The reef glittered in the sunlight as Katsuki made his way through the calm waters. He was headed to his friend's dwelling, a rockfish named Kirishima. Other inhabitants of the reef darted out of his way, naturally afraid of the lionfish's poisonous spines and aggressive attitude.

"Tch, they better get out of my damn way," Katsuki muttered as another group darted into their dwelling.

He was use to their reactions. His fiery temper and aggressive behavior was well known around the reef and most mermaids avoided him as if he was a shark swimming by. Well almost everyone, when Katsuki first arrived at the reef everyone was too scared to approach him. Then one day Kirishima was brave enough to ask why he was there.

After that he wouldn't leave Katsuki alone and a couple more mermaids dared to approach him. First it was a clown fish named Kaminari, Katsuki thought the guy had taken one too many stings from the anemone he called home. After that there was a pink sea bream named Mina and a black and white angelfish called Sero. They rag tag group all befriended him quickly no matter how hard he tried to drive them away. The four of them had won him over and he had never felt more at home on the reef.

He made it to the cave that Kirishima called home and called out. "Oi, weird hair, you home?"

"Bakugou, I wondered when you were going to show up!" Kirishima called back. The red colored merman appeared from deep inside the cave and gave his surly friend a warm smile. "I figured you would be by today. Are you going to head over to Mina's party?"

Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Why the hell would I go to a party? All it will be is a bunch of noisy losers."

"No true, Kaminari and Sero will be there," Kirishima countered.

"My point exactly,"

"Come on Dude, it won't be any fun without ya!" Kirishima panted him on the back.

"You're the only one who will think that," Katsuki scowled.

Kirishima looked at his friend with concern. It was true that most of the merpeople on the reef didn't like having Katsuki around.

"Who cares, let's go have fun with our friends! I know they all want you there."

Katsuki looked back up at his friend and sighed. "Anything to get you to shut up,"

"Sweet! Let's head over there now!" Kirishima said as he started swimming towards Mina's place while Katsuki reluctantly followed.

They could hear the music and people talking before they even got close to Mina's dwelling. Once they arrived the pink mermaid rushed out to meet both of them pulling Kirishima into a big hug. Katsuki wrinkled his nose when she gave his friend a kiss.

"Oh, come on, Bakugou, we have been dating for a while now and you still look like you are going to gag," Mina teased.

"That doesn't mean I want to see you two swap spit every time you see each other," Katsuki snorted.

"You're just jealous," Mina retorted.

"Jealous?"

"Yep, I bet you wish you had a girl of your own,"

"No way in hell. Besides all of the females on this reef won't get within 20 feet of me," Katsuki growled.

"I don't know man, one day you might just run into a girl that actually likes you," Kirishima said.

"Fat chance in hell," Katsuki scoffed.

"You are probably right," Mina huffed. "If she got past those spines of yours, your personality would definitely scare her off."

"Go to hell!" Katsuki yelled.

"Yeah, yeah but first I'm gonna dance with Eijiro. Come on Sweetheart!" Mina said as she dragged Kirishima away.

Bakugou floated there glaring at any one who dared to look his way. He was just about to turn around and leave when a flash of light hit his eyes. He blinked and turned to look at what blinded him when bands of white and black caught his eye.

He saw Ochaco, an angelfish that was one of Mina's friends, trying to drag another mermaid out from behind a rock.

"Come on, Kia, it will be fun I promise. Just come out pleeeease," Ochaco begged.

Katsuki's eyes widened as the mermaid came out from behind the rock. She was a lionfish just like him but with the strangest coloring he had ever seen. Unlike his tail, which was covered in the usual red and gold stripes, hers sported bands in blue and purple as well as the normal white and black ones. He had met a few female lionfish in his travels but never one as beautiful as the one he saw now. Her long spines flared slightly at her annoyance with her friend while her tail swept gracefully through the water. He clear fins spread proudly showing off even more of her deadly spines.

"No one is going to want a lionfish around," Kia said while giving Ochaco a pointed look.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Ochaco giggled before leading Kia towards a group of her friends.

Katsuki's chest felt tight as he watched the lovely lionfish introduce herself to the others.

"Oooo, looks like the love boat is setting sail!"

Katsuki turned to see Kaminari and Sero smiling at him.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Katsuki snapped.

"We saw how you were looking at that other lionfish," Sero waggled his eyebrows.

"Shut the hell up!" Bakugou blustered, turning away to hide the blush spreading across his cheeks.

"Dude, I don't blame you," Kaminari said while putting a hand on his shoulder. "That female is fine; I would risk getting stuck with those spines."

"Why don't we go introduce ourselves?" Sero suggested.

"Go introduce yourself, I'm outta here!" Bakugou snapped, he spines flaring out in his anger. What he didn't realize was that his outburst had drawn everyone's attention, including the female lionfish.

%%%%%

Kia stared in shock at the sight of another lionfish at the party. He was currently yelling at two other fish that were just smiling and laughing at him. His long spines were flared out in anger showing of his impressive arsenal as well as his deep red and gold coloring.

"His name is Katsuki Bakugou," Mina smiled as she and Kirishima swam up to Kia. "He has a hot temper but he is a really nice guy once you give him a chance. I'm Mina by the way."

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Kia" Kia introduced herself.

"I'm Eijiro Kirishima, have you been at the reef long?" Kirishima asked.

"No, I just swam in the day before yesterday. Ochaco was kind enough to offer me a place to stay." Kia replied.

"Well welcome to the reef! I hope you like it here!" Mina smiled.

"Are you sure? Most don't like having one lionfish around," Kia asked looking over at where Katsuki was still yelling at the other two.

"Of course we are sure!" Ochaco exclaimed.

Kia continued to stare at Katsuki and Ochaco and Mina exchanged looks.

"He is a handsome fish isn't he?" Mina asked.

"Yeah," Kia replied absent mindedly before realizing what she had said. "I'm mean..." she blushed.

"Do you want us to introduce you?" Mina asked.

"Uhm…" Kia hesitated.

"Come on!" Ochaco smiled grabbing Kia's hand and swimming towards Katsuki.

%%%%%

"Are you scared to talk to her?" Kaminari teased the already pissed off Katsuki.

"You can go fucking belly up for all I care!" Katsuki bristled.

"To think the big bad lionfish is afraid of a female!" Sero laughed.

Katsuki could feel his temper about to explode when someone called out behind him. Spinning around he saw Ochaco and Mina heading in his direction with the female lionfish right behind them. Immediately his anger took a back seat as his heart started pounding for a different reason.

"We want to introduce you to someone!" Mina smiled as they reached him.

"This is Kia, she is new to the reef," Ochaco moved aside.

"Hi..." Katsuki muttered.

"Hello, it is nice to meet you," Kia replied.

"You know I was supposed to show Kia around the reef tomorrow but I forgot that I had a thing I was supposed to do. Could you show her around instead?" Ochaco asked.

"I could show you around if you want?" Kaminari interjected and Sero reached out and punched him in the shoulder.

Mina swam over and put her arm around Kaminari's shoulder while fixing him with an angry stare. "No you can't, remember you have to do that one thing."

"What one thing?" Kaminari asked and Sero punched him again. "Oh, yeah, that thing!"

"It's ok, you don't have to show me around if you don't want to. I don't know if I will be staying very long," Kia said to Katsuki.

"Why not?" The others coursed together.

"Well, I don't want to cause any problems," Kia smiled softly.

"Who cares, you should stay as long as you want," Katsuki growled.

"Thanks, its Katsuki right?" Kia grinned.

Katsuki grunted and turned away. "I can show you around tomorrow if you want," he muttered.

"Sure," Kia replied. "Where would you like to meet?"

"You're staying with round face?" Bakugou asked and Kia nodded. "I will pick you up there, be ready." He said before swimming away.

"See you in the morning then," Kia called after him.

Sero and Mina high fived behind Kia's back and Ochaco did a happy dance. It looked like their meddling might pay off.