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Eijirou stares up at the edge of the coral reef above him. The pink and purple green pieces of coral alongside the bright flashes of color from the many sea creatures that live there boldly stand out, but the prettiest sight of them all has yet to show. He knows he will soon though. Eijirou has memorized his route, wanting to meet since the first time he laid eyes on him.
The depths of the sea where Eijirou grew up quickly became boring and dull. After he heard about coral reefs and kelp forests and seagrass meadows, he travelled further up to see them for himself. His first visit fortunately lined up with his beauty swimming by. The bright orange color made more striking with stripes of black immediately caught his attention. After scuttling around to fully see, Eijirou realized it was another merfolk. He had spikes like Eijirou, though his are longer and more dangerous looking. The orange and black scales travel a ways up the man’s torso and cover his arms, fingers tipped with sharp claws.
Eijirou became obsessed. He hung around the next day, hoping he would come back and he did. Eijirou hangs around every day, watching as the merman hunts or swims or rants and raves about various things–mostly about stupid extras and something called a deku.
Today, his pretty fish breaks that pattern. Frustration at the other merman being late becomes slowly replaced with fear. Did he have other things to do? Or was he injured or worse? He didn’t pay any attention to the presence sneaking up behind him until a clawed hand clasped his throat. Eijirou didn’t move an inch. While most of his body is armored to guard from predators, his throat and parts of his head are the only vulnerable areas.
Eijirou feels his assailant move closer and hears a voice growling out, “Why the hell are you watching me every day? Trying to figure out my weaknesses before striking?”
“No way! I wouldn’t hurt you. You’re just so- so beautiful and I- I couldn’t help but watch you,” Eijirou stutters out, mortified at getting caught. The claws slacken a bit.
Eijirou makes no move to free himself from the loosened grip as he realizes something. How did he get caught? “How did you notice me? I stayed perfectly still.”
“‘Cause you’re bright fucking red, you dumbass,” his merman scoffs, crossing his arms, no longer threatened by Eijirou.
Eijirou’s face turns as red as his armor. He forgot the warning the others gave him when he told them he was setting out to explore shallower waters. He may appear black in the depths where no light reaches, but creatures and other merfolk will see him up above where the sun pierces through.
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Eijirou knows now that he must have been spotted immediately. Why come back?
This time it’s the merman’s face that flushes red. He turns his head and scoffs before replying, “You looked like a fucking dumbass at first, standing perfectly still like I couldn’t fucking see you. I figured it was the first time you came up from the depths and that you’d be gone the next day. Obviously that didn’t happen.” He rolls his eyes. “After that I kept you in my eyesight trying to figure out what the hell you were doing. Eventually… I guess I just started to get used to you. It was kinda… nice I guess, having someone to rant at.”
Eijirou frowns and asks, “Why did you threaten me today, then?”
He scowls and tersely responds, “I was looking for a fight. Despite you being an idiot, you look like a worthwhile challenge.” He eyes Eijirou’s spiky armor. “What’s your name anyways? And what did you come up here for besides to stalk me?”
“My name is Kirishima Eijirou. I came up to explore!” Eijirou proudly declares.
The merman stares at him for a bit before stating, “Bakugou Katsuki. Did you just want to explore this reef and crawl back down?”
“I wanted to see all the places my friends described. I still haven’t seen any kelp forests or other places yet.”
Suddenly, that clawed grip is back on him, wrapping carefully around the spikes on his arm and tugging him away from the reef. Bakugou looks back at him when he doesn’t follow. “Fucking come on already. If you want to explore, I’ll take you to those places. I definitely know them better than you. And there’s no way you’d survive for long on your own.”
Eijirou smiles, delightfully surprised by this outcome. He thought he’d stay as a silent observer until Bakugou never came back. This is far better than he expected. Eijirou twists his arm until Bakugou lets go and grabs his hand instead. His smile stretches further at Bakugou’s red face. As Bakugou guides him away, Eijirou hopes these explorations never end.