Just A Myth | Shota Aizawa

Chapter 10

Third person pov

The moment Shota was gone and off to work, Atlantis found himself scrambling out of the water and slipping the necklace over his head. There was no hesitance this time. Last night, he'd talked to Aizawa a lot. Atlantis had found himself asking whether or not Shota would want him if he had legs and could walk around like him. It was a small fear he had, but it had been quickly put to rest. Shota had snorted at him like it was a dumb query to make, telling him there's no one else in the world he'd ever want. He talked about all the things they'd do, and all the places they'd go. It made Atlantis feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside. He had no idea what a cat was, but he also wanted to get one with Shota from 'The Shelter'.

Shota always kept a spare bag of clothing tucked away nearby. Atlantis found himself fumbling his way over to it, almost falling over several times along the way. His legs shook precariously as he dropped to his... knees? Yes, as he dropped to his knees in front of the bag. If he was going to be walking around the beach, it was probably best to do it with clothes on. Shota always wore clothes, only shedding his shirt when he wanted to hop into the water. Other than that, he always had some sort of bottoms on. The few others humans he'd seen from a distance had also been clothed. It made sense that he would be too.

He managed to wrangle one of Shota's jackets on. He'd been fascinated by the zipper when Shota first showed it to him, but now he was just frustrated. How did you get one side to connect to the other? Shota had always made it look so easy, but fumbling with it now, he had no idea where to start. He was pretty sure it started at the bottom, then slid up. How complicated. Maybe he could simply leave it unzipped, for the time being? Bottoms seemed to be what mattered most here.

He found a pair of black swim trunks buried inside the bag. His life flashed before his very eyes when he tried to put one leg in the hole, and he found himself tipping backwards and right into the sand. His eyes must've been as wide a sand dollars as he laid there, just breathing and staring up at the sky. It was a painfully nice day. The perfect day to learn how to walk. If only he could get his legs into these foolish openings. Shota's waist was wider than his: far more bulky and muscled. He'd have to pull the odd string things to make it tighter.

Having legs was weird. He could feel that they were a natural extension of himself despite never having them before. His mind and the rest of his body was accepting of them. They just... didn't know how to operate the things. They were lighter than the tail that was usually there. He could move them, but the pair wanted to move as one, like his tail did. Legs were supposed to operate separately. Like arms, but... not. He didn't really know. All he knew was that he was struggling. Struggling, but... excited. 

It was easier to get the bottoms on while he wasn't standing. Atlantis brushed as much sand as he could off his body, nose crinkling. He supposed he could wash it off in the water, but it didn't matter to him much. He literally slept in a pit of the stuff. On the surface, it didn't feel as soft. The individual grains were rough, and were getting into places Atlantis didn't even know existed. Oh well. If Shota dealt with it, Atlantis could too! 

He managed to tighten the two strings and tie them, securing the swim trunks and leaving him awkwardly standing there and wondering where to start. He'd always been somewhat awed with Shota's legs, so it's not like he'd never seen the way they moved before. The sea seemed to snicker at him as he tried to balance there in place, feet planted hard in the sand and arms outstretched. It was amused. He could not blame it. 

If he was on land, did that mean other mermen and women were as well? The thought made his heart soar. Maybe they weren't extinct at all! They could easily hide out amongst humanity, with their supernatural abilities passing as these 'quirks' most humans were said to have. Even now in his human form, Atlantis could still feel his magic teeming beneath his skin just as it always had. That was not gone. But it wasn't a quirk either. Shota would've been able to erase it otherwise.