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“We should all go to the beach this weekend,” you announced as you sat down at the lunch table.
”No,” was all Bakugou said from across the table, not bothering to look up from his plate.
”Why not? We literally live in a beach town, yet we never go to the beach,” you complained, ”Plus, the waves are supposed to be good this weekend, and I know this super secluded spot. We’d basically have the whole place to ourselves.”
”No.”
”C’mon, guys, back me up here,” you requested, looking around the table at your friends. Usually, Sero and Kaminari would poke fun at Bakugou for being a buzzkill, Mina would laugh along, and Kirishima would do the actual convincing. This time, however, everyone remained uncharacteristically quiet, avoiding meeting your eyes. You were clearly outnumbered.
”If you wanna go so fuckin’ bad, just go by yourself,” the Bakugou said, red eyes finally looking up from his plate to meet your own. You looked away, flustered. ”No one said we had to hang out.”
”I would, but my parents don't want me surfing there alone, since there’s no lifeguard and stuff, and the usual beach is way too crowded on weekends.” That was a reason, but the main reason was that you'd just gotten a cute new swimsuit the weekend prior while shopping with Mina at the mall.
You were hoping a certain angry blond would take notice of it. You had a crush on the somewhat abrasive teen ever since you had moved to town last year. You had tried to catch his attention and make your interest known plenty of times, but nothing ever seemed to work. You had decided that this beach trip would be your last-ditch effort before forcing yourself to move on.
”I’ll come with you,” Sero offered. You immediately perked up a bit. It wasn't what you were hoping for, but at least you’d still get to go to the beach with friends.
”Thank you, Sero,” you exclaimed. Turning to Bakugou, you teased,” At least some people like to have fun around here.”
To which he responded with a “Tch, whatever.” before going back to ignoring you.
------0------
In the end, Mina and Kaminari had decided to tag along as well. Kirishima said he’d wanted to but felt like he was coming down with a cold. Though, you had a feeling he just didn’t want to leave Bakugou alone.
The three of them lived near one another, while you lived on the other side of town, so you had all decided Mina would bring the snacks, and Kaminari and Sero would help her carry everything, and you’d in front of the convenience store closest to the beach. Sero had texted you saying they were running a little late. Since you didn’t have to buy anything, you opted to just wait outside the store.
You glanced into the convenience store through the front window, idly trying to pass the time, when your eyes stopped at a familiar head of spiky ash-blonde hair. Lo and behold, there stood Bakugou Katsuki at the cash register, paying for a handful of snacks of the spicy variety (obviously).
You were going to go in to greet him, maybe strike up a conversation to pass the time, slip a little subtle flirting in when something you could only describe as weird happened.
The cashier had accidentally spilled her water on the counter, which wasn’t the weird part. Accidents happen, after all.
What was weird was Bakugou’s reaction.
His hand, which had been resting on the counter, shot up before the water could touch it. He’d acted as though the cashier had spilled molten lava, not just water.
You couldn’t wrap your head around the action. It was just so out of character.
Before you could dwell on it for too long, however, your friends had arrived. So, shoving that towards the back of your head, you all headed to your special beach spot.
------0------
You ended up having a blast at the beach. Mina sunbathed while you and Sero surfed. Meanwhile, Kaminari was making the least structurally sound sandcastle to have ever existed.
The following week you couldn't help but notice that. Bakugou avoided water by all means necessary. There was the event at the convenience store. His water bottles always had those sleeve cover thingies. He carried his umbrella everywhere, even if there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. He took the unnecessarily long way across campus when the sprinklers were on, even if it meant he got to class late. The list went on and on.
After a couple of quick google searches, you concluded that Bakugou might suffer from aquaphobia, an abnormal fear of water. That, or he was a mermaid. You couldn't help but laugh at the image your brain had conjured up of him looking like Ariel from The Little Mermaid.
Something just didn't add up. It wasn't necessarily an uncommon phobia, but it was hard to picture Bakugou being afraid of water. Then again, it was hard to imagine Bakugou being afraid of anything.
Then there was the fact that everyone but you seemed aware of his aversion to water. However, you reasoned, this could be chalked up to the fact that you hadn’t known everyone for as long as they had known each other. Maybe he developed the phobia before you moved?
What you couldn’t quite get is why he wouldn’t mention anything to you. You thought the two of you were relatively close. So why didn't he just say he was afraid of water? You would have understood. You could’ve done something else instead.
Maybe he was embarrassed about it…?
Maybe he didn't trust you? The thought stung a little.
The opportunity to find out more arose on Wednesday during lunch. Everyone but Bakugou was already there, eating food and chatting. This was the perfect moment to ask about it since you doubted Bakugou would tell you anything if he was actually afraid of water like you as theorized.
”Hey guys, ” you started, trying to sound nonchalant, ”Have you ever noticed how weird Bakugou acts around water?”
Everyone stilled, all other conversations going on at the table screeching to a halt. The atmosphere turned a little tense.
”What do you mean?” Kirishima asked cautiously.
”I mean, haven't you noticed how he avoids water?” you asked, losing the tone of indifference rather quickly. He shook his head, but you could tell he knew what you were talking about. ”I think he might be afraid of water. It's either that or Bakugou’s secretly a mermaid, ” you joked, trying to lighten the mood a bit.
However, it didn't seem to work much.
”Pfft yeah right. Mermaids. Completely ridiculous. That’s just an urban legend, ” Kaminari laughed loudly, but it was very fake and very much forced. He continued to do this until Sero elbowed him. Kaminari glared at him, and the two started to bicker.
”What are these two dumbasses fighting about?” you jumped a bit, not expecting Bakugou to be right behind you. He sat next to you, and your heart might have fluttered in your chest a little when your shoulders touched.
He looked at you expectantly, awaiting an answer.
”Urban legends, I think.”
------0------
After obsessing over the reason why Bakugou avoided water at all hours of the day for a week, you concluded that you had to be going insane.
This was definitely something not worth losing sleep. It was none of your business anyway. You needed to go somewhere to clear your head so you could think about literally anything else but this.
It just so happened that your designated thinking place was the beach you had told everyone about. You texted in the group chat to see if any of your friends could join you, but everyone was busy. Still, you decided to go by yourself. The waves weren’t supposed to be too crazy, so you could probably surf a little. You sincerely doubted anything would actually go wrong.
Boy, were you wrong.
Everything was going okay until a particularly big wave caused you to lose balance and fall off of the board. Normally, that wouldn’t be a huge problem. Except for this time, you fell near a coral-rock area, and your right foot got stuck. Your board was too high for you to try to grab onto, and you couldn’t go up for air.
You tried to wiggle your foot out of the space between the rocks but to no avail. You knew you needed to try and stay calm, but the lack of oxygen was getting to you. You thrashed in the water with more urgency, lunges screaming at you to breathe.
Panic and regret filled your body. No one knew you were here. No one was around. You were going to die, and no one would ever find your body.
Just as you started to succumb to the ocean, black spots were beginning to cloud your vision, and you saw something swim over to you. Was that Bakugou… with a tail?
The sight made you gasp, which was not exactly ideal since it caused you to swallow ocean water. Fish Bakugou managed to free your leg and grabbed you before he started swimming back to shore.
Once there, he laid you down on the shore, as best as he could with the tail at least. After coughing up what felt like half of the ocean and regaining your breath, you looked back to Bakugou.
What greeted you was a very angry looking half-fish Bakugou sitting a little ways from you, closer to the water. You looked at him with wide eyes. You had been sure that the lack of oxygen had caused you to see things. But that was, without a doubt, Bakugou, and he most definitely did have a tail.
”Are you fucking stupid?” he was yelling now, but you were only really half listening, ”I saw your text and how no one could come with you, and I thought to myself, ’No, there's no way she's that fuckin’ stupid.’ But something didn't feel right, so I came here just in case.”
”T-tail, ” you stuttered, pointing at it, ”You have a tail.”
”It turns out you are that fucking stupid, ” he kept raging, ignoring your previous comment.
”Look, ” you said, finally regaining your composure, ”I’m trying really hard not to freak out right now. But you have a tail, and you're screaming at me, and that's not helping.”
There was a brief pause in which the two if you simply looked at each other.
“Are you okay?” he finally asked.
“Think so.”
------0------
Once Bakugou had dried off, he’d turned back into a, thankfully clothed, human. The two of you sat on the sand farther away from the shore. You’d wrapped a towel you’ve brought along with you around your shoulders.
Both of you now watched the sunset in intense silence. You couldn’t help but think about how romantic this would be under different circumstances.
“So… you’re a mermaid,” you started awkwardly.
“Merman,” he corrected, “mermaid is for chicks.”
You couldn’t hold back the snort that escaped you even if you had tried. The initial snort led to somewhat hysterical laughter. You knew you probably looked crazy, but at the moment, you couldn’t help but find the irony of the situation hilarious.
You looked over at Bakugou once you calmed down a bit, only to find him looking at you with a soft expression. Flustered, you looked back towards the sea, watching the tide rise and fall slowly.
“This was not what I was expecting,” you said, “ I was convinced you had aquaphobia. Which is ironic if you think about it since you’re like… a creature of the sea and stuff.”
“You thought I was afraid of water?” he teased.
“Because thinking that your legs magically turn into a fishtail when you touch water was so much more reasonable?” you countered, sarcasm dripping from your voice.
“You can’t tell anyone,” it wasn’t a request but a demand.
“I won’t,” you affirmed, “on one condition.”
His red eyes narrowed in question.
“Go out on a date with me.” After a near-death experience, you figured it was best just to bite the bullet and ask.
The blush that spread through his face had your chest swelling with pride. At that moment, you decided that ‘Making Bakugou Katsuki blush’ was going to be at the very top of your job resume.
Clearing his throat, he asked, “What did you have in mind?”
“Oh, I dunno. Maybe the beach?”