Fighting Chance - bakudeku

Swim (3)

chapter three
bakugou focus
TW: water, mentions of drowning
wc: 1.4k

- unedited because I'm lazy :| -

They had talked for a moment, got to know each other's names, and a little bit about each other. "My favorite color is coral pink!" the kid had explained. They were the same age. Katsuki had asked, and despite the legends, merfolk only lived as long as humans did, they just tended to look a lot like their parents.

So, he was learning a lot. But perhaps the biggest thing he learned was the fact that there was a way to turn someone into a mer-person temporarily. 

"Really?" Katsuki asked skeptically.

"Yeah! Cool, right?" Izuku smiled at him. "But we rarely ever do it. It hasn't been considered safe for over a hundred years."

"Okay, so, why are you telling me this?"

Katsuki looked over Izuku's pale face, lit by starlight. The merboy looked up to the moon above them, stared at it for a moment, then visibly shivered.

"I can't carry you forever. I'm built for deep sea, not the air above it. Selene has given me her blessing."

"Selene? The fucking Greek god?"

Izuku pursed his lips and furrowed his eyebrows, turning to Katsuki again. "Goddess," he corrected. "Anyway, stay still."

"Wait, you're gonna turn me into a fish? Permanently?

"No, and no. A merboy. And it only lasts a day. Besides, it'll be easier when you can move on your own."

"My legs are broken, so won't my.... tail, or whatever, be broken too?"

"Nope!" Izuku grinned. Then, he frowned. "Well, I hope not. But either way, it'll be better when you can breathe underwater."

Katsuki was unsure. He looked around them, at the swirling waters, at the sky scattered with twinkling stars. He picked out Mars, and Venus, and Polaris, and a few clusters he didn't know the names of but recognized nonetheless. He mulled over his options, the possible risks, whether or not he trusted this mermaid.

But in the end, it occurred to him that he didn't have a choice.

He turned his red eyes and glared straight into the viridian orbs with which Izuku regarded him so patiently. The boy had let him think it over, let him take in the brilliance of their surroundings. Katsuki licked his lips nervously and watched the reflection of the moon move across Izuku's iris as they floated along.

"Fine," he said, quietly now, as If the silence of the sea had lulled him to follow its lead. "I don't think there are many other options that involve... not dying."

Izuku nodded solemnly. Katsuki found it almost odd, as he had been expecting that excited smile.

"I'll try to be quick. But you have to trust me that I know what I'm doing."

"I don't trust you at all, but it's not like I can do anything about it."

Izuku laughed softly. It echoed off the ocean surface like muted wind chimes, filling Katsuki with ease. Then, the merboy pulled Katsuki close again, so that his head was on that fragile-feeling, boney shoulder. His breath brushed Katsuki's ear as he whispered.

"Hold your breath," he whispered.

Katsuki sucked in a giant breath, then held it. And Izuku began to sing.

It almost didn't seem to be coming from the boy at all. Perhaps the sea itself was singing. It rang out in vibrations like a Tibetan bowl, but the notes sounded soft like a kalimba.