"Tedium in Blue" Bakugou x Reader Merman! AU

Chapter 3

The jarring shock of seeing a literal fishman with your own eyes distracted you from the fact that your phone slipped from your shaking hands.

"Wh- oh SHIT NO!" Your fingertips glanced off the plastic case as it fell towards the water. But right before it was lost to the salty depths under the pier, the merman reached forward and caught it easily.

His hands were now visible to you, a thin membrane of webbing connecting each finger, small claws replacing normal human fingernails. His tail was long and strong, ending in a fin similar to a whale or dolphin's. Delicate fins adorned the sides of the tail not unlike silk as they moved effortlessly in the water. His scales were various shades of orange dotted with flecks of shimmering gold and black as the tail wound up his body and ended around his waist as he transformed into a mostly human-looking man. Your brain was firing at rapid speeds in an attempt to process a hundred unanswered questions at once: were you dreaming? Was this some excessively elaborate prank put on by some Youtubers trying to humiliate an unsuspecting onlooker with a professional actor? Was he related to the Loch Ness Monster? Has he ever interacted with people before? Why did he have nipples since fish aren't mammals? Why was a man with a fish tail more attractive than ninety-nine percent of the normal people you saw on a daily basis? But you shook your head free of bizarre questions to focus on the task at hand, even if it was a dream: getting your phone back.

The merman held the phone in his webbed hands, turning it around and peering at it suspiciously, holding it up to his nose to smell it. He scrunched up his face in apparent disgust at whatever it smelled like, holding it away from him like something diseased. You waved your arms frantically below you to get his attention before he dropped it casually into the water.

"H-hey! Uh...please give that back? Shit, you probably...don't know words. Uh..." He looked at you curiously, holding the phone inches above the water. You pointed towards the phone in his hand, then back to you. You repeated the action, his red eyes following your motions. One clawed finger pointed at the phone, then back to you in some sort of confirmation - you nodded.

A wicked smirk appeared on his face revealing fanged teeth as he pretended to drop the phone into the water.

"No! No, please don't!" You growled out with the realization that he was aware you wanted the device back - but he wouldn't hand it over easily. "How do I reason with a merman? I was not prepared for this today..." You sighed out with exasperated frustration. Just then you remembered the vendor food in your hand. Of course you'd hang on to food and not your phone...typical. But maybe you could make a wager.

You dangled the hashimaki over the water, watching him carefully as his red eyes tracked your hand like a predator assessing a threat. He swam easily towards the food, nose turned upwards sniffing the salty air. His eyes widened - apparently it smelled better than your phone - his empty hand reaching up out of the water towards the food. But you pulled it away at the last second.

He growled, bearing his sharp teeth at you, the blonde hair on the back of his neck standing on end. As attractive as he was, the angry look on his face was honestly a bit scary...but you had to see this plan through. You pointed towards your phone, then back at yourself; then from the hashimaki back to him. His scowl subsided only slightly as he followed your hand back and forth. You slowly lowered the food back down towards the water, hoping that he understood what you were after as you held out your other free hand for the phone.

Red eyes narrowed as he swam back towards you, suspicious that you'd take the food away at the last second again. The fingers of your free hand wiggled expectantly, pointing again at your phone. Raising up out of the water he finally held out the device to you, your fingers brushing against his webbed hand as he set it down in your palm before quickly snatching the hashimaki out of your hand and retreating back to a safe distance.

Glad to finally have your phone back you set it on the pier before watching curiously as he sniffed again at the snack before poking a tongue out to taste it. After a second his fanged mouth opened wide to shove nearly all of it in his mouth at once, ignoring the etiquette of chewing in favor of nearly swallowing it whole, making you laugh. He looked at you with a low growl before promptly disappearing underneath the water's surface.

"Agh shit...I have so many questions! That you probably can't answer vocally!" Your eyes scanned across the dark water, but the sun was long gone, the streetlamps and moon your main sources of light now. There was no movement aside from the shifting ebb and flow of water against the creaky wooden pillars of the pier.

You'd just seen a REAL MERMAN and now he was gone...you didn't even snap a picture first. Groaning you waited around for a few more minutes before letting out a heavy sigh. Before you stood up to leave, however, a loud splash echoed off to your left. Shifting your eyes to the side your vision was clouded with the sight of the merman leaning casually on the edge of the pier, his arms folded on the damp wood holding him up out of the water as he peered at you curiously. Despite the lack of light, the scales on his shoulders and arms shimmered brilliantly like stardust. You ducked your head under the pier quickly to see he was, indeed, dangling out of the water, the tip of his tail splashing back and forth against the surface. Well, with arm muscles like that you supposed he would have good upper body strength.

Still laying on your stomach you slowly crawled towards him - not too close to touch, but close enough to get a better look at what you could only describe as a mythical creature. He watched your movement with sharp eyes, his own curiosity mirrored back at you. You noticed the clean hashimaki stick laying next to him - apparently he hated littering on the beach, too.

It took your breath away how beautiful he really was up close, even with all the weird fish parts, the human areas of him were...conventionally gorgeous. You chuckled lightly to yourself, thinking back to stories of fantasy and fairy tales. "Never thought I'd come face-to-face with a legend...are there more like you, or is it a tragic tale of loneliness?" you wondered aloud, his glistening eyes watching the movements of your lips making your face feel warm. A webbed hand reached out slowly towards one of your own. You mirrored his movements, fingers hovering over the weather-worn wood of the pier. When your fingers touched his, a spark went down your spine all the way down to your toes making your breath hitch in your throat.

His skin was cool to the touch and lightly textured like high grit sandpaper. Fingers wove in and out experimentally between your own, curious at the lack of webbing. He seemed surprisingly comfortable with being this close to you, so you had to imagine he'd come in contact with humans previously, at least from afar. While you focused on his imaginary backstory, a claw trailed delicately down to your wrist, a wet finger pressing on your pulse point feeling your heart beat through your skin. The calm of the moment was broken when his head snapped to the side, the curious look on his face replaced with a scowl as he let go of your hand, suddenly sliding back and dropping back into the water with a splash.

A blinding light flitted across your face from down on the pier. An officer on patrol across the beach spotted you, the lone civilian, splayed out on the pier. Questioning your intentions, you quickly muttered out a lie that you came out to relax but fell asleep on accident. He ushered you up, saying you shouldn't be out alone, it's too dark, blah blah blah. Reluctantly you gathered up your things and followed the officer down the pier back towards the beach. Turning your head one last time towards the water, a speck of blonde hair bobbed just above the surface, red eyes watching you leave. You gave a small wave behind your back, wondering if the gesture for "see you later" was universal.