a good angle."

He pushed Osamu into the water, and lay on the floor, using the most simple of spells to dye a part of his shirt red, and ripped some of it off to wrap around his chest, dyeing that too. He slumped and the men paused, before rushing out, harpoons at the ready. They saw Oikawa, and dropped their weapons, running over.

"Hey son, you okay? Can you hear me?" They opened up his shirt, popping some buttons. Oikawa mentally promised to bring Sakusa another one later. Oikawa groaned, grabbing one of their hands. "There's a shark in these water's men, big and ugly. It lives over in those caves by the shore. Did me and my mates pretty bad, swam away and got harpooned. Go back. It's the safer option."

The men shared a glance. "A shark that bad would've done something worse than a chest bite, and your bleeding would have been much more severe." Oikawa's eyes widened as the man on the right looked at him suspiciously.

Oikawa stood up and brushed himself off. "Damn you've got a good eye. You've got me. Didn't get bit by a shark, but uh, there are still dangerous things here." He drew a transparency sigil behind his back as the men watched, slowly backing up to their weapons.

"They got me, you know." He walked towards them, and one man went to push him away, but his hand passed straight through. "These waters are cursed." His voice became haunting and faded as he said it, and the men's look of horror was enough to please Oikawa. He traced an illusion sigil on his thumb, and opened his shirt, to reveal a set of claw marks.

"I'd run if I were you."

The men panicked, running to the front of the boat, hands trembling. Oikawa took the opportunity to instill a deep fear of this place into their minds, and unwillingness to be here or talk of it, to protect others from the water with the ghost. He sighed, feeling a little tired and cranky as the men's engine started to roar.

He stepped off the back of the boat, and let himself sink in the cold water as he watched their bubbles dissipate. Of course he could activate the sigils, but for the moment he needed the crushing silence The mers would stay away for a little, waiting for the humans to fully leave.

The need for air started to crush his lungs, he didn't notice it at first. His mind and body had a tendency to separate, his head ignoring the pains outside of his own thoughts. He sighed and let sigils wrap around his neck but nowhere else, so he could breathe at least.

In this short time, he has interacted with all his mates, and what scares him is not that he doesn't like them, but that he does. A lot. His anger from this morning is gone, and in its place is a crushing affection he didn't think he had in him. It was scary, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it.

He needed them out of his head, to give him time to think. Oikawa often had these dark little moments, where he distanced himself, sat in silence for ages letting his thoughts fill him up instead of human interaction. He cherished these alone times, people often thought they were him being selfish, ignoring others, or it was him being lazy, choosing to stay inside with his mind rather than out with people.

It was this instant judgment of his poor character that he feared, the mean and sour moods, the crushing uncontrollable anger that surfaced when provoked. When all his happiness fell away and the ugly insides were revealed, who would run? Who would stay?

When he finally cracked under the weight of his life, who would the shards strike first?

These thoughts hounded him as his back hit the soft sand, and he recoiled from the slimy touch of seaweed entangling his legs. He saw mer above him, swimming and looking for him. He let his finger glow with magic, the tip white as he concentrated its force there. He grabbed a rock, wrote a simple inscription with the tip of his finger.

Gone home, don't worry, won't be back anytime soon.

He flicked it and watched as it sailed through the water, breaching it momentarily. Most would think that the inscription meant the fisherman wouldn't be back soon, but it was quite the opposite. It was in fact Oikawa who would be gone for some time. 

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There may only be one more part to this, and then I will start writing/publishing my next request. Though I have written more for this. If you want I can keep publishing for this story and expand it to include more character's and ships like Bokuakakuroken and Tsukkiyamakagehina. More mainstream ships as well like Daisuga, Osasuna, whatever y'all want.