An Unlikely Pairing

Three

"Hey!" Eijiro exclaimed before he snatched Katsuki's phone. "Do you know someone named ____?"

"So she's back? I'll be right over." Then, Denki hung up.

"De-ki," ___ muttered sadly.

"Denki's coming here," Katsuki said.

"Coming here?" ___ paused for a moment, then, she understood and she smiled, dimples adorned her chubby cheeks.

"Aw, her smile is so cute!" Eijiro exclaimed.

"_____, watch some TV until Denki gets here," Katsuki said as he turned on the TV.

"Tv?" ___ repeated as she looked over at the large TV plastered on the wall.

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

"Yo!" Denki exclaimed as he walked into their apartment. Once she heard his voice, _____ stood up. "De-ki! You're back!"

Katsuki and Eijiro looked at ____ in shock. "What the hell?" Katsuki said.

"____!" Denki exclaimed before he hugged her and lifted her up. "It's been so long!"

"Oi, dunce face! You got some explaining to do."

"How do you two know ____? Why is she here- shouldn't you be home?"

_____ shook her head. "Home," she muttered. "Suffocating."

"We were hoping you could tell us about her," Eijiro said. "When she saw your picture she said your name. How do you know her? What do you know about her?"

____ sat on the couch between Denki and Katsuki.

"Well, I first met her like 10 years ago, when my family went to Mexico with Sero's family. I was 8 or 9, and she seemed to be around my age. She didn't talk much, and she would just randomly appear on the beach whenever I was there."

"Did you know she was a mermaid?" Eijiro said.

"Not at first, then, the day before I went home, I saw her. She crawled out of the ocean, then let out a scream. Her flipping tail came off, then she changed! It was like painful magic. I told my mom but she never believed me." Denki sighed. "In junior year, I saw her again, but this time she knew a little bit of English, so we talked... kind of. She's like super smart, and catches on to languages so fast! I was going to teach her to read, but she just disappeared one day."

"That makes sense, she's learning more English as she watches more TV," Eijiro said.

Denki turned and looked at ____. "Why did you leave?"

She paused for a moment. "Human hurt," she paused for a moment and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Did someone hurt you?" Denki said.

_____ shook her head. "Not me. Someone else."

"In your family?"

____ nodded. "Uh, brother?" She said, unsure if that was right.

"I thought you had a sister?"

"Yes! Sister! Human hurt sister, so family leave. Family suffocating, so I leave," she paused to take a breath. "Find Katsuki."

"Looks like she's taking a liking to you, bro," Denki said with a chuckle. "When did you meet her?"

"I saw her when you idiots pushed me down that cave, then she appeared at work today. I think she was watching us on the island too."

____ nodded. "I did!"

"Creep," Katsuki scoffed.

"Katsuki creep," she said back.

Eijiro and Denki laughed. "So, ____. How long are you staying? Also, you guys gotta keep her hydrated with seawater."

"We'll fill the tub for her!" Eijiro exclaimed.

"What does she eat?" Katsuki said.

"Not sure what she eats in the sea, but she likes pizza, bacon, hot dogs, and fried chicken."

"You were just feeding her shit, huh?"

"I wanted to know what she liked to eat! Look, that's beside the point. You guys should just let her watch some TV, she should be pretty fluent in English in a little while, as long as you don't turn on no baby stuff."

"She's been watching Naruto. I think that's good enough?" Eijiro said.

"Maybe," Denki said. "Turn on something educational, or more modern."

"Dr. Stone? Or... How about she picks what she wants?"

"Yes!"

~~~A few hours later~~

____ was on her second box of pizza, when Katsuki walked out of the bathroom in a towel.

"Oooo," ___ said. "Sexy Jutsu!"

"I- what the hell?!" Katsuki said.

"I think she just called you sexy," Eijiro said with a chuckle.

"I doubt she even knows what that means," Katsuki said with an eye roll. "Anyways, ____. The tub is filled with water if you want to take a soak. We're gonna go to bed." He showed her his room and Eijiro's room, then they went to bed.

Hours later, ____ got up from the couch and walked into the bathroom. She sat in the tub. There wasn't enough sea salt in the water, so she didn't completely transform. Her skin turned a blue color and the webbing partially held her fingers together. She let out a soft sigh in relief, then climbed out of the tub.

"Katsuki," she muttered as she walked into his room, leaving a trail of water through the apartment. She climbed into his bed, still completely wet, and snuggled up next to him.

"Night night."