Sea Legs

Goodbye, You

"I'm sorry I called you ugly at first. You're actually very beautiful, Katsuki." Koge gave him a soft smile, running her hand along the smooth form of his tail. Sitting half in the water, the vibrant scales shimmered in the light of the setting sun. Resting on his stomach with his head on folded arms, Bakugou watched her, the end of his tail shifting about unconsciously in happiness from her touch. They had been like this for hours now since he changed, sitting on the beach in the shallow waters, unable to find it within themselves to part. When the tip of the sun touched the horizon is when they had promised to finally give in, and much to their dismay, that time was quickly approaching.

Bakugou gave a small scoff at the comment, rolling over onto his side, facing her with an arm propping up his head. "Damn right. I look even better underwater. You'll need to bring some goggles with you next time so you can see. Put that on your packing list." Placing his free hand on her leg, he slowly and tenderly ran it up her thigh, soaking in the feeling of her skin while he could. Koge's focus was still on his tail, lightly touching an older scar that was from a tussle he had with a shark. The thought of how badly he must have been injured to get that scar tugged at her heart, but she knew better than to think lowly of him in such a way. He wasn't weak.

"I'll remember that for sure. I'd love to get to swim around with you better than what I can. If you weren't around, I would have straight up drowned earlier." Taking her hand back to herself, Koge took a moment to put her wet hair up into a messy bun, tired of it sticking to her back. "You laughing at me didn't help, either!"

Snickering, Bakugou scooted closer to her, resting his chin on her thigh. "It looked funny. But don't go out that far again without me around. I'd rather not find you floating around face down or at the bottom of the reef." A small sigh escaped his lips as Koge stroked his hair gently, running her fingers through the semi dried blonde spikes. "I'm gonna miss that..."

"Miss what?"

"You playing with my hair. I like it more than I ever thought I would..." His voice trailed off as he stared out at the sunset, finding that they maybe only had another ten minutes before it vanished beneath the horizon. The silence that fell between them was heavy, and Koge refused to look up at the sun as he was. She thought that, just maybe, if she avoided looking at it the time would just never come. Time was subjective, after all. But, the sun's orbit was not. It was definitive, and no matter how much she refused to look, it would set. And he would be gone.

"Come out a bit deeper with me?"

His voice caught her attention, his crimson gaze soft enough to send her heart racing. With a nod, Koge followed him out into deeper water, stopping when it reached her chest. Bobbing in the water in front of her, Bakugou used gentle persuasion to urge her up against him, her arms wrapping around his neck and legs around his waist. His body was no longer warm like she had grown used to, but that mattered little at this point. Keeping her body pressed tightly into his, she kissed him softly, fighting back the hoard of tears that were pricking at the corners of her eyes.

She couldn't let them fall just yet. She had promised him not to shed a single tear until he was gone, and Koge had kept that promise for the entire day, spending it with him like she would have any other. It was odd to her, how much this entire situation made her want to just bawl her eyes out. That's how she knew her feelings for him were real, that her wanting to be with him wasn't superficial. Because, in her day to day life, she never cried. Someone could cuss in her face, call her names and belittle her to the lowest degree, and her eyes would never even tear up. But the thought of him leaving absolutely crushed her, to the point where she was unsure how she was even going to pull herself back together.

When the affection faded, Bakugou rested his forehead against hers, observing her face with a level of concentration that she couldn't quite understand. Though, she didn't have time to question him as he reached up to his neck, gripping both of his prized necklaces and pulling them up over his head.