"What do you mean, you want to be the one to go to the surface?!"
"You heard what I said, you urchin!"
Katsuki and his mother glared daggers at each other over the dinner table. Neither budged when the Chief-Husband picked up their empty plates. Nor when he put them away and sat back down on his plush sponge.
He sighed. "Aren't you going to ask why he wants to go, dear?"
That made her break first; she glanced at him and her expression softened. Her posture opened up as she uncrossed her arms and relaxed. She said, "Okay, Katsuki. Lay it on me."
Katsuki chewed on his lower lip and considered how to spin his words correctly. "This is too important. I don't—I don't trust anyone else to do it," he declared.
His dad lay his hand on top of his. "Son, a vital part of leading is learning to put trust into other people. And if you don't think they're up to the task, you have to teach them." He rubbed small circles into his skin. "You already have a job here."
"No, you don't understand! It has to be me," Katsuki said reactively.
His parents looked at each other, like they were having a silent exchange, and then back at him. "Why?" his mum asked.
Because it's Deku, his mind insisted. "Because… because… I want to know how to form relationships with the human world. If I'm going to be a leader who reopens the kinds of trading partnerships we had two hundred years ago, I need to know what I'm dealing with."
Their eyes widened. "You've never mentioned that before," she said.
"But it does make sense, considering…" his dad remarked.
Katsuki's anger flared up at the idea he was coming to and he shouted, "Well, obviously, I'm gonna mention it when we can't even get a few measly ingredients for the most important fucking spell we've ever had to cast!"
His mum slammed her hands on the table, fiercely responding, "Yeah, well, we fully support this decision anyway and I'm really proud of you and this maturity you're showing, and I think you should definitely go to the surface!"
Katsuki bared his teeth to argue back before realising she had actually agreed with him in her eardrum-shattering voice. "…Right. Good."
"With you gone… Hawks's intel can buffer us from unexpected attacks," Masaru said, stroking his jawline.
"And we can put Kirishima and Ashido on extra patrols," Mitsuki finished, having calmed down.
"We'll go through all the information Yaoyorozu shared with me about the list, too. So…when do you want to go, son?"
Determination filled Katsuki's heart. "As soon as possible."
The mages' hut skeeved Katsuki out. Jars filled with animals, shells, seaweeds, minerals and miscellaneous debris were piled high on the shelves covering every wall. In the centre of the giant, carved out brain coral, a vent spewed out black billows of hot magmatic water, which floated up and dissipated out of the open ceiling. He kept his distance and stared at the two women flanking the vent.
Yaoyorozu had a more casual look today, her untied hair floating gently in the warm water currents swirling around. "So, what can we do for you, Chief-Son Bakugou?"
"Is the humanising spell ready?" he asked.
She clasped her hands together and said, "Actually, it is! We can cast it whenever you need us to."
"Isn't Yaoyorozu amazing?" Midnight preened. Her smile stretched the red facial markings around her eyes. "She works so quickly, it's like she can make spells out of thin water."
"W-well, once you have the inherent magical properties of most materials memorised, the assembly itself is rather straight-forward," she said, scratching the back of her head and blushing.
The older woman chuckled. "Trust me, that is no small feat."
"Aha, I, um…" Yaoyorozu cleared her throat. "S-so, Bakugou, who is going to the surface?"
"Me. I am," he said. The vent belched out a big plume of darkness and he glared at it. "So, can we get on with this already?"
"You are? And y-you want your legs right now?" she asked with widening eyes.
"No time like the present."
"Gosh, I—we need to get—just, bear with me for a moment."
Katsuki's tail flared out and his eyebrows lowered, sulking about having to stay in this freak-fest.
"I'll get the communicator," Midnight offered. "You start on the spell."
Yaoyorozu nodded and swam up to a shelf, picking out an armful of jars from various locations. The Head Mage exited out of the archway and disappeared into the hall housing other mages and their apprentices a short distance away.
"I cannot believe you are going so soon," the Vice-Mage remarked as she worked. She lined up all of the materials on the driftwood table next to her, swapping their order now and again. "But it is exciting, knowing that we can start to make progress towards our goal."
"You won't even notice I'm gone, Ponytail. There and back in a flash," he said, rubbing around the gills on his neck.
She mostly ignored him, humming and saying to herself, "And some ambergris for the potion conversation…" as she fiddled.
Midnight returned, holding two shells in her hands; one was a large, pink conch and the other was a small, matching clam tied to string. "I've got your communicator here. It's imbued with enough energy to last for months, so long as you use it sparingly."
"Tch." Katsuki swam over to take them from her, rolling them around in his hands.
As he backed up, he overheard Midnight, despite the low voice she used in Yaoyorozu's ear: "It's true, the Chief really did sign off on it."
"Hah? What the trench was that?!" he exploded. "Why do you think she wouldn't know?!"
Midnight held up her hands placatingly. "I do apologise, Bakugou. I was only surprised a man of your station would be asked on this mission."
"So what did you think I was doing? Running off on my own?" he growled, making a wide sweep of his arm that left bubbles in its wake.
"Well…"
He would have started tearing his hair out if he wasn't holding the communicator. Merpeople were always assuming that because he questioned and argued with his parents, loudly and often, he couldn't be trusted to follow their leadership. As if he was supposed to shut up and blindly follow orders just because he hadn't had his coming-of-age ceremony yet. "Fuck this, get the spell done, now."
Midnight floated there, nonplussed.
"Uh, right!" Yaoyorozu jumped to attention and got to work immediately.
She crowded up against the hydrothermal vent. The currents from the erupting rock twisted her long, dark hair into unruly movements; it flickered like black firelight across her face. She blew out a breath and quickly gathered it up into her signature ponytail, tying it off with the seaweed hairband from around her wrist. This done, she opened the first jar and flung the contents into the spewing structure. The bellows shone green. As she added more into the swirling vortex, it changed to red, purple, orange, forming a kaleidoscope of colours as she worked through almost every one of the jars. Katsuki watched on in silence.
Midnight held out a slim, elegant vial as Yaoyorozu added the last component, a mucus-like substance that made the magmatic water churn and condense until it was only a thin, white tendril. The older woman coaxed the tendril into the vial, where it settled and shimmered. She plugged it up with satisfaction.
"One humanising potion, ready to go," she announced, holding it out to Katsuki.
"Great. Now you just have to knock out a reversing potion and I'll be on my way."
Katsuki shifted his position, stretching out his tail across the sand on the empty beach. He took a moment to mentally say goodbye to it (for the time being). Looking at Deku's house on the hill, and its familiar red-tiled roof, he became resolute. The merman dug his potion out of the woven bag slung across his shoulder and squinted at it. Down in one.
"Let's fucking go," he said before he unplugged it and chugged it.
The effect was immediate. A great, splitting pain seared across his tail and he bent over himself and groaned, dropping the vial. At the same time, he choked as his gills closed up, feeling like his skin was squirming. He gasped and clutched his chest. The air filled his lungs and gradually gave him his breath back, but the strain on his lower half was just growing worse. He thrashed and clutched himself and winced until his tail divided into two and morphed into human legs. Katsuki panted in the aftermath, waiting until the pain became a memory.
He clenched his hands into fists and lifted his torso up. He managed to get one trembling leg underneath him, putting his weight onto it until it gave out on him.
"Fuck!" he shouted. As if things weren't bad enough already, he'd bitten his tongue during his fall. He seethed and started on his second attempt, sucking in his cheek. His arms held steadfast as his shitty, shaky limbs dug into the sand. This time, he got both of them where he wanted them. He started rising, and just got high enough for his fists to leave the ground before he ate shit again.
Katsuki spat out gritty sand. His face was hot with anger.
"Kacchan? What are you doing there?!" a voice said from above him. Izuku was running down the stone steps towards him.
He hastily moved into a sitting position, using his non-traitorous arms to do so and wipe his chest clean. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm here to fulfil our deal, dumbass!"
"It looks like you're pretending to be a baby deer, and—oh my god you're naked." His cheeks flushed a deep red and he tore off his tunic, sputtering, "Y-you shouldn't—my mum could have seen you, Kacchan!"
Izuku was shoving it in his direction, almost hitting him in the face because he wasn't even looking at him. Katsuki grabbed it with firm hands and dropped it onto his waist. "So?" he countered.
"S-so—so! So, I-I-I need to get you some clothes! Come on, let's, let's get you inside."
He reached out to put his arms around Katsuki but got swatted away. "I can do this myself, Deku."
"Oh, sure, I'm the useless one here," Izuku muttered as he stood, but then he glanced at Katsuki's form and his mouth snapped closed. His pupils wandered all around his eye sockets, staring anywhere but at him. Then, he decided to turn around and put his hands out to block his peripheral view, his back tense.
"What the trench is the big deal?" Katsuki said, managing to kneel as an unusually high tidal wave lapped at his feet. He splayed his fingers out wide and jerked his leg, getting one foot solidly on the ground.
"The b-big deal? You're, you're—I mean—it is not appropriate in human society, Kacchan. Gods, if my mum weren't away, it would be so embarrassing."
"For who?" He got his other foot down. He stretched out his legs, straightening them at the knees. The tunic fell off of his body and onto the sand by his bag.
"For—for—it just would be!" Izuku insisted. "And what on earth are you doing just turning up out of nowhere?!"
"I already told you I was coming, shitty nerd!" He rocked back onto his feet enough for his hands to leave the sand.
"You said 'I'll come to the surface soon,' Kacchan. Soon." The man peeked behind him and instantly turned his head back. "What was I supposed to do with that? How was I meant to know you'd show up in front of my house, today, like that?!"
He wasn't about to tell Izuku that his timeliness depended heavily on how much convincing his mother needed to let him shirk his responsibilities. It wasn't like the shrimp would be grateful he managed to win her over in a day.
Katsuki's hands touched the ground again as he slightly lost his balance. He growled and decided to commit to it, heaving himself up onto his feet. He was upright for two whole seconds before he careened forward, bringing Izuku down with him.
He let out a litany of swears; he'd bitten his tongue again, in the exact same place. Izuku groaned underneath him. Katsuki's nose was buried in his curly green hair, and when he breathed in, he got a whiff of his earthy smell.
"Ugh," he said as his tongue throbbed. He hauled himself off of Izuku, getting sand all over his thin white shirt. He knelt on the ground, impassive as Izuku got up and whined and complained.
"Is it just your goal to inconvenience me as much as possible whenever you see me?" he asked while trying to clean himself off.
"Yes," Katsuki told him.
"You obviously need help, so keep that tunic where I told you to, suck it up, and let me help you!"
"I'm fine!" he said, grabbing the piece of clothing and his bag so he could make a show of leaving on his own.
"No, you're not!" Izuku cried as he wrenched Katsuki's arm over his shoulder. Katsuki tried to pull himself away, but Izuku had his feet firmly planted and wouldn't budge. He brought them both to a stand with his hand around his waist, his strength surprising the blond. All that rowing must have been good for something.
Katsuki stewed in his own withering indignation. His legs were still shaky, but now that he had support, he was able to take his first step. Izuku took it with him. Neither of them made a sound save their grunts of effort as they crossed the beach. He leaned on Izuku less and less with every step, quickly adjusting to his new limbs so that he could get away from the asshole.
By the time the sand transitioned into rocky terrain, he was confident. Katsuki took his arm back, this time, without the same resistance. Izuku let go of his waist and stepped away. A free-standing moment passed. Then, Katsuki let out a triumphant "Haha!" and flung both his arms out to punch the air in celebration, his bag swinging wildly. Izuku squeaked, closed his eyes and put his hands around his face. Oh, right. Naked.
He brought his arms back down and cleared his throat. The other man cautiously peered out between his fingers, then emerged, reminding Katsuki of those hermit crabs he used to like so much.
"We really need to get you clothes already," he sighed.
Despite Katsuki's protests, Izuku forced his support onto him to climb the steps. He absolutely would have been fine going up them alone, but Izuku just had to be too damn impatient to get him inside, and after the minutes they spent making their way up the hill, the nerd was overcome with relief to be in the privacy of his own home. He threw various items of clothing Katsuki's way and rambled incoherently when he started changing right there and then. When he was dressed in thick boots, a dark pair of trousers with patchwork knees, a leather belt and a grey, long-sleeved shirt, Izuku started speaking almost normally again.
"So, can you explain to me again which materials we need to get?" he asked, opening up a satchel on the table.
Katsuki fished out the tablet from his bag and held it out. "Here, I've got a list."
Izuku took it, read through it and frowned. "This is way more complicated than you made it out to be."
"Maybe for an incompetent fisherman like you," he said, scratching the fabric irritating his skin all over.
"Kacchan!" Izuku scolded, waving the list around. "I thought these would be simple things we could pick up in Aldera! We're going to have to go to the city three days' walk away to get items this expensive. And I don't even know what some of these things are, like, 'miasny'? What is that?!"
Fuck. That was one of the mystery items. His mouth turned into a thin line, saying nothing.
"You don't know either! Oh, my gods."
"Listen, you piece of shit," he said, jabbing a finger his way. "I'm here on the surface with these stupid legs to get these items and I'm not leaving until I do, whether you're with me or not. So, if you're not willing to keep our deal, fuck off and leave it to someone who isn't gonna run away from a challenge."
Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. Alright. I will take you to the city, but after that, I'll have done enough to pay you back."
"Great. You know what, the less time I spend with you, the better," he growled. Moon, he wished Izuku would just stop pushing his buttons.
"Likewise," he said. "We should get a move-on already. We don't need to draw out this precious time together any more than we need to."
His sarcastic tone made Katsuki wonder where the anxious boy he used to know had gone. The one who was amazed at everything he did.
He shut that train of thought down as Izuku looked out the window and fretted, "Oh shoot, my mum might get back from the forest soon," and started rushing around the house.
The green-haired man moved at lightning speeds to collect and pack food, water-skins and other supplies into his satchel. The house was so tiny, it was a wonder he could manoeuvre as quickly as he did; he weaved around Katsuki and all the furniture with ease. As a home barely big enough for one person, it was a far cry from the wide-open rooms Katsuki was used to.
"What is all this, you trying to weasel out of saying bye to mama dearest?" he questioned as Izuku stuffed some bedding into his already-bulging satchel.
"Uhh, well, my mum may or may not know that I've committed myself to this quest and I may or may not want her to find out before I leave?" Izuku quavered. He swung the flap of the bag closed, hung it around his shoulder and huffed.
"Wait, what?"
"D-don't worry, I'm leaving her a note!" he said, pulling out a piece of paper from a small set of drawers and dipping a quill into an ink pot.
He scribbled furiously as Katsuki protested, "That is not what I—" then held it up with a frazzled "Done!"
He was speechless for a split-second at his speed and Izuku took full advantage of it by grabbing onto his hand and yanking him out of the door, throwing the page onto the table as he went.
Katsuki stumbled as they ran hand-in-hand along the coastal path but caught himself each time without falling. They headed away from the patch of forest by Izuku's house, away from the little vegetable garden and the white-wood fence and curved towards a plain dotted with wildflowers. In the distance, the foot-trodden path became a defined dirt road, next to which a stone metre marker sat. It was only when they got close enough for Katsuki to read "Aldera, 15 kilometres" that Izuku dropped his hand and came to a stop. He had a smile playing around his lips as he leaned on his knees and caught his breath. Katsuki's expression softened as he looked at him; their fatigue made everything feel looser.
"I can't believe I've gotten myself into this," Izuku said to himself. Then, he met his eyes with a half-laugh. "And look at you! You learned to run so quickly, Kacchan!"
Katsuki blinked and faced the open road ahead of them, pursing his lips to stop himself from doing something he'd regret. "Not like it's hard," he muttered.
The rest of their journey lay ahead of them along that dirt road.
But he really would be taking it with the boy he used to know.
