So, my sickly ass has to go get tested for the Coronavirus today because I have the sniffles after a week of fever. Most likely nothing more than a sinus infection compounded with allergies since I've been cooped up in a house with five cats, two dogs, my grandma, and limited cleaning supplies. BUT OH WELL! I can't get back to work until I've been cleared so, here goes nothing.

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Learn To Breathe

Chapter 10

"So…" Midoriya started, dragging out the word with emphasis.

Bakugo smacked his lips together in response and tossed his head to the side, refusing to let Midoriya see the relieved flush on his face; he just knew he had some dopey grin plastered there. "Of course he fucking took it; I'm damn desirable, Deku."

Midoriya's smirk only grew at the statement since he was fully aware of just how nervous Bakugo had been risking getting rejected. The blonde went completely out of his way to appear hardened and invulnerable, shutting down any chance at even the most basic relationships with volatile behavior and a staunch refusal to open up. Midoriya and now Kirishima were probably the only two people in the world that knew about or at least suspected that Bakugo was sensitive and good-natured underneath all of his airs.

"Of course you are…" he replied silkily, "I've just never seen you so docile, that's all."

"AH? You want me to kick your ass again, Deku?" Bakugo snorted with his chest puffing out.

The smaller Mer chuckled and relaxed into the current they were being pulled by, imagining what their lives would be like one day. He couldn't wait to see what Shoto did on land; to try the foods and drinks the young Prince talked about and to wear 'pants'. What was once a far off dream seemed so close at that point, especially with Bakugo more on board with the whole situation.

"I uh…" The blonde started, his voice dropping low. "I told Eijiro that I'd…"

Midoriya turned to examine Bakugo, cocking an eyebrow. "You told him that you'd what?"

"You're going to want to learn how to do shit on land, eventually, right?" Bakugo stated, seemingly changing the subject as his surety returned. "Well, Eijiro is going to teach me how to walk around and other basics in return for getting sparing lessons. When I'm sure I can protect you, then you can start practicing."

"Smooth… Make it seem like this is all for me and my safety…" Midoriya snorted to himself in amusement, though outwardly he kept his face schooled. "That makes sense; I can't have a guard that doesn't know what they're doing."

The blonde's eye twitched at the comment but he otherwise ignored it, secretly grateful that Midoriya was letting him get away with pretending like the number one reason he was going on land wasn't for Kirishima.

"How are we going to do this shit though, Deku?" he questioned after a time. "It could take a while for our scales to merge into skin or whatever and we can't be gone that long… those nosey ass friends of yours already ask too many questions.

"Mmm… I could see if Shoto could bring more of those big strips of cloth they use to help us dry faster? He and Kirishima seem to really like using them so, it's worth a try. Actually, I don't know all that much about what happens when we start transforming… Do you think it hurts?"

"Tsk, are you seriously bringing up pain, Deku?" Bakugo scoffed. "I've seen you after you were mauled by sharks and you still acted like some spastic idiot."

"Uh… Thanks?" Midoriya laughed, hoping that was meant to be a compliment. "I guess I can snoop through some of the old tablets we have and see if there is something that gives more detail on the process."

The blonde snorted again but unconsciously sped up, so ready to know how he could be closer to his new courting partner.

"So, you said yes, then?" Todoroki questioned, grinning when Kirishima's skin flared red. He was happy that his friend was taking a chance even though he knew how uncertain he'd been and likely still was about the blonde courting him. "May I see the gift he presented to you?"

Kirishima held out the small dagger for Todoroki to see, still blushing heavily. "Isn't it so manly he made me a weapon?"

The Prince smirked and nodded even though he couldn't imagine anyone other than Kirishima thinking a blade was the absolute perfect way to say 'I'm totally falling for you'. "Did you bring up your concerns with him?"

"Oh, well… actually Katsuki brought up the whole going on land thing! He said he wants to learn how to move around on two legs so that he can protect Midoriya when he starts going up on land to spend more time with you. I told him I'd help him out…"

Todoroki chuckled, an image of Bakugo in an absolute rage as Kirishima tried to help him hobble around in the sand; the blonde didn't seem like he'd be the best student with his complete lack of patience and intense temper. But, if there was someone that could weather the storm that was Bakugo, it would be his easy-going servant/best friend. Kirishima had an innate ability to put up with moody people it seemed; it was no wonder he and Bakugo seemed to be the perfect match for one another.

"I must admit I'm anxious to spend time with Izuku on land…" Todoroki admitted. "As long as his hair is covered he'd pass for human fairly easily so I may even be able to take him to some of the places he seemed intent on seeing. What of Bakugo though? Surely he'd want to follow…"

Kirishima hummed in thought; Bakugo was an entirely different story thanks to his ruby-red irises. "Well… I guess we could just put a blindfold over his eyes? He wouldn't be able to see but at least then he'd be able to intervene if it became absolutely necessary…"

"I'm sure he'll love that idea…" Todoroki snorted in amusement, earning an understanding chuckle from Kirishima as well.

"Ah, it'll be fine! Besides, it could be a while before they're ready for that. I don't know much about it since my mom never said, but I imagine it's not easy learning to walk when you've only ever had a tail and Katsuki will want to be totally ready for a full-on death match before he lets Midoriya go anywhere too populated."

The Prince puffed out his cheeks and nodded; if his near-death experience the first time meeting Bakugo was anything to go off of, the blonde took his job as a royal guard extremely seriously. Despite still being a little annoyed over the whole incident, Todoroki was grateful that Midoriya had someone so dedicated to his wellbeing.

"Alright, Kirishima… let's get going. Father will be back from his trip to the outskirt posts any day now and I have to have learned that new fighting technique in addition to secretly helping you learn to read more advanced documents."

"Right!"

"Are you sure about this, Kacchan?" Midoriya questioned with worry seeping into his voice. "I mean… We still don't know—"

"It'll be fucking fine, Deku." He snapped back.

Midoriya grumbled to himself but otherwise stayed quiet, watching hesitantly as Bakugo heaved himself up onto a bluff. After not being able to find anything remotely insightful for the process of 'sprouting legs' in the admittedly limited Yuuei library, they —rather Bakugo— had decided that he'd simply go and see what happened for himself.

"Why are we doing this when Shoto and Kirishima aren't around? They'd be able to tell us if this part of the beach is frequented by other humans!" Midoriya whispered as he popped his head up out of the water to see how Bakugo was fairing.

The blonde snorted and laid on his back, shimmying until just the tip of his tail remained in the water. "Because dipshit, we don't know how bad this is going to hurt and if we did it in front of them and acted like little bitches then they'd never want us doing it again. Besides, I'll fuck up any human that tries to kill us."

If he wasn't so worried about what could go wrong, Midoriya probably would have laughed at how silly his best friend looked as he semi-flopped around to get to a dryer part of the rock. He pulled himself up just enough to keep an eye on the blonde, resting his chin and arms on the edge as he half-suspended in the water.

"Well, anything so far?" he questioned after several long minutes.

Bakugo sat up and rubbed his partially dry scales, squinting to see in the dim moonlight. "It doesn't hurt… Feels kind of like everything is being pulled tight, actually."

Midoriya's curiosity got the better of him and he clawed his way up just as tad bit further, moving like a seal over to Bakugo so that he could take a look for himself. "Oh wow! Kacchan, look! Look at your fin and your scales!"

The blonde almost bent in two in order to get close enough to the end of his tail to see what Midoriya was going on about, finding the once-proud red projection looking almost shriveled. It was slowly but surely scrunching upward, getting closer and closer to the junction where his tail started.

"That's the most disturbing thing I think I've ever seen…" Bakugo mumbled, his eyes wide.

"You're sure that doesn't hurt?"

"Nah, it just fucking itches like crazy at this point." He assured, staring some at the way the definition of each glittering red scale began to fade. His tale appeared to be rapidly losing its color entirely and smoothing over, looking more and more like skin as it dried.

Bakugo ran his fingers over the fading pattern with amazement, certain that he was able to see the start of two legs forming beneath the changing membrane. "How the fuck is this happening?"

Midoriya almost had his nose pressed to Bakugo's lower body, desperately trying to figure out the exact same thing. "I don't know… This… This is amazing though, Kacchan! Can you move the sections independently yet?"

The blonde gulped slightly; he wasn't sure he was entirely ready to see the previously singular 'limb' shifting out of sync. It wasn't like he could say that though; Deku would never let him live it down if he chickened out after insisting that they try this before asking Todoroki if he had any documents in the likely massive Endeavor Library.

"Err… Give me a sec; It's not like I've done this before, Deku."

Bakugo leaned back again and supported his upper body on his elbows, tensing his stomach to try and force the separating halves to move independently of the other. Several failed attempts later, one part shifted up while the other went down.

"Fuck!" Bakugo shrieked, startled. "That felt so fucking weird!"

Midoriya had yipped almost equally as loudly from the sudden outburst, nearly tumbling off the edge of the bluff. He recovered after a moment but puffed out his cheeks slightly with annoyance. "You scared me, Kacchan! I thought something was really wrong!"

"AH? Are you kidding me, Deku? Something is fucking wrong; I'm a fucking Mer who's growing fucking legs!" Bakugo snapped in response. He continued wiggling the splitting appendage, however, morbidly fascinated by how the crease that had formed was rapidly dipping in from both sides.

It wouldn't be long before the halves split entirely as his scales were all but gone by that point, the beautiful slivers reduced to faint etches on otherwise human-looking skin. Bakugo could see that his fin had reshaped as it had shrunken as well with what he believed were toes sprouting out.

"Well…" he murmured, suppressing the urge to gulp as the transformation seemed to finally end. "I wasn't expecting that…"

"Wasn't expecting—Oh my God what is that?" Midoriya squeaked with wide, panicked eyes. Both he and Bakugo were staring at a very odd-looking… thing… settled right between the blondes newly formed legs.

"How the fuck should I know? Didn't that two-colored bastard ever say anything about… about this? Wait, shit, it's in roughly the same spot as Merfolks slits, right? So maybe—"

Midoriya was quick to cover his immediately reddened face, squeaking in embarrassment. The action caused Bakugo to snort in amused laughter, chiding his best friend. "What's the matter Deku? Don't you want to know what you're getting into with that dipshit human?"

"Kaaaaccchaaan!" The smaller Mer whined in exasperation. "You're so unreserved! We don't even know if that's what that is for!"

"Tsk, well, whatever it's for I bet mine is fucking awesome like everything else about me. Let's get out of here though… your voice is louder than a damn Siren when you're flustered."

Midoriya kept his face covered as he twisted and belly-flopped back to the dark water below, still steaming even though he was incredibly curious to let his own tail dry. He couldn't wait to test it out with Shoto.

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:) Thanks for reading the update! Leave me a comment and check out my other stories if you want more! This one is probably the least angsty *chuckles evilly... SO FAR...*