As Deep As The Ocean || •Mermaid AU• || KiriBaku

21

Kirishima swam through the salty waters of the sea, eventually sighting a spot of bright pink against the dark sea and sky. She seemed to have spotted him, too, since she started aggressively waving to catch his attention, Denki soon joining in and splashing around, causing small tides and ripples to rush out from against his eel body, and Kirishima momentarily worried for an accidental discharge, but apparently the yellow-haired boy had everything under control as no electricity made its way through either him or Mina. 

“Did you get everything?” The latter yelled the second the redhead was within ear shot, to which he nodded, holding up the bowls and cloth like the trophy they were. He hadn’t gotten them wet, yet, and he was determined to keep it that way. For as long as he could, anyway. With his luck, he’ll be lucky to even make it back to the grotto with all three items, but the blonde at home was counting on him. He could do this! 

“Yes! I got it all! There was this really nice woman who helped me.” He smiled at the memory of familiar red eyes helping him navigate around, and he spared no details in describing his time above water to his two companions. They had started on their way back to the grotto, the tides pushing and pulling them in the slowly deepening water and causing their limbs to flail and bump each other as they swam home. “They had these tables with stuff on it- the lady called them ‘stalls’? Oh, and you can’t just take it, you need these things called ‘coins’, which are like their version of shells.” 

“Wait, how did you get the stuff if you can't just take them? You didn’t have any ‘coins’.” 

“No, I didn't, but the nice blonde lady bought them for me. I felt bad and gave her the shell I was saving to give Bakugou, but I'll find another one for him, so it’s ok.” He smiled softly down at the orange cloth he had placed in the bowl, before placing the smaller bowl on top in attempts to keep it as dry as possible for their trip back to the grotto. He was even swimming above water, which was not only slowing them down significantly, but was also much colder than beneath the water’s surface. 

“She seems very nice!” Kaminari perked up from beside him, peering over Kirishima’s shoulder at the materials he had spent ages gathering. 

“Oh, she was! I hope I get to see her again, someday! She was telling me all these really cool stories about her son and his best friend! And every time she did, she would get this nice smile on her face, and her voice would get all happy. It was very nice to watch how much she loved her son.” 

“You know, Eiji, that’s what you get like when you talk about Bakugou.” Denki chirped up from his place beside the redhead, the latter immediately blushing and shaking his head aggressively. 

“I am not!” He defended, keeping his head down as the blush continued to spread across his skin, the usually tan surface becoming as red as the scales that settled across his entirety. His two companions laughed at his expense, poking fun of him, both literally and verbally, for the trip back to the grotto. The conversation continued, steady against the salty winds and waves until they reached the cave mouth the trio had come to consider a second home over the past few days. A quick dive under the underwater archway ensured both bowls became fully submerged underwater, essentially soaking the material’s edges, but the main bulk of the orange cotton remained dry. It would do. 

His head broke through the surface of the water, red eyes meeting Bakugou’s brighter red ones, and a small smile marked Kirishima’s face. Now that he was back in front of his new best friend, he could definitely see the similarities between him and the woman who had been his saving grace on land.

“Bakubro! I got your stuff!” He said excitedly, holding the dripping bowl in his webbed hands and happily sharing his success with the blonde. The latter grunted, shifting on his legs to allow blood flow to his lower limbs again, and he patted the rock next to him for Kirishima to place the bowls, immediately requesting for the redhead to unstack them so he could initiate his investigation of the objects. 

“Did you get the right shit?” He asked, grumbling to himself as he watched Kirishima’s every move, even as he took the small bowl out of the bigger one and laid the orange cloth down in the middle of the smaller one, trying to keep it as dry as possible, but struggling against the incredibly damp surface of the rock.

“I think so! There was this really nice lady who helped me. She said that this,” He pointed at the cotton, running the seams through his fingers again as he spoke to the blonde, “is cotton, and it would be best suited for what you wanted to do, since I didn’t know what you wanted to do but it's the most… ‘versatile’? Yeah, I think that was the word she used. Is that ok?” 

“Yeah, it's fine, I guess.” Kirishima passed him the sunset shaded fabric, watching as the blonde boy ran it over his fingers, nodding to himself as he crossed his legs, draping the material over his knee to prevent it from landing in a small puddle from the rocks beside him. He then grabbed the ceramic bowl, filling it slightly with water, before submerging the smaller, glass bowl within the water and draping the orange cloth over the top. 

“Woah, what are you doing?” Denki had, at some point, swam up beside him with Mina close behind, resting against the ledge and staring at bakugou’s every move, watching as the blonde placed a medium sized rock he found on the middle of the fabric, causing a small concave in the material. 

“Do you genuinely want to know?” The blonde grumbles, rather than asked, and the eel nodded his head rather aggressively, staring intently at the odd contraption their human friend had created. Bakugou sighed, grabbing the side of the bowls, and Kirishima watched as his hands flexed slightly, showing off small scars littering his knuckles; burns and cuts that were previously unnoticed. “Well, basically, I can’t drink the sea water, it will make me sick.” Bakugou’s voice forced the redhead's eyes back to the blonde’s face, attention no longer on freckled and scarred skin. “So, what I'm going to do is boil the water in the outside bowl, and it’s going to get caught in the material instead of evaporating into the air, and then it's going to fall into the smaller bowl. I can drink that one.” 

Kaminari’s yellow eyes were wide as he stared amazed at the human in front of him, oohing and ahhing at the blonde’s explanation, despite the fact that he looked like he had no clue what the blonde was saying. The three of them watched as Bakugou’s hands heated up, the delicate skin of his fingertips and palms turning a red, only slightly flushed compared to normal, but incredibly obvious in the cool air of the grotto. 

The water inside bubbled slightly, the rippling of water blending into the background noise of the grotto, and Kirishima was awestruck. He was so enamoured with the human’s technologies, and he quite frankly didn’t understand any of it, but that didn’t stop his curiosity. When the blonde was satisfied with their progress, he lifted the cotton fabric from its place resting against the bowl, peering inside the smaller, glass bowl where a small puddle of water now lay. 

It wasn’t much, and it definitely was not enough to drink, but it was water. 

“Oh! That’s so cool!” Kirishima watched as Bakugou didn’t even wait for the water to cool down fully, lifting the bowl to his lips and gulping it down straight away, his throat bobbing with the action and a small sigh exiting his lips as he finished drinking.

***

I am so sorry its so late (again)! I literally have no excuse, i have just been super busy and lowkey forgot. I'm hoping to get the next chapter out within a week? Idk, we will see i guess. Don't hold your breath haha...

Also, i would really appreciate if you guys could tell me if this is getting too long? I know 20 isn't an unnatural amount for Wattpad stories, and these chapters are slightly shorter (approx. 1200/chapter), but i feel like more than 20 chapters is intimidating? Point is, is the story getting too long/dragging on? I promise there is actual plot coming soon! This is filler stuff, but like, necessary filler? Like, establishing context? Idk. Point is, is this getting too long?