Chapter Text
Kirishima swam through the water at a fast speed. His tail was pushing him forward, ahead of those who were chasing him. He glanced back at them and threw a big, sharp tooth smile in their direction. He heard their laughs travel through the water and couldn’t help but laugh as well. He was having fun. He wasn’t wearing his royal gems for once. He had left those at home. He didn’t have anything covering his chest, so it was bare for all to see. His father would kill him if he ever found out. His tail was without its royal crystals, which Kirishima preferred since it made swimming easier. His tail was already bright and caught people’s attention without all the fancy jewels anyway. It was a bright fire red and if it was caught in the right lighting, you could see oranges and yellows.
Kirishima swam up towards the surface before diving down and disturbing the sand that lay at the bottom. The sand floated in the water, and created a type of smoke screen, covering him from his pursuers. Kirishima snickered to himself as he hid in some bright coloured coral.
He peaked out to try and see if they saw him hide.
“Ei! That’s totally cheating!” A mermaid with a pink skin called into the open ocean. She had a pink tail and was swimming around in circles above the floating sand. She had all kinds of jewellery on, and she had a few seashells resting in their pink hair. Her only type of proper clothing would be the shells covering her chest, which is all she ever agrees to wearing. Kirishima would bet that if she could, she’d paint the shells pink. “We were so close to catching him too!”
A bright yellow fish swam around her, and it seemed liked it glowed when it went into direct sunlight. It had a few black scales that looked like a little lightning bolt on its side. It stopped swimming around and floated on its side. The fish huffed, crossing its yellow fins and pouting. “He’s always so good at slipping away! It’s not fair.”
Another mermaid swam up to the two, he had a big smile on his face and was chuckling. His tail was black and if you looked closer you would notice that it had a yellow tint. His hair was shoulder length black hair, and he didn’t have any types of jewels on. Without the jewellery he looked kinda plain, but it worked for him. “It’s Kirishima Eijiro, the son of the Mermaid King. Obviously he’s gonna be fast.”
Kirishima listened in on them talking for a little longer before quietly sneaking off. There was no fun in playing hide n’ seek if he wasn’t giving them a chance.
As he swam away, he glanced back to see if any of them noticed his escape. From the looks of it, no one saw him sneak away, which was good. He let a small smile cover his face as he slowed his swimming. He let out a happy sigh and looked up.
He watched as the waves moved from below and swam up. He’s always wanted to see the above world, he wanted to meet the two-legged creatures. He lifted his hand and pocked a finger out of the water. This was all he ever dared to do. If his family new how close he was to the above, they’d never let him leave the castle again.
He felt the wind blow against his finger and smiles. He feels a wave pass over and submerge his finger into the water. He stays there for a few seconds before swimming back down to the bottom of the ocean.
Kirishima slowly made his way back to the castle. He looked around for any guards before he quickly slipped in through one of the open windows. He looked around before making his way towards his room, hoping to bump into his friends on the way. Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
“Eijiro!”
Kirishima froze. He was so close to his room too.
He turned around and put a fake smile on his face. “Afternoon father! What brings you to these quarters?”
In front of him was a big mermaid. They had a crimson red tail, and hair that was somehow spiked up despite all the water. His arms were strong with muscle, and Eijiro knew they could crush almost everything. His eyes where cold and mean. He had royal jewels all over his arms, in his hair, some even pierced on his tail. Kirishima always refused to get piercings on his tail, he didn’t like the look of them.
“Eijiro, why are you not wearing the royal jewels? How many times must I tell you-.”
“I was just on my way to get them father, I was having breakfast with Ashido, Sero, and Kaminari so I didn’t see it necessary to have them on.”
Kirishima said, cutting him off. Any chance his father gets, he will always lecture Kirishima about how important the jewels are.
His father’s eyes narrow down at him, a cold glare. Kirishima didn’t let it affect him, not anymore. he stared back innocently. They stayed like that for a few minutes before the sound of someone’s tail beating harshly through the water alerted them. Kirishima turned around to see who I was, before he was tackled into a hug.
“Got you!!” Ashido yelled, squeezing her arms around his chest.
Kirishima smiled at her and looked up to see Sero and Kaminari swimming towards them. Kaminari was in front of Sero and when he reached them, swam around them a few times. Kaminari was surprisingly fast for such a tiny fish, it was quiet amusing.
Kirishima placed his hand on top of minas weirdly fluffy hair. “Oh no! You caught me!”
Mina laughed and Kaminari cheered in triumph. Sero glanced behind Kirishima, which made Kirishima glance back too. All he saw was the retreating figure of his father. He didn’t look back long, before turning to the others and mentioning how he needs to get his jewels before they do anything else for the rest of the day. They all agreed and so they started their way to Kirishima’s room.
-
Bakugou new mermaids where real.
Everyone always told him that no, there was no such thing as mermaids. But they were wrong.
Bakugou was sitting on the beach, looking out into the ocean. He’d been there since sunrise, watching as people would come and go in the morning hours. He eventually let out a sigh and stood up, grabbing his surfboard and running out into the ocean. He was wearing a pair of board-shorts and left his dusty blonde hair to do its own thing.
He ran into the water and slide onto his board, paddling out into the ocean. He went over waves and once he was away from all the other surfers, he sat up on his board and looked out to the horizon. Bakugou has always loved to surf, ever since his parents got him his first board, he’s been hooked. He always comes out before sun rise, so he could sit there and watch the first rays of sun touch the cold ocean water.
It had been a morning like that, when he saw the mermaid. It was years ago; he had been 16 at the time. He’d been sitting on his board and was watching as the sun rose up into the sky. He saw a flash of something red to his right, and when he looked down his eyes widened. There was a tail, a red beautiful tail. And it was attached to a just as beautiful boy. They made eye contact through the water, and Bakugou couldn’t help but notice a little scar on his eyelid. They stared at each other before fear filled the mermaid’s eyes and it disappeared. Bakugou called out to it and moved so fast that he fell off his board. When he had opened his eyes the mermaids face was right in front of his. They watched each other for a moment before the red mermaid swam away. Katsuki watched him before popping his head out of the water to breath.
He had missed the sun set that day.
Ever since then he’s been there in the mornings, just hoping to see the mermaid again.
He shook his head and splashed water in his face, this isn’t something he needs to be thinking of right now. He turned his board around and looked out and waited for a wave. When he found one that looked like a good catch he smirked. He started paddling and kicking his legs and not before long, he was riding high. Riding a wave will always be one of the best feelings ever.
He stayed out in the surf until lunch, he was soaking wet, but he wouldn’t want it any other way. Once he was at shore, Bakugou picked up his board and headed off towards his family beach house. He didn’t particularly want to go, but he had no where else to put his board, so he didn’t have much of a choice. His parents had moved in there about two years ago, so now it become a daily routine to have lunch with them once a week. He reached the house and after opening the door, he placed his board off to the side to dry. He ran his hand through his hair before announcing his arrival.
“Katsuki! I’m glad you could make it.” Bakugou’s mother, Mitsuki, came around the corner. She had her arms open, probably expecting a hug but once she saw how wet he was, she quickly changed her mind. “How many times have I told you to dry off before coming over?”
Bakugou rolled his eyes and moved past her, heading towards his room in the house. “You tell me every time I come in to drop off my board.”
He heard her grunt something unimportant before saying something about how his father is in the kitchen and that after he’s dried, he should come say hi.
Bakugou makes a straight line to his room, and once he’s there lets out a breath. He loves his parents, but as soon as he walked in, he felt like something was going to happen. They must have something important to tell him, he guessed. He didn’t think about it to much before he went into the bathroom to have a quick shower. After he washed all the salt water off, he finally made his way downstairs in some tracksuit pants.
Bakugou slowly made his way to the dinning room, which is where both his parents where currently setting the table. He said a quick hello to his father before he started to help bring out the food. By the time everything was set, it was pretty late in the day.
“So Katsuki, how was the surf today?” His father, Masaru, asked as he took a bite of the curry his mother had made.
“It was good, caught some nice waves.” He answered glancing out the window towards the surf. It was pretty flat right now, so he wasn’t missing much.
“That’s good, I’m glad you still enjoy it Katsuki.” His father said with a smile. Bakugou narrowed his eyes at his father’s smile, something wasn’t right here.
“That’s right! We love that you still enjoy surfing, but maybe its time to try something else?” Mitsuki said, giving him a weird smile. Bakugou couldn’t tell if it was fake or real, and it was upsetting. Not as up setting as being told he should stop surfing though.
“Excuse me? Trying something else other then surfing?” Bakugou asked, shooting a glare towards Mitsuki. “Are you insane? Did you eat a sea worm?”
Mitsuki shot a glare back at him, the sea worm comment probably upsetting her. “Listen, we understand that you enjoy surfing but maybe it’s time to start doing something more serious with your life. You just turned 20 Katsuki, and I haven’t seen you go on one date or meet with anyone in your entire life!”
Bakugou couldn’t believe this. He knows he’s never dated anyone before, and that was his own choice. He wanted to become the world’s best surfer and having a significant other would only distract him from that. Plus, surfing was his life. He would never give it up. Masaru was saying something to Mitsuki, but Bakugou ignored them as he pushed up out of his chair and starting to leave the house. He didn’t even finish half of his curry.
“Where are you going?” Mitsuki yells after him, obviously getting angry.
“I’m going anywhere that’s away from you, you old hag!”
-
Kirishima and the others had messed around for pretty much the rest of the day. They where having fun exploring things, even though they already new the kingdom like the back of their hand. They found cool trinkets that the people above had dropped into the ocean, and Kirishima couldn’t help but be fascinated with it all. He had so many things he didn’t even know the name of sitting in his room, all displayed on shelfs. Ashido always took the bright shiny things though, so Kirishima never got to keep any of those.
They where in the middle of them playing about when a guard came over and informed Kirishima that he was needed in the family quarters. His face fell immediately, it was never a good thing to be called to the family quarters. He was either in trouble or they had some news they needed his opinion on. He waved his friends goodbye, and they promised that they’d keep all the stuff they’d find so he could go through it all later. He said his thanks before following the guard to his parents.
Once they reached the room Kirishima was left by the guard. He pushed open the doors, beating his tail a little harder to help move the heavy door. Once it opened, he was me with his mother and father sitting at the dinning table, and neither looked very happy.
“Mother, father, you called for me?” Kirishima made his way over to the table, not daring to take a seat until his parents instructed him too.
His father looked at him with the same cold eyes as always, while his mothers where much softer. He always favoured his mother over his father, she was the nicer one of the two. “Eijiro, you are 22 soon, and we have some concerns about the future.” His mother said softly.
She had a beautiful sun set tail, everything about her was elegant. She was soft and curved, and had shells holding herself like Mina. Over the shells though she had some light cloth covering them to make herself look presentable. Kirishima got his soft face from her, sometimes he wished he got everything from her.
“What concerns? Is something wrong?” Kirishima asks, keeping his eyes on his mother.
“Its just-.” Kirishima’s mother starts but gets cut off by his father.
“You are 21, and yet you haven’t found a female to mate with Eijiro. It is tradition for every king to dance with their mate on their 22 birthdays, but at this rate it doesn’t appear to be happening.” His voice echoed around the room somehow, and Kirishima suddenly didn’t want to be here anymore.
Kirishima new this was going to happen eventually, but he was hoping he’d had some more time. Its not that there is anything wrong with the female mermaids, its just that Kirishima favoured the males more. Plus, there might be someone he was waiting for, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever see the pretty blond again.
“Sorry father, I’ll find someone it’s just taking some time-.”
“We don’t have time Eijiro, your birthday is less than two weeks away. Either you find someone within a week or I’m choosing. You are dismissed.” His father stood from his chair, giving Kirishima a hard glare before he swam off. Kirishima’s mother looked at him sympathetically before swimming off after his father.
Kirishima stayed in the room alone for a few minutes, not knowing what to do. It wasn’t long till the sound of water being moved filled his ears. He didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. “Kaminari, how many times have I told you not to listen in on royal conversations?”
Kaminari gave a weak smile, and Kirishima smiled in return. “Sorry bro, it’s a habit.”
Kirishima swam a little way to Kaminari before taking him in his hands. “You can’t tell anyone what you heard alright?”
“But why? They can’t just go and chose your life mate, that’s not right!” Kaminari pouts, flapping his fins in anger.
Kirishima can’t help but chuckle at the sight. He lets Kaminari go and swims towards one of the open windows. “I’m gonna go for a late swim around, I’ll be back before supper okay?”
He didn’t wait for Kaminari to answer before he swam off into the darkening sea. He didn’t have anywhere in particular to go, so he thought he might as well just swim around aimlessly. He swam past rocks he has seen many times, coral that seems to be losing its colour. Kirishima waved at schools of fish before finally, he was out in open sea. It was extremely dark now, so dark that he knew no two-legged being would be out on those weirdly shaped boards of wood. He slowly made his way up to the top of the water. He hesitated before allowing his hand to feel fresh air. He wiggled his wet fingers and smiled to himself, before pushing himself up and letting his head out in the open.
He only ever did this when he needed too, and its been a while. He took a deep breath of the cold, fresh air and smiled. He laughed and swam back down before going up and jumping out of the water. If his father ever new about this, he would never hear the end of it. He’d probably been known as a disgrace for the rest of his royal life.
He was so busy letting himself relax, that he didn’t see the person approaching him.
-
Katsuki grabbed him board and a par of board shorts before making his way to the beach. He heard his parents shouting at him, but he wasn’t going to turn around.
He was going for a surf.
Most of the waves had died down by now, so he couldn’t really count it as surfing. He made his way through the small waves before he was met with calm waters. He never usually goes swimming after the sun has set, but there is a first time for everything. He sits on his board and just stars up at the sky. The stars where out tonight, along with the moon which made the water shine. He let out a deep breath as he looked down at his board.
Stupid hag. How could she go and say that? Surfing has always been Bakugou’s number one thing ever since he was born!
He clenched his fist in anger. He was never going to give up his dream, no matter what anyone thought.
Bakugou was so busy thinking, that when he heard a splash of water he jumped and nearly fell off his board. He looked around, panicking. Then it happened again, and Bakugou’s eyes widened. He heard a little giggle, and he held his breath. In the water was a red head beauty, his hair going past his shoulders. His skin was a tan caramel and it looked like he didn’t have a shirt on. he looked stunning, except-
He had a tail.
It was a mermaid.
Bakugou stayed still and watched as the red mermaid jumped in and out of the water, it seemed like it hadn’t seen him yet. Bakugou’s eyes stayed on the tail. It looked familiar, Bakugou knowns he had seen the same red tail before. But it couldn’t be the same mermaid from when he was little.
He leaned forward on his board, slowly and carefully, sliding his board forward. As he got closer, he couldn’t help but think that it was the same mermaid. The mermaid must’ve felt a disturbance in the water because his head snapped towards Bakugou’s direction. Bakugou froze but his eyes never left the mermaid. The red beauty looked confused and didn’t know what it should do. Bakugou’s eyes flicked over to its scarred eyelid and he couldn’t help but breath out. “It’s you.”
“It’s me?” the mermaid tilts his head to the side, his wet hair moving with the action.
“Shit you can talk?!” Bakugou yells, sitting up on his so fast that he toppled over into the water. He squeezed his eyes shut so that the salt water wouldn’t sting them, and just as he was about to swim up, he felt warm arms surrounds his waist and pulling him up. Once he breached the water, he sucked in a big gasp of air, before coughing a little. He leaned back into the warm hold, as he wiped the salt water from his eyes.
“Are you okay?” Bakugou opened his eyes and looked up towards the mermaid, feeling himself blush at how close their faces where.
“Fucki’n fine, gimme my board-.” Bakugou reached out for his board, before pulling himself up. He shivered at the cold air, but he didn’t mind. Once he was settled, he looked back at the mermaid. He didn’t look scared anymore, kinda more worried about Bakugou then himself. “Oi, what’s your name?”
“My name? Oh-I’m Kirishima Eijiro! All my friends call me Ei though.” Kirishima announces with a smile. Bakugou couldn’t help but notice his sharp teeth. “What’s your name?”
“Bakugou Katsuki.” He answers straight away. he blushes a little at his eagerness.
“Bakugou Katsuki...I’m gonna call you Suki!” Kirishima says swimming forward a little to rest his head on Bakugou’s board. “Sukiii.”
“Eh-I never said you could call me that!” Bakugou yells with a pout, if he’s being honest though, he doesn’t mind, but he doesn’t wanna seem soft.
“But I wanna call you that! Please let me call you that!” Kirishima pouts, and if some how possible, his eyes become all big and watery like he’s about to cry.
Bakugou struggles to look at his face without feeling bad, so he turns away to hide the rest of his blush. “Fucki’n-fine!”
Kirishima’s face lights up and he pushed himself out of the water. He wraps his arms around Bakugou’s neck and pulls him into the water for a hug. Bakugou’s eyes widen with the sudden movement, and before he knows it, he’s submerged under water. He doesn’t feel cold though, Kirishima’s body heat keeping him warm.
He has his eyes squeezed shut, and he only opens them once Kirishima brings them back above water. Bakugou shakes his head to get water out of his hair, before shooting a glare towards Kirishima. “Fucker, warn me next time you’re gonna dunk me underwater!”
Kirishima giggles but keeps hugging him. Bakugou huffs but doesn’t ty to push him away. He watches his board float, not to far so if he really wanted, he could grab onto it. Bakugou stares at the board, but when he feels Kirishima move around he glances up at him. “What the fuck are you doin’?”
Kirishima blinks before chuckling. “Sorry-I’ve never seen a two-legged being before.”
“Two legged being? You mean human?” Bakugou asks, pushing away from Kirishima little to look at his face better. “What, you wanna look at my feet?”
“Can I?!” Kirishima squeals, stars appearing in his eyes.
Bakugou blushes lightly, before nodding and grabbing onto his board. He heaves himself onto his board and kicks his leg out in front of him. “There aint nothing special about them. Just feet.”
Kirishima chuckled at him before his eyes became focused on Bakugou’s feet. He just stared at them for a while, before picking one up in his hands and turning it around. Bakugou giggled when Kirishima ran his finger across the bottom, but he tried to cover it up with a cough. Kirishima didn’t seem to notice though, since he just kept playing with his toes and putting it in and out of the water.
Once he was seemingly satisfied with looking over Bakugou’s legs and feet, Kirishima smiled up at him. “Wanna look at my tail too?”
Bakugou looked down at Kirishima’s tail, and without much thought he slid down into the water. Kirishima tried to get up on Bakugou’s board but ended up pushing it further away from them. Bakugou laughed at Kirishima dumb face as he tried to understand how to get on the board. He eventually stopped laughing and help push him on the board.
Bakugou looked down at his tail and ran his hand gently over the scales. It was slimy, like when you touched a fish. Bakugou didn’t know what he was meant to think, it was beautiful. Bakugou ducked his head under water, his eyes open. He watched as the water made the scales look a lighter shade then when it was above. Underwater it was a fire red, while above a blood red. Who new both could be such pretty colours?
He came back up for some air and made eye contact with Kirishima. He was smiling down at him, and Bakugou couldn’t help but feel something warm and fuzzy burn inside him.
The stupid mermaid was cute.
“What are you smili’n at?” He mumbles, getting onto the board with him.
“Hm? Oh, nothing much. Just that I think I wanna meet up with you again is all. you’re really pretty for a human!” Kirishima says, giving him a cheeky smile and bumping their shoulders together.
“Have you even seen any other human other then me?” Bakugou asks teasingly.
Kirishima blushes and puffs his cheeks up, like a puffer fish.
Bakugou laughs before leaning his head down on Kirishima’s shoulder. He looks out to the ocean, before his eyes flick over to crimson. “I’m teasing, you dumb fish. Out of every mermaid in this fucki’n sea, you will always be the prettiest.”
Kirishima smiles down at him and thinks, out of every animal on this planet, he would always choose Bakugou Katsuki.
And he knows Bakugou would do the same.