Chapter Two Archive Of Our Own Link 🔗: Https://archiveofourown.org/works/63964906/chapters/164652766?view_adult=true

happy valentine's day!

I think a really underrated trope is "character gets shrunk to adorable size and hijinks ensue," and I especially want to see this used in the 2003 iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Picture this: Leonardo, either through some villain of the week, freak accident, or alien technology, gets shrunk down to roughly the size of a Barbie doll.

Donatello calls Raphael and Michelangelo into his laboratory, looking all grim and serious. The absence of their eldest brother has the younger two convinced that something horrible has happened.

Raphael: [bursts in, all worried] Donny, what the shell happened? Where's Leo?!

Michelangelo: [close on his heels, equally concerned] Yeah, where's Leo? Did something happen?

Donatello: [holding up his hands to calm them] Yes, but it’s not what you think! He’s fine. He's just... gone through a bit of a change.

Raphael: [squints] What kind of change?

Donatello: [sighs] Now, I’m going to bring him out, and you two better be on your best behavior. No laughing—this is serious.

Raphael: [crosses arms, suspicious] Serious how?

Donatello gives them a look that screams, "You'll see." He reaches under the table, carefully picks up something (or rather, someone), and gently sets Leonardo down on the table. Leonardo—now barely the height of a Barbie doll—straightens his gear and adjusts his mask, trying desperately to maintain his dignity.

Raphael: [silent, staring] ...

Michelangelo: [jaw drops] ...

Raphael: [deadpan, trying not to laugh] ...I’m not supposed to laugh, right?

Michelangelo: [slowly grins] He...is...so...AWESOME! Dude, he’s like the ultimate, super-realistic action figure! [jumps excitedly] Let me hold him! Let me hold him! Please, just for a minute!

Leonardo: [scrambles to climb up Donatello’s arm, in full panic mode] DO NOT let him hold me! DO NOT let him hold me!

Gi-hun acting like his fanon self to get that money:

Posted it on disco should I write the fic, fellow degenerates????

I'm trapped by these two

That means so much to hear from you—thank you!!

I adore merpeople AUs too, and I'm thrilled you're enjoying this one! I can’t get enough of imagining Gi-hun with his striking red hair and a deep green tail—like the same shade as the Squid Game tracksuits, which feels so poetically fitting. And oh wow, I hadn’t thought of In-ho as a Prince Eric parallel until you mentioned it, but now I can’t unsee it and I’m obsessed. It fits him so well!

Poor Gi-hun, truly. In my headcanon, he’s the child of two merfolk himself but was abandoned young—left near the ocean floor to fend for himself, hunt, survive. So like you said, he knows nothing about raising a child, specially not one with a human parent, which is completely unheard of in mer society. I imagine Gi-hun was genuinely heartbroken to leave the baby with In-ho—he just didn’t know he had a choice. No one taught him otherwise.

Because the baby is half-mer, he can breathe underwater, but Gi-hun, being used to the way merchildren are, handles him with a kind of reckless affection that would horrify a human parent. Merbabies develop fast and are tough, so Gi-hun will just casually drop him in the water or even toss him in the air and bop him gently with his tail like a dolphin playing with a ball. The baby’s completely fine (maybe even giggles), because in mer culture, that’s considered normal caregiving—for the two whole days they do keep their kids 😅

Looking ahead, I love the idea of Gi-hun eventually finding a way to gain legs so he can be with his baby and his eventual husband-slash-co-parent-slash-accidental soulmate. And once he learns how to really care for a child, he takes to it like he was made for it. He adores that baby with his whole heart—and mourns, quietly, that he never knew love like that himself. But he’s so grateful to In-ho and Jun-ho for showing him that there’s another way.

Thank you again for letting me ramble—it means the world! I’m definitely going to keep building this story out. I’ve got so many ideas!

Also, just imagine Gi-hun doing this with zero context and In-ho having a minor heart attack.

I need someone to rant to about a potential story idea for In-ho x Gi-hun inspired by fanart on Pinterest, which I have included below, so I hope you do not mind. To begin, In-ho and Jun-ho live on an island and work as police officers but do a lot of fishing together in their spare time. One time while out, they witness another fisherman heartlessly throw a kitten in a sack into the water, and when they go to rescue it and plan on going after the fisherman, a massive green tail emerges from the sack with the kitten in it, and they think it is a big fish trying to eat it, so they net it and drag it in with the sack. Only to find it is what appears to be a merman with bright red hair who takes the kitten and resuscitates it and tries to keep it away from the brothers, thinking they were planning on harming it too.

This merman cannot speak but does understand human language, having watched them from afar for so long, so they communicate and eventually become friends. In-ho names the merman Gi-hun since his actual name is a series of unreplicable screeches. Well, In-ho, Jun-ho, and Gi-hun develop a deep friendship, though In-ho and Jun-ho only get to see GI-hun a couple of months of the year since he moves based on the seasons. Well, eventually Gi-hun and In-ho catch feelings for one another, and one thing leads to another, in a cave specifically, but Gi-hun has to leave for the winter afterward. But In-ho waits patiently for him to come back.

Gi-hun comes back months later with In-ho and Jun-ho waiting for him eagerly; only he has a basket he obviously scavenged from the water, and in it, a newborn baby with human legs and dark hair. Of course, In-ho, who had no idea mermen could carry, nearly faints into the water while Jun-ho loses his mind. “You fucked a merman???” When both finally calm down and turn back to the water, they find Gi-hun gone.

Turns out merpeople are absentee parents, so they mate with other merpeople or humans and then dump their offspring on them, thinking it is like a gift. Well, next time In-ho sees Gi-hun, he patiently explains how humans are expected to raise their children together and not just dump them on one another 😂😂😂 So they learn to co-parent their half human half merperson baby with Uncle Jun-ho.

Sorry for the rant but as soon as I saw the fanart below this whole story came to me. I obviously want to finish other things first but what do you think?

please never apologize for ranting at me!!! i love it 💞🙌

i love merman aus so much!!! 💖 i'm also loving that between the green tail and the red hair, gihun is looking exactly like ariel... plus his love interest is a dark-haired charming man with a four-letter name....

i absolutely love the story!! it has a lot of potential going forward since u can expand on the fact that gihun, due to merpeople being absentee parents, would have no idea how to raise a child. nor would he have any idea on how to raise a child with humans.

since the baby is half-merperson, im assuming it can breathe underwater but imagine inho and junho's shock when gihun grabs their tiny baby and just dunks it into the water 😭

also - totally get if u haven't thought that far end - but would gihun ever, little mermaid style, make a deal with a witch and get legs so that he can walk with inho, junho and their baby?

AND OMG I LOVE THAT GIHUN LOVES CATS IN EVERY UNIVERSE!!! HE SAID CAT PERSON 4 LIFE 😩🙏🤧

Squid Game Incorrect Quotes 〇△□

[Gi-hun storms into the room, clearly agitated.]

Gi-hun: Kids. Bed. Now. I want to talk to your father.

In-ho: No! Kids, stay! Please, stay!

Gi-hun: Go!

In-ho: Stay!

Gi-hun: Go!

In-ho: Stay!

Gi-hun: You go!

In-ho: Dae-ho, stay!

Gi-hun: Now!

In-ho: Jun-hee, don’t move!

Gi-hun: You go!

In-ho: Jung-bae, stay!

Gi-hun: Get out of here!

In-ho: Don’t leave me!

Gi-hun: You get out of here!

Squid Game Incorrect Quotes 〇△□

[How I expect Gi-hun reacted after learning that "Young-il" or In-ho is the Front Man.]

Gi-hun: Would you like some coffee?

Front Man (In-ho): I’d love some.

[Gi-hun hurls the coffee pot at him.]

Front Man: …I prefer mine in a cup.

[Gi-hun chucks a mug next.]

Front Man: No cream?

[Gi-hun lobs a creamer container at his head.]

Front Man [dodging]: Maybe a little sugar—

[Gi-hun, with deadpan intensity, launches the entire sugar bowl at him.]

I love him so much...( (inho too)

This is absolutely stunning, and I’m beyond honored that my fanfiction inspired this! Seeing one of my favorite quotes, “Must I always suffer in your place,” woven into the background makes it even more heartbreakingly gorgeous. Thank you for bringing this to life so beautifully!

Do you love having your heart broken? Then you might enjoy the fic "Sometimes Dead is Better" by @bangs-coffee-fandoms-unite as much as I did! I had to draw some two AM fanart for it so it wouldn't haunt me (Just kidding, it's still going to haunt me :'D) Seriously, though, it's so gut-wrenchingly good. Go check it out!