AN: The Kacchako community over on Twitter is seriously not helping with the FEELS. I've never participated in MerMay before and thought it'd be fun to (before the month is over) with my own take on the mermaid fun!

So this was inspired by one of my all-time favorite mermaid movies growing up – Aquamarine. And of course, from my own travels, having gotten the chance to experience one of the bioluminescent bays over in Puerto Rico. So… uhh… yeah! I don't know how long this story will be – as I never do with most of my stories – but it'll be a fun journey no less!

Note: I haven't done this in years since I feel like no one really cares? But I thought I'd include/create a summer/beach playlist with each chapter having one song/artist to check out!

Today's song: Magic Ways by Tatsuro Yamashita.

Summary: Izuku and Mel are cousins who have always been together since they could remember but with Mel's father getting a promotion, she's moving away soon. One last summer isn't nearly enough time for them to complete their wish list. That is until they discover a mermaid and help her gain Katsuki's attention. Mr. Dreamboat himself – surfer, lifeguard, grill master supreme and oh, Izuku's frenemy. Kacchako. Slight Tododeku/Kirimina.

Happy reading~ :D

Magic Waves

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What The Storm Brings

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For as long as he could remember, they've always been together. From watching the ocean's waves gently dispersing right as they crashed into the breakwater.

To bouncing up and down as they got to experience a lighthouse for the very first time.

To sneaking off after their bedtimes to run off towards the tide pools to explore them.

To scaring off the squawking seagulls and helping baby sea turtles make a safe journey towards the water.

Their starting days were as innocent and wondrous as the frosty reflection of kaleidoscope patterns shining through smooth sea glass.

It's in those unforgettable sunsets with its cool ocean mist that two children squish their toes into soft warm brown sand. Sitting side by side as fits of giggles take over their tiny bodies. Plucking sticky black watermelon seeds from their cheeks that they promise each other a promise of always.

"We'll always be together no matter what, Izu-chan!" his cousin, Melissa giggles as she laughs at Izuku placing watermelon seeds on top of his freckles to entertain her.

"Always and forever!" he tells her with a gleam in his eyes as he cheerfully smiles at her.

"I'll race you!" Melissa gets up, quickly finishing her slice of watermelon before running off towards the shallow water with its calm waves gently bringing in kelp seaweed onto the shore.

"Hey, no fair!" Izuku groans as he smushes the sticky piece of fruit entirely in his mouth as he runs towards her with stuffed chubby cheeks.

That had been when they were seven and nine.

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"Izu-chan, come on in! The water feels amazing!" a nineteen-year-old Melissa calls out, using up her first try of the summer day to get her cousin into the ocean's water. She was floating in the water with the help of a blue pool noodle.

"Maybe later!" a seventeen-year-old Izuku calls out from his spot by the tide pools. He was currently fishing for mussels, clams, and oysters with a green bucket.

She knew that 'maybe later' meant never. He usually made up creative excuses before she exhausted him with a straight up 'Mel, no' type of response. She supposes, she can't blame him. At least not today of all days. Marking the fifth anniversary of both their mothers accident.

Both teenagers never spoke about it, never brought it up, and never wanted to relive that horrific day. Still unsure if their mothers had survived the wreckage as the coast guard had only found the ship but a small part of them hoped and prayed that someday their lives would feel complete again.

Unlike her cousin, Melissa accepted the pain. She decided to move on and not blame the ocean for what had happened. She was going to become a marine biologist after all, she couldn't afford to live in fear. But Izuku… her sweet Izuku had taken it so hard that he grew to fear all bodies of waters that had no safety net. He'd only ever swim in the pool and even that was a stretch, especially when the tsunamis would bring in ocean water and sea creatures into the pool of their fathers shared little seaside café.

"We should head back soon. I'm almost done collecting enough for Uncle Dave's dinner surprise!" Izuku calls out from behind the second tide pool he's scavenged.

Melissa rolls her eyes knowing that her dad's 'dinner surprise' was short for 'we're having Italian tonight because cooking pasta in a simple lemon wine sauce tossed with shellfish is the fastest meal I can make.' That's how most of their dinners have been lately ever since David got the news that his research got approved for funding and would be sending him and Melissa off to the coral reefs of Australia for at least three whole years.

It was an amazing opportunity for Melissa and she was so proud and excited for her father but she couldn't leave Izuku. With everything that had happened, she couldn't leave without knowing he'd be fine on his own. Over the years they had created a wish list of all the things they wanted to do together and ever since they both lost their mothers – the list just grew from there. But the biggest thing she hoped to cross off her list was to get Izuku to overcome his fear of the ocean and to learn to love it again.

He used to love swimming with the dolphins and feeding the migrating sea lions.

Melissa swam back to shore guiding her pool noodle as she dropped it on the wet sand and silently thanked Izuku when he tossed her a towel.

"A big storm's coming" he said as he watched past her figure towards the rocking buoys in the distance. He had always been good at guessing these types of things, especially during summer typhoon season.

"You know what that means" she tells him as they could already hear howling coming from a group of teenagers in the distance.

"Yeeep. Kacchan's gonna be out there soon" he nods as they start making their way back to the other side of the beach.

As they walked back to the crowded part of the beach, they saw a tall blond-haired muscular male with a black inked bicep wrap tattoo of crashing ocean waves on his left arm. He was wearing black swimming trunks with a green waistband and an orange x-mark across the design. On his neck, he had a necklace made out of various sizes of jagged shark teeth. He was bent over, making sure the black velcro band of his orange surfboard was secure as he tugged on the leash to make sure it wouldn't snap off – getting ready to catch a big wave.

Next to him was a pair – a red-haired male wearing red swimming trunks with a scattered white hibiscus design, wearing a cowrie shell necklace and getting ready to follow the blond with his own purple surfboard. Next to him a young woman with wild pink hair, wearing a cheetah print bikini, and using a wooden table to wax her hot pink surfboard before following the ready duo.

"They sure got guts" Melissa comments as she and Izuku enter the side 'employee only' gated entrance leading straight into the kitchen of the café. "We're back!" they both call out in unison knowing they'd get nothing but silence in return. The café was closed on Sunday's.

Izuku places his filled bucket on the countertop, water sloshing to the floor with the motion. "Didn't your dad say he'd be here?" Izuku asks when a few seconds pass them and all they can hear is the electricity buzzing from the refrigerator.

"Knowing him… he's probably at home packing" she sighs with a slight annoyance. It was hard to be happy about moving away when she already had plans with Izuku and her dad just decided to drop the big news bomb on her not even a week ago. She was secretly unpacking finished boxes to slow down the process but knew that her dad would catch on pretty quickly to her tactics.

"Should we go check?" he suggests tilting his head towards the home part of their café. The place was split between work and home. But it hadn't always been like that. The café was a lifelong dream of their fathers but it didn't turn into a reality until five years ago. Melissa's dad David and Izuku's dad Toshinori thought they could help each other out both financially and emotionally if they all moved in together after the accident. It was then, that Izuku and Toshinori's home was expanded and converted into what it is now.

"Nah, knowing him, he's probably forgotten its his night to make dinner" she shrugs, somewhat relieved to change up the menu for once.

"Guess I'll just clean up these mollusks and save them for later" Izuku deeply sighs.

"Worry about that later 'cuz I am here to save dinner!" a loud booming voice echoes throughout the kitchen as they see a tall figure walk in, face being hidden behind several boxes of pizza and a plastic bag on top. "Izu, can you please get the bag on top? I don't want the ice cream to melt any further!"

"Our hero!" Melissa laughs as she helps her Uncle Toshi unload the boxes onto the counter.

"Yeah dad, seriously what's up with the extra boxes?" Izuku quirks an eyebrow at him. He knows his dad could easily eat almost all of these by himself but he usually only ever bought three boxes at most, not ten.

"Nemuri has a thing for me" Toshinori replies as if it's no big deal.

"You're gonna run Midnight's Pizzeria out of business one of these days, Uncle Toshi!" Melissa playfully teases as the burly man blushes.

"Ew" Izuku deadpans as he moves his bucket and goes to place the plastic bag with a gallon of melting ice cream into the freezer.

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Later that evening, things have settled down in the Yagi-Midoriya/Shield household.

David had made a rare appearance apologizing for skipping their family dinner but sounding stressed out that he couldn't find some of his framed certificates that he was sure he had stacked and placed on his office desk. Melissa lied, putting on her best act to show her concerns and reassuring her dad that he'd eventually find them but in truth, she's the one who hid them somewhere up in the attic.

Toshinori made his way downstairs towards the café to make sure everything was locked since he felt the big storming coming just as his son did.

Ever since the news of the move to Australia, Melissa didn't like sleeping in her own room and would have sleepovers with Izuku in his.

"Ready for bed or are we binge watching movies?" Melissa lightly knocks on his door as she makes her way into the cozy nautical themed room.

"Movies, kinda wanna drown out the noise of the storm" he honestly tells her, having grown uncomfortable by the rattling winds and the downpour of angry rain. He was sitting in his windowsill's little sofa mat, currently looking out his window at the bleary little dot outside in the waves. He was pretty sure that was Katsuki.

"Is he still out there?" she questions when she sees his focus was narrowed, trying to keep his gaze locked onto their crazy neighbor.

"I can't tell if he's fearless or just a dumbass" Izuku bemuses, still in disbelief that the blond would be crazy enough to surf in high tides.

"Isn't Eijirou and Mina still out there with him?" she asks while lightly slapping the ball of his shoulder to get him to scoot over so they can both sit and watch.

"They ditched him about twenty minutes ago" he tells her from his observations, "I wonder what's so special that he'd risk his life" he frowns. It never did sit well with him that Katsuki was this reckless no matter how much of a rocky friendship they may have.

"He likes surfing surrounded by the bioluminescent organisms" she answers as he turns to give her a look. "What, just because you two don't see eye-to-eye doesn't mean he ignores me" she shrugs as she goes back to window-watching.

"Gee, thanks" Izuku grumbles, "let's watch a movie now"

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Eighteen-year-old Katsuki is a daredevil at heart.

Two of his best friends had chickened out on him once their phones kept sounding off with alarms, alerting them that this incoming storm was going to get dangerous but there was just something magical about catching the big waves during the full moon's larger ocean tides.

That, and seeing the little organisms react to the drastic movement caused the oceans to glimmer and glow in a beautiful turquoise shade.

He hates admitting when his friends were right for once. The dropping temperature of the water was starting to chill his bones, also doesn't help that he wasn't wearing better gear. The tides were starting to become unstable but he wanted to at least catch one big wave to glide across.

Instead he caught a hollow wave and then tried again as he wiped his face from the salty water. Trying once last one, he figured he'd settle on a beach break – getting ready for the wave to lead him back to the shores but something happened.

"Ah, shit!" he manages to shout before failing to catch the sudden jerk of the water causing him to wipeout. He furiously twirls around in the glowing waters with his eyes wide opened but unable to see anything past splotches of flickering lights and darkness once he regained his balance.

Katsuki knew for sure he broke his surfboard's leash with the sudden rush. Luckily, he hadn't tumbled into any sharp rocks or got caught in sea grass.

As he swam up towards the surface to his board while holding his breath, he felt something slither across his side causing him to momentarily freeze up. He knew it was super rare for a shark to find its way lost in a storm or even close to their shores but anything could go.

In that moment, all he's focused on is getting the hell out of the water as he resurfaced while coughing up a storm and spat out the excess salty water from his mouth. He got back on his slippery surfboard and hurriedly returned before he'd find himself in serious trouble with mother nature.

Little did he know that a pink creature had accidentally bumped into him and caused him to wipeout.

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The pink creature, the 'shark' doesn't know how, but found herself being taken into the mainland – along with seaweed, small fishes, and crustaceans by the strong pull of the ocean's tides.

She landed straight into the swimming pool of a small little café owned by the fathers of two cousins.

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Done! To be continued.

Oh? A pink creature? A shark, perhaps? Hm, I do wonder what it is!

Ahh, I'm so stoked to really get into creating this world!

Note: I personally don't ship Dekulissa because I see their dynamic working more as being family-like. (To each their own, I say. Ship whatever makes your heart happy!) So yeah, this is my first time really fleshing out their relationship and so far, it's been interesting and a lot of fun! And I also lowkey might have a soft spot for DaveMight but! This isn't that kind of story. I promise no angst – especially with what I wrote about what happened to Inko and Mama Shield. Just… bear with me here.

I absolutely have no personal experience nor knowledge on surf waves or really that much about surfers in general so I hope it came off as sounding natural!

I don't own Izuku Midoriya, Melissa Shield, Katsuki Bakugou, Ochako Uraraka and all other characters mentioned or those that will be used in this fic – Boku No Hero Academia is owned by Kohei Horikoshi.

I just own the idea/plot/story/whatever you want to call it~ lol :P

Please do review! Follows and Alerts tell me that you guys are at least interested in the story but reviews really let me hear out what your feedback and personal opinions on my stories are!

If anyone is afraid to leave reviews due to language difference - please don't be! I can fluently read Spanish and partial French! :) And hey, that's why Google translate was invented after all! LOL.