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When you had offhandedly mentioned to Kisame that you knew how to swim, you didn’t think your lie would turn into this.
He had decided to take you on a trip to the ocean for the day - he often went on his own to reconnect with nature and allow himself time to relax, but when you initially inquired about what he did while he was there, he offered to show you. You refused at first, claiming you didn’t want to intrude on his personal time, but he was insistent.
You planned on staying on the sand the entire time, never once stepping foot into the water. You came up with lines for when he pestered you into going into the water (“it’s too cold!” “I’m not wearing swimming clothes!”) but that all went away the moment that he had picked you up bridal style, running toward the water at full speed.
You screamed, way louder than you intended, and banged your fists against his chest. It unfortunately didn’t deter him, though, because he dove into the water with you in his arms. You sucked in a deep breath and prayed for the best, silently cursing yourself for ever telling him you knew how to swim.
When Kisame came above the water, laughing at your scream, he didn’t see you in front of him. He turned around, trying to find your shadow in the water anywhere. When you failed to show up after another few seconds, panic began to set into your boyfriend. He took a dive under the water and, after searching for what felt like forever, found you thrashing underneath the water - your hair was covering the majority of your face, but you were wearing a clear face of panic as you desperately tried to push yourself against the sand to force your body up the water.
Kisame, relieved that you weren’t dead yet, quickly dashed toward you and brought you to the surface. He grabbed you by the waist and forced you upward, sending a wave of force through your body and causing you to exhale all the air in your lungs. Moments before you reached the surface, your body was forced to attempt inhalation as you finally ran out of oxygen.
Kisame had brought your violently-coughing self to the shore and carried you back to the beach towels you’d set up just twenty minutes prior. You were groaning and coughing. It took five minutes for you to calm down before you started screaming at Kisame.
“YOU FUCKING FOOL,” you screamed, “I JUST ALMOST DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!”
“I THOUGHT YOU KNEW HOW TO SWIM-” Kisame yelled back, but was quickly interrupted by your confession.
“I FUCKING LIED!”
He stopped speaking entirely, staring at you in disbelief for forever. The heat rose to your cheeks as you realized that you just admitted to your shark boyfriend that you don’t know how to swim. He began laughing hysterically, completely forgetting his prior panic and the fact that you just almost died.
“That’s ridiculous!” He laughed, bordering a wheeze, “how do you not know how to swim, Y/N?!”
You crossed your arms fervently and tried to defend yourself. “I grew up in a landlocked area, Kisame! I never needed to know!”
He put his hands on his knees to stabilize himself from his laughter. “That’s - haha!”
“Stop laughing!” You groaned, covering your face in embarrassment. “It’s not funny!”
When Kisame had finally stopped laughing, he wiped at his tearing eye and pulled you in for a hug. “I’m sorry for throwing you in, sweetheart, but you need to know how to swim.”
You smiled, wrapping your arm around his waist. “I’ve always hated the ocean, so I don’t think I do.”
He furrowed his brow, looking down to meet your eyes. “You hate the ocean?”
You shrugged. “It’s full of nasty stuff. Stinky fish and weird monsters, probably.”
He playfully whined before giving you a kiss on the forehead. “Well, your boyfriend is from the ocean, so you might want to reconsider your feelings on the water.”
You giggled. “If there’s more handsome shark-men in the ocean, then you’ve got me interested.”
Three months after the ocean incident, Kisame had dragged you back to the ocean so he could teach you to swim. You knew he was quite literally the best person to teach you, being part shark and all, but you were still overwhelmed with anxiety at the thought of being in the water and not knowing what was surrounding you. Your toes dipped into the sand nervously as the water splashed at your ankles, Kisame gently nudging you in.
“What if there’s like, sea spiders? That bite me or something?”
Kisame laughed. “Those don’t exist over here, dear.”
“What if they did, though??”
Kisame went ahead of you, grabbing your arm and pulling you closer to him. You watched his thighs disappear into the water before stopping when it reached his waist. You looked down at your feet and saw that while it was starting to get cloudy, you could still see yourself for the most part. The water wasn’t murky, but at this depth it was still easy to see what you were standing near.
“If I get bit by a sea spider or something, I’m never touching the ocean again and I’m leaving you forever,” you mumbled as you forced your body into the water. When it got to your waist, you stopped. You looked back up at your boyfriend who was staring at you with a massive grin on his face, sharp teeth glistening in the sun.
“Just a little deeper, then we’ll be able to start!” Kisame urged, pulling you deeper in.
It took almost an hour for you to get fully submerged in the water - there were a few moments where you returned to the shore because you were scared, in which Kisame would grab your wrist and pull you back in gently. He’d give you a kiss on the head every time you made progress, then promised ice-cream on the way home if you’d managed to get deeper in the water. When it finally hit your shoulders, he gave you a real kiss and told you that you were doing such a good job. It put butterflies in your stomach the same way it always did when Kisame expressed affection for you.
He, very slowly, taught you to swim. First, he had you replicate arm movements in the water and do a simple floating technique. When you had quickly caught on to what he was doing, you felt a sense of determination to learn how to properly swim.
“If you learn how to swim,” Kisame coaxed you in, “we’ll be able to spend more time together in the water.” He leaned in to give you a kiss on the corner of your mouth, smiling. “You’ll be able to see me train up close, dear.”
You giggled at that - he knew that you loved watching him train. Seeing your boyfriend so dedicated to something made you happy and it made you feel really proud of him, so using that against you to make you get in the water was both infuriating and very motivating.
When you finally started getting the hang of swimming, Kisame would cheer you on as you did your best to swim toward him. He would quickly dash a few feet away and then hold out his arms for you, to which you would do your best to swim over so he could hold you in the water.
After another hour, you officially knew how to swim! You weren’t amazing at it by any means, but you could float and swim at a decent pace! Once you were finally able to swim to Kisame 20 feet away, he laughed and grabbed you by the waist, lifting you above the water and giving you a kiss.
“You’ve done so amazing today, my sweet,” he beamed at you, “I am just so proud of you!”
You giggled and put your hand in his hair, ruffling it and watching the droplets of water return to the ocean. You kissed him, hand running through his hair and sliding down his bare neck. You felt the gills on his shoulder, shuddering as the sharp texture of them moved with the water. “Thank you for teaching me,” you whispered. You had started to become tired from all the work, and Kisame could definitely see it.
“I think it’s time for some ice-cream, huh?” He asked. Instantly, you pushed yourself off of your boyfriend and dashed for the shore. You successfully made it to land and started to dry yourself off when Kisame came up behind you, grabbing the towel from your hand and drying your skin with it.
“Allow me, since you must be so tired,” he purred. With a blush, you turned around and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, my prince,” you replied with a smile.