Third person pov

Turns out, Aizawa didn't have to worry about Atlantis hating him over Uno. The merman won every time. Shota was still trying to figure out how, but it was to no avail. The mythical creature didn't seem to understand the concept of cheating, and was far too cheerful for him to suspect any foul play either way. The merman was untouched and untainted by the horrors of the human world. He was like a ray of sunshine in a world Aizawa had grown to view in a shaded light. It made Aizawa's perspective shift. He realized that, maybe, this world wasn't as bad as it seemed. There was good in it. 

"Just wait here." Atlantis looked excited, his blue-ish green eyes swirling with anticipation. Aizawa had taken another week off to spend more time with Atlantis, successfully scaring Mic and Midnight so bad they came to his apartment again. That time, he was dressed in something not so colorful, though he beard remained as evidence that they hadn't hallucinated the sight of him walking down the hall in vibrant beach wear. Aizawa insisted he was fine and not having a crisis of any kind. He could tell they didn't believe him.

"Alright, alright. Are you going to tell me what it is?" Aizawa snorted, observing his tailed friend. It felt easy to care about Atlantis. With Hizashi and Nemuri, he was begrudging. Here with Atlantis, things felt freer. Natural things came smoother, and felt more right. Maybe it was due to Atlantis' lack of judgement. Aizawa could stare for hours upon hours at him, and the merman wouldn't say a word. No weirded-out looks or flat glanced that conveyed a clear message: stop. He was simply fine with anything and everything. Which was actually mildly concerning, but... nice.

Atlantis had an amazing tail. In general, he was flawless, but that was besides the point. His scales reflected beautifully in the water when he twisted and swam just beneath the waves. The human part of his body was lean but strong, and his hair was impossibly soft. His bone structure made him look exotic, like a water nymph. He'd never seen anyone quite like him. His skin, too, was different. At least compared to Aizawa's it was. Shota had never really touched anyone else. With Atlantis, it was easy to lie on the deck and bathe in the sun, with their arms pressed against one anothers.

"I'm going to get it right now! I'll only be... three of your minutes." Atlantis' voice had the undertone of a whine, but he was smiling brightly. He was getting better at the concept of how humans told time, which made Aizawa smile all the more. "I'll be back!"

Aizawa found himself grinning as Atlantis ducked under the water. The merman darted for the entrance of the cove they were in. His heart was thundering in his chest as his tail beat against the waves. He hadn't realized how amazing it was to have a friend before now. Sure, he remembered those from his pod, but this felt different. Everytime Shota came to visit him, he'd find himself smiling until his cheeks hurt. And when Aizawa smiled, his heart would soar. He'd never felt like this before! It was exciting, and new. It made him giddy, and he never wanted it to end.

The group of chattering dolphins only got louder as he approached. They were a flock he'd swam with before in the past, and they always made an effort to shift their course about so they'd run into him, if they heard rumors about his location from other sea life. The ocean was a massive place, but that didn't mean Atlantis didn't have some friends. Shota was just a... special friend, that was all. They weren't quite the same species, but they were close enough for it to matter.

"Come on, you guys. He says he's never seen a dolphin up close before." Atlantis spoke in a rushed, exuberant tone. The pod of dolphins stirred happily, grateful to see their friend, a child of the sea, so happy. Merfolk were to be treasured by all the life in the ocean. Merfolk were the ocean's very essence in a living, breathing form. They did not just live within it. They were everything the sea had been, was, and was going to be. They were aquatic miracles. It was an honor to be addressed by him as though they were somehow equals, or on the same level.

Atlantis rocketed back towards where Shota was curiously waiting, the dolphins following in a perfectly straight line. Atlantis spun in the water like a torpedo, shooting upwards with immense strength. As he broke the surface of the water, he briefly saw Aizawa's stunned face as he flipped in the air, diving back beneath the soft waves with practiced ease. It was an extraordinary sight to see. Aizawa felt awe well up in his chest, and his breath left him when he realized that wasn't all that was in store.

Dolphins. Aizawa loved Dolphins. Though he'd never been presented the chance to view one up close, he'd always found the intelligent marine animals to be utterly fascinating. And now here they were, leaping out of the water in tandem. They rose in impressive arches, their tails kicking them from the water. Some spun, while others flipped like Atlantis had, creating disturbances in the water when they came crashing back down. Shota couldn't pry his eyes away as they happily leapt around, chortling to one another merrily. Atlantis leapt out again, twisting around a large dolphin mid air. Atlantis laughed as the creature let out a delighted cry in response to the stunt.

Shota's heart swelled. He wasn't sure he'd seen a more staggering sight before in his entire life. It wasn't organized. It was chaotic, but in a fun way that brought a smile to his face. His eyes dropped momentarily as Atlantis's shadowy form approached beneath the waves, his head breaking the water. He had a breathtaking grin on his face, looking winded form his acrobatics. A few dolphins halted in their air show to swim up as well, their heads bobbing out of the water like excited children gathering around to see something amazing.

"Holy... shit." Was all Shota managed to say, staring down at Atlantis with wide eyes. The dolphins all erupted into what seemed almost like laughter, and Atlantis' grin got wider. He brought up both his hands out of the water, holding them out to Aizawa. An offer. The dolphins all chittered encouragingly, and he got the sense that they understood. The memory of Atlantis telling him he could communicate with most all sea life came flooding back, and Shota found himself smiling. 

He took Atlantis' hands with his own rough ones, and let himself be pulled into the water.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hizashi and Nemuri adored Aizawa. He was a grumpy asshole who didn't get enough sleep, but he was their grumpy asshole who didn't get enough sleep, dammit! That's why they were staked out in the lobby of his apartment building. The owner had rolled their eyes at them, but allowed them to stay in their dollar-store disguises. They sat next to each other, waiting for the moment Aizawa would stumble through the door. Would he have someone with them? Would he be drunk? Crying? On drugs? All of the above, perhaps? They had no idea, but they were determined to get to the bottom of this.

They'd followed him once before. Or they'd tried to, anyway. Shota had recognized that he was being tailed almost immediately. Being an underground hero and all, that wasn't surprising. He lost Mic and Midnight both in a matter of moments, taking a few sharp turns through a complicated channel of alleyways his two fellow pros got lost in almost immediately. 

"Do you think he's dead? It's late." Midnight noted, checking the time on her phone. Her battery was dwindling. She would've brought a charger had she thought she'd be gone so long. It was starting to get late, and it was weird that he'd be out so long. They'd asked the manager of the apartment only to find out Aizawa had left early that morning, and hadn't been back since. Apparently he was doing that everyday. 

The behavior was reasonably concerning. Shota had always been fairly anti-social. No matter how many times they asked if he was okay, what he was up to, or if he needed anything, he'd always just blandly brush them off as though they hadn't spoken to begin with. It was driving them nuts! They had no idea what was going on with their friend. Before, Aizawa had been dedicated to his routine. Now, he seemed to be all over the place.

Hizashi elbowed her lightly when the doors to the complex opened, bringing an air of warm air rushing in briefly before they closed again. Nemuri's eyes went wide, and Hizashi tensed next to her as Aizawa rushed in. He was without shoes, his entire body drenched. His hair, in some sort of braid that got messed up somewhere along the way, was dripping wet. His shirt had odd patches where water had soaked through, and he was tracking in sand. In one of his arms was half of a coconut, and piled in it was an abundance of seashells, rusty necklaces, small pieces of what seemed to be petrified wood, and such of that like. In the other hand was the camera Mic had gotten him several years ago for Christmas. The one he said he'd surely never use.

They would've said something, but they were too surprised by the bright expression on his face to speak up.

Shota didn't even noticed them as he threw the door to the stairwell open and disappeared in. Mic and Midnight both stared with wide eyes, wondering if they'd really just seen him smiling. They turned to each other, as though to silently ask if the other had seen that too.

Aizawa felt breathless from sprinting home, the smile on his face seemingly endless. He set the makeshift bowl fashioned out of an old coconut on side table by his door, along with the camera. The dolphins and Atlantis had brought him in to swim, making him feel almost like he had a tail too. Atlantis had braided his hair, incorporating bits of colorful underwater plants the pod of dolphins had retrieved. They'd also brought him a great deal of what they considered to be underwater treasures. Aizawa would add them to his box later.

He rushed to get another towel along with his sleeping bag, already heading back towards the door. He felt light. Like he was young again, and full of life. There was no weight on his shoulders holding him down. He was living in a fantasy. Atlantis made his heart soar, and the dolphins had taken a quick liking to him. There were eleven of them, and he'd memorized all their names. Atlantis had helped him figure out differences between them, and Aizawa had never felt so connected to anyone or anything before. He knew he had Mic and Nemuri, but that didn't mean he hadn't felt lonely before. Empty.

He didn't feel any of that. He felt wanted, and fulfilled. He couldn't imagine going back to his life before.

Shota took the stairs two at a time, bursting back out of the stairwell with bright eyes. Atlantis was waiting for him, as were Haf, Bay, Meri, Marina, Anthia, Zale, Cod, Diondra, Clarion, Pebbles, and the baby of the pod, Fraser. God, he was friends with Dolphins. Real, actual dolphins, and a merman! A merman with an amazing tail and dazzling smile, and soft, sweet personality that made his chest warm and his heart thump erratically. 

He thought he saw Hiashi and Nemuri sitting there as he shot out the complex, but ignored it. He felt a little guilty. He needed to spend more time with them, he knew. He wasn't being a good friend by ghosting them so often. They asked him out for drinks, and he always refused. Talking to Atlantis had given him some perspective. If Atlantis were to ever treat him the way Shota was treating his two friends, he'd feel horrible. He didn't want Mic and Midnight to feel horrible. They'd done more for him than he'd ever admit.

Atlantis was playing with the dolphins when they got here. They were playing an underwater version of duck-duck-goose that sent them rushing around in a circle. He could only smile, allowing himself to catch his breath as he dropped his sleeping bag on the slightly-damp deck. He was glad he'd invested in a bag of this quality. The outside was water-proof, meaning he didn't have to worry about moisture soaking into it. He set his fresh towel down on top of it, moving to sit at his usual spot at the very end of the peer. Atlantis noticed his return, and broke away from the circle to come greet him.

"You're really going to sleep here?" Atlantis asked excitedly. The sun was beginning to set, and the stars were just starting to show themselves. Atlantis knew a lot about constellations. There were even some he listed that Shota didn't recognize, but they were ocean related, so he had to assume the merfolk had discovered them themselves. He wanted desperately to show them to Aizawa, and Shota certainly wouldn't be protesting.

"Yeah, of course." Shota chuckled, helping his mer-friend up onto the deck to sit. "It's a nice night, and I always feel bad leaving you here."

"The pod is staying for the night, and the local fish keep me company." Atlantis smiled at him. The merman thought back to his life before. He hadn't smiled this much in a long time. It felt like he'd finally found a home. The pressure that came with wandering aimlessly vanished, and left him without fear. "But I'm glad you're here. I wish I could sleep up on the deck with you, but I don't know what would happen if I tried staying out of the water that long."

Shota ignored the way his heart fluttered when Atlantis proclaimed he wished he could sleep up next to him, and instead gave a small smile. 

"Well, either way, I'm glad I'm here too." Shota said. Atlantis felt his chest tighten in a good way. "My life... I almost can't remember what it felt like before I met you. I'm glad you didn't swim away, that day."

Atlantis beamed blindingly back. Shota wondered if this was what it was like to be in love.