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 😩🙏🤧
Thank you so much for responding! I would definitely recommend the movie is science fiction horror is your thing! The unintended bonus for the movie for me is definitely Ripley and Hicks, hence why I could not help imagining Gi-hun and In-ho as them. Not to mention Gi-hun is so final girl-coded—survivor’s guilt and all✨
Also, I loved your description of the scene. It actually made me blush 😊 🫣 Now, I definitely want to write this! Thank you again!
Hey! I don’t know if you have ever seen the film Aliens, which, full disclosure, is science fiction horror. Quick summary if you have not seen it: Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of an alien attack on her ship, agrees to return to the site where her now-dead crew first encountered the alien creatures with a unit of Colonial Marines with Corporal Dwayne Hicks to investigate.
Anyway, I want to write Gi-hun as Ripley and In-ho as Hicks so bad solely because of the chemistry they have through the film being so protective of one another. But mainly because of the scene below where Hicks shows Ripley how to fire a pulse rifle to defend herself:
Seeing In-ho show Gi-hun how to fire a gun would be so 🫣 🫣 🫣
hi!! 💖
i've never seen it unfortunatley but i hear it's an amazing movie!!
omg, can u imagine inho behind gihun kinda realizing that with their height difference he can't quite get his arms around gihun, so he presses up against his back, their bodies touching from shoulders to hips. he hooks his chin over gihun's shoulder and uses his hands to bend gihun's arms this way and that, speaking soft instructions the entire time. gihun is tense, trying to concentrate on what inho is saying but his body is firm as it presses against gihun's own, and his hands are warm and calloused, and every time he turns his head his breath ghosts over gihun's neck and makes goosebumps erupt all over his skin. when gihun finally gets a good grip, inho's hand leave his arms and trail down, fitting themselves over gihun's trim waist, thumb brushing soft circles over his shirt. he tells gihun to relax and to always remember that inho will be there every step of the way. gihun almost presses his finger against the trigger and, in a moment of weakness, leans back against inho's body, feeling those fingers tighten on his waist and flex, almost as if inho wants to press them against one another even harder.
Leo and Raph have a beautiful relationship. I been so obsessed with them lately
Raph: I would die for you Leo
Leo: please don’t
Raph:
Leo: what?
Raph: you know what
Hi, sorry for the lateish response! I’ve been obsessed with their relationship ever since I first watched the various iterations as a kid, but there’s something about the 2003 series that really stands out. I feel like their dynamic was written so well because their conflicts never felt unnecessary or forced, like they sometimes do in other versions. Even when they argued, their love for each other was always so evident.
And yes, absolutely—Raphael is always ready to throw himself into danger for Leonardo, and all Leonardo wants is for him to stop doing that (even though he’d do the exact same thing for him in a heartbeat) Their bond is just so compelling. Thank you again for the ask!
Front Man | In-ho: Join me, Gi-hun! You feel it too—I know you do!
Gi-hun: Never! My heart belongs to Young-il, and you murdered him in cold blood!
[Later]
Front Man | In-ho [dramatically collapsing onto a velvet couch in his office]: I GOT REJECTED… BECAUSE OF MY OWN ALTER EGO.
Masked Officer: [awkwardly patting his shoulder] There, there…
I really feel like Leonardo from the 2003 iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, especially during his Christian Bale Batman era, was the most likely to do this diabolical double-knee drop to an unsuspecting Purple Dragon or Foot Clan member:
Mainly because Leonardo was known the most, especially in this iteration, for making the most cunty yet graceful moves in combat.
And now I desperately need fan-art and head-canons of this.
As Halloween creeps closer—yes, I know it's over two months away, but who's counting?—let's have some fun! Here are the 2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in as the best Salem moments from Sabrina the Teenage Witch:
Leonardo:
Raphael:
Donatello:
Michelangelo:
Plus, people always forget that one of his greatest strengths is his resourcefulness, like in the dalgona game. And in the final game his move with the sand, which is always 🤌💋 Chef’s kiss to me.
sometimes i see people saying that gihun has no physical prowess and wouldn't hold his own in a fight. and yeah i agree up to a point.
gihun has no training, that's true. but he fights dirty.
i think we all collectively forgot that gihun bit a chunk out of sangwoo's ankle during their fight.
he didn't just bite him, he bit through him. he literally spits out a piece of sangwoo's skin like 😭
AND he got stabbed three times and kicked in the face and strangled, and still he literally pulled the knife out of his own hand to use it against sangwoo.
that doctor pulled his tooth out with no anesthesia, and gihun cut out a tracker out of the back of his ear.... that's an insane pain threshold 😭
yes, inho would ultimately kick his ass with his cop training but gihun looks like the type to dig his thumbs into someone's eyes if he's cornered and scared.
Chapter Six (Final Chapter) Archive of Our Own Link 🔗: https://archiveofourown.org/works/62894770/chapters/163991815?view_adult=true
thought this was funny LMAOO
To whoever sent this, I opened it Christmas morning expecting the usual nonsensical spam Ask and instead found what is probably the sweetest and most encouraging Ask I have ever received. As someone who just writes in their free time around work and college, I suppose I do not think of myself as contributing much, but seeing messages and comments like this really makes my day and this holiday season! And I am working on the fourth and final chapter! I really hope you like it! I hope I have it out by the end of this week! Happy Holidays, and thank you!
Dear @bangs-coffee-fandoms-unite ,
'Sometimes Dead is Better' is absolutely incredible. I found it before going to bed one night when I was looking for a fic to read in the morning, but it was SO GOOD that I stayed up late reading it, oops! You have such a good grasp on who the 03 turtles really are, I could vividly see them in all their glory. The sibling banter during the opening fight was on point, peak 03 brother behaviour, I loved it so much! It was such a contrast to the rest of the chapter (and rest of the fic lol), it was jarring to see the switch from lighthearted fun to total devastation. I knew it was coming and I was still caught off guard with how raw and desperate the emotions were. Media doesn't often make me cry, but this one made me have to set my phone down for a moment and blink tears away. That is a huge feat and is a sign of a masterpiece, tbh. When I saw the last update went from 3 chapters to 4, I got so excited, I am SO eager to see the conclusion to this fic!!
Have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays!!
@bangs-coffee-fandoms-unite
Christmas Kindness Event Post
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