"Tedium in Blue" Bakugou x Reader Merman! AU

Chapter 2

Your footsteps muffled softly in the dry sand of the beach, grittiness sinking between your toes as you walked your way down to the pier, the sun setting far in the distance. Despite living on the coast for nearly a year now, you never got tired of the view, the smells, the sounds...it all felt like home, even though you grew up nowhere near the ocean.

Stopping in front of a small food stand the man behind the counter greeted you like he always did. "Yo! The usual?" You nodded.

"Yeah, same old same old," you said, fishing out your wallet from your backpack. "I'm a creature of habit, I guess."

"Ah nothing wrong with that, with familiarity brings comfort, right?" He could easily talk and cook at the same time, many years of multitasking practice under his belt.

Your eyes scanned across the beach, abandoned umbrellas and fallen sandcastles conquered by moats of salty water and clumsy footsteps disturbing the otherwise flat expanse. "I guess...but sometimes I want excitement, too. Something to upset the monotony...just a little." The kind food vendor set your snack down on the counter, his eyes old with age and experience.

"Trust me, not all surprises are good ones." With that you waved goodbye, continuing on your walk to the pier.

Most of the remaining people on the beach were at the other end, away from the pier and closer to the road where newly-built and overly-expensive condos sprang up seemingly overnight. They were an eyesore, honestly, but nothing you could do about it. Your small apartment a couple miles away suited you just fine.

Your feet dangled over the edge, the snack in one hand and phone in the other. Someone from work was bugging you to hang out, but you weren't particularly interested. Their idea of a good time was a loud club and an overabundance of cheap alcohol. You? A quiet night inside with a movie that never got old, maybe some video games or the occasional cooking experiment. That's why the ocean was so nice: the sounds it made were natural, predictable, and comforting. Also, free.

Suddenly something touched your bare foot, making you flinch. "Wh-?" Your feet were at least two feet above the water, and the waves weren't particularly rowdy today so...? The touch didn't last long enough for you to determine what it was, but it didn't really feel like a rogue splash of water. You shrugged it off, taking another bite of your snack, thinking it was all in your-

"The hell?" OK something definitely touched you that time. You pulled both your feet up onto the pier, got on your hands and knees – carefully holding onto your food, of course – and bent your head over the edge to see what could possibly have touched you.

Something dove under the water quickly, a small splash disturbing surface tension. It was starting to get dark now, so visibility underneath the waterlogged wooden beams hidden from the remaining light of the sunset was poor. Your eyes scanned the murky water, and...there! Something, uh...big? It looked big...but weren't you too close to the coast for a dolphin or-

Suddenly your eyes were filled with the color red, and you screamed.

"Ah fuck! The hell was that?!" You scrambled back up the pier, your breathing ragged as you tried to process what you just saw in the darkness of the shifting water.

...Eyes? Like, human-ish eyes?! No way, couldn't be. Your head turned to the side, looking out for anyone who might be playing a prank. But there was no one, only the sounds of seagulls and the smell of salt and raw fish. Luckily your phone just barely missed toppling over the side when you flung yourself back in a panic. Grabbing it you turned on the flashlight and slowly made your way back over the side of the pier.

Darkness, nothing. The occasional silhouette of darting fish and floating seaweed. You could feel your heart slamming against your chest, prone on the soggy wood of the pier. You probably looked like a moron to anyone that came by, honestly. The light of your phone finally glimmered against something in the water...something red, catching the light and reflecting it back like a mirror. No, two red somethings, about fifteen feet away. You blinked, and they were gone. But where -

Before you could even react something popped out of the water right below you making you jump. A face. A very...pretty face. Fucking beautiful face in fact, ethereal even. You could feel heat pooling in your cheeks looking at the bizarre man bobbing in the water below you. His hair was pale blonde and messy but framed his strong jaw well. His piercing red eyes burned into you like fire seeping down all the way to your toes.

You swallowed thickly before speaking. "Uh...hello? You the weirdo playing pranks on me?" Was there just a hot guy swimming around under the pier waiting for people to pass by? He didn't answer, only cocked his head to the side like a curious puppy. The attractiveness of his face was marred only slightly by his heavily furrowed brows and...were those...fins? On his ears? "Are you like...doing a super intense mermaid cosplay? Because you win, my dude."

He rose up slightly out of the water, revealing he was shirtless, the rest of his body unseen disappearing into the darkness. He also had some odd markings on his shoulders, maybe a tattoo that looked like scales? Alright, this was officially in weird-o territory even if he was hot. "Uh, if you're mute, just...gesture? Sign? Can you hear me at all?" Your arms came forward signaling to your face, ears, something. Maybe he needed help, but wasn't sure how to tell you?

The bizarre man just looked at you with a scowl before disappearing back under the water. After a second he popped back out and promptly spat salty water in your face.

"AGH the fuck dude?!" you said, spitting and wiping off the water on the sleeve of your jacket. A voice finally interrupted your own. A hearty laugh, in fact, raspy and deep and enticing. "Oh so that's...oh my god."

Your mouth hung slack and open as the man below you laughed, a large orange and black fish tail slapping against the water. Also, the tail was attached to him. As in, you know.

Like a fucking mermaid.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please comment if you enjoy my writing!