alternate universe - merpeople

When Garth asked Jason what phrases he wanted translated, the mer hunched down in the water and blew furious bubbles before huffing, “No.” Garth frowned. You already know how to say that. What other things do you need to be able to say to Bruce and Alfred? Of the speech, Bruce recognized his name and maybe Alfred’s. It made it feel like something was clawing inside his chest, knowing that he couldn’t communicate properly with this child living in his pool. Jason curled his lip back. I know human words. You really don’t. --- Or: Mer Jason's recovery from trafficking.

Jonathan Sims is a merperson who has always lived below the waves. One day, however, he steals away and ventures to the surface in search of someone he lost. On newfound legs, his search takes him to The Magnus Institute — the foremost academic institution researching crypto-zoology and crypto-marine biology, headed by the enigmatic Elias Bouchard. With his new position as Head Archivist, Jon is in the perfect place to continue his search. Hiding his secret identity as merfolk should no problem, either. After all, it's not like he wants to be friends, much less more-than-friends with the humans. And surely none of them are hiding secrets of their own. Right? ... In other words: It's a selkie and merfolk AU! Jon is merfolk, and goes to the surface in search of a long-lost friend. He takes a job at the Magnus Institute as part of his search, and soon finds himself embroiled in all kinds of drama — including, but not limited to, falling in love. Updates Weekends.

Jason has figured out that there are two groups of people: the "Heys" who keep him in a bathtub with too little water and subject him to unimaginable pain every time they pry scales from his body and the "Assholes" who buy the scales. So when he's taken from the Heys by some Asshole, he's not stupid enough to assume his situation will actually improve at all. All humans, after all, are terrible--especially Assholes who wear demon skin and don't quite grasp how lost Jason really is. (In which Jason misunderstands pretty much everything about humans and Bruce is an asshole...in the nicest way possible.)

After a meteor strikes the Earth and a large chunk of the population gets wiped out, the remaining humans undergo rapid evolution in order to survive rising sea levels and much harsher temperatures. Decades later, the daycare attendant wakes up from an emergency shutdown. Desperate to navigate the new world and find a sense of purpose after everything they've ever known was ripped away from them, Sun and Moon eventually stumble upon one of these evolved humans. You. A mer on land and very far from home. With no way of understanding each other, the three of you now have to work together to survive.