Two Tails, One Pair of Legs

The Troubles of Department 1A

He was barely in the door, work bag in hand, uniform on, when Uraraka Ochako called out to him from the 1A department.

"Todoroki!" She waved, "Mr. Aizawa is waiting in the breakroom with Shinsou, he needs to talk to you both!"

He nodded, "I'll just drop Kirishima off then before I head back."

The 1A department was the mer center of the Unique Aquatics (U.A.) Aquarium. U.A. was one of the few aquariums that handled mer rescue, rehabilitation, and adoption. 

Everyone who worked in the 1A department was assigned a mer to take care of, and more often then not, they would end up adopting them. That's how Todoroki Shoto came to have Kirishima Eijirou, a red a black shark mer who was. It took a while for Kirishima to open up, but when he did, he became the happiest and most friendly of all the mers in 1A.

In fact, even now, as Todoroki walked towards the residents' tank, Kirishima was swimming in circles, chirping and squeaking up a storm in his travel tank.

"I'll be back in just a bit, have fun." Todoroki placed the travel tank next to the residents' tank and Kirishima took the chance to leap into it to join his friends.

Most of the U.A. staff were marine life students. Their jobs at U.A. doubled as real-life experience. Department 1A was the most sought-after class to join, seeing as they were the only class who got to go on rescues and work with the mers so closely.

Todoroki and Kirishima lived in a modified off-campus apartment. Most of 1A lived in the on-campus dorms, seeing as they had a travel canals for the mers and tanks in their rooms. However, those dorms were currently being upgraded, leaving a few of 1A to live outside of the dorms for the time being. 

Opening the door to the break room, Todoroki was met with his teacher and manager, Aizawa Shouta, and his classmate and co-worker, Shinsou Hitoshi.

Mr. Aizawa looked up from his clipboard, "Good, you're here."

"Listen up you two, we just got in two new rescues this morning. We've put them both in the main tank, but they've been causing nothing but trouble. I'm assigning one to each of you, seeing as you've handled your mers well enough. Shinsou, you're taking Midoriya Izuku. Todoroki, you'll be taking Bakugou Katsuki. Now do us all a favor and go get them out of the main tank, they're scaring the other mers."

Shinsou and Todoroki looked at each other before grabbing their gear and heading to the main tank.

"So, he's having you two take them? You might want to change into your swimwear, no ones been able to get close to them and they've taken to hiding one of the logs at the bottom," Yaoyorozu Momo said.

"I went in last time, so it's your turn," Shinsou turned to Todoroki. "I'll keep an eye on them so you're not fumbling around in there when you get back."

Todoroki nodded and went back to change and grab his gear.

"Well, you two have fun with that," Yaoyorozu said, grabbing her travel tank, "Shift is officially yours."

Her mer, Jirou Kyouka went into it. Yaoyorozu stepped to the side to make room for Uraraka so she could get her mer, Asui Tsuyu.

"Yeah, those two have been fighting all morning! The orange one, Bakugou keeps swimming away from the green one, Midoriya, but Midoriya keeps following him and when Bakugou gets angry at him he attacks! It's been terrifying the other mers..."

"And yet they keep hiding together every time someone tries to get them out of there. It's getting on everybody's nerves. Oh, Todoroki you're back. Well, have fun boys, we're out."

The two girls and their mers left.

The boys turned to the main tank.

The main tank wasn't too deep. It had a shallow end and a deeper end, with thick concrete walls that had a few windows in it. It was a petting pool really, designed for kids to be able to play with the mers. Comparatively, the residents' tank was a standard glass walled tank with toys and hiding places inside, as well as a small dock and heat lamp.

"Last I saw, they were in that log over there," Shinsou pointed to a log on the right of the tank, not quite in the deep end, but definitely not in the shallow end.. It was a good thing that it was Sunday and the aquarium was closed or catching these two would be even harder.

Todoroki nodded and stepped into the tank, being careful where he set his swim shoe covered feet. A few mers came up, wanting to play and grabbing at his legs.

"You'll need to distract them while I try to get the other two. Be ready with the travel tank when I come up." He put his regulator in his mouth.

Shinsou nodded, grabbing the travel tank and a small handful of treats. He tossed the treats a bit away from Todoroki and the mers darted to them. 

Taking the chance, Todoroki swam to the log and quickly reached in. He yanked hard, pulling out the angry orange and black mer. The mer thrashed about as Todoroki wrapped his arms around the mers middle. He knew if he fell, then it was game over, he'd lose the mer and probably have to sedate them instead. He let the regulator fall out of his mouth.

"The tank, quick." Todoroki backed himself up to the concrete wall. The mer growling, hissing, and trying to scratch and hit him. He turned, letting Shinsou grab the mers tail. Together they hauled Bakugou out of the main tank and into his own tank, shutting the lid quickly when he tried to lunge at them.

Midoriya, it turns out, had followed Todoroki and Bakugou out, and was poking his head out of the water behind him.

"You want to go with him?" Todoroki asked. Midoriya nodded and came closer. Shinsou brought over the other travel tank and they got Midoriya into it with ease.

The orange mer made even more of a fuss, yelling, growling, and banging the side of the travel tank. Midoriya tried to waved to him, but Bakugou just hissed right at him.

"Yeesh, I can see why these two were giving everyone problems. You sure you can handle this one? Better question, is Kirishima gonna be ok with him?"

Todoroki frowned as he watched the mers.

"I'll just keep him in a sectioned off tank for a bit, let them get used to each other with a barrier before I trust him enough to let him near Eijirou." He paused.

"We can probably put Midoriya in with the other residents, but we should keep Bakugou in the travel tank. We can put the travel tank into the residents' tank."

Shinsou nods, "Your mer, your rules."

They walk to the resident's tank. Shinsou helps Midoriya into the tank.

Both mers looked exhausted. Midoriya was content enough to let himself drift down to the bottom of the tank, Bakugou huffed angrily in the travel tank.

Todoroki and Shinsou hooked the travel tank up and lifted it into the residents' tank, locking it in place at the bottom. Midoriya swam up to the tank and sat down beside it. The other mers came up to the two new mers to greet them, but most backed off when Bakugou started growling again.

The boys looked to each other.

"We should probably let everyone chill out for a bit. We can do proper introductions later." Shinsou says, watching his mer, Kaminari Denki swim up to the two mers with Kirishima. Todoroki nods and they both head back to the edge of the main pool to play with the mers there where they can keep an eye on the residents' tank.

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