*Present Mic Voice: Thanks for Tuning in to the Latest Chapter! I hope you enjoy!
Also, I'm still on leave from work and honestly, I'm considering quitting or asking for an actual leave rather than just being sick AF from an antibiotic-resistant sinus infection... Like someone in my store got COVID-19 so I'm not sure I should be working when I'm immunocompromised and my grandma is 93... I don't know? I'd hate to lose my job...
Anyway, follow me on Twitter for some exciting snippets to stories I'll eventually get around to posting! I'm Agirl2223 on there!
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Learn To Breathe
Chapter 11
Todoroki and Kirishima waded around in the water as they waited for their prospective partners to show up, attempting to cool off in the scorching heat. The Prince moved far slower than his best friend, however, as his ribs were still heavily injured from his last sparring session with his father.
"There is no need to worry for me, Eijiro…" Todoroki stated as he relaxed back some in the clear shallows. "I'm fine."
The redhead scrunched up his nose. Somehow Todoroki always seemed to know when he was being stared at even if the person was completely out of his line of sight. This time he hadn't even mentioned the nasty looking bruises and the prince knew what he was thinking. "I just feel bad though, Shoto… I was supposed to be helping you learn that stuff before your dad got back and he still knocked you around like a rag doll."
"My father is over half a foot taller than I am and is two-hundred and sixty pounds of muscle… I doubt there is any fighting technique that will allow me to best him in combat with my current stature." Todoroki sighed, though he knew he'd get an earful from Izuku as well; they both were so concerned with other people's wellbeing.
Bakugo, on the other hand, would probably sneer at him. From what Midoriya had mentioned, the blonde was exceptional at combat and always had been… The only reason he was beaten by Midoriya in sparing matches was that the smaller Mer had learned how to fight the hard way and had the scars to prove it, unlike Bakugo with his barely marred skin.
That thought made him smile, however. His sweet Izuku was all torn up from constantly intervening just for the sake of helping others; he was so kind and generous… he was the first person to show Todoroki what love could feel like.
"Shoto!"
The prince's smile widened at the sound of Midoriya's distorted, worried whistling from beneath the gentle waves. He righted himself and waited for the Mer to surface, fully prepared to stop the anxious mumbling that would no doubt pour out of him with a kiss.
"What happ—mph?" Midoriya started, falling prey to Todoroki immediately grabbing his cheeks and capturing his lips with his own.
"Just training…" the prince breathed as he temporarily pulled back. "Nothing a kiss and a few hours with you can't fix."
~0.o.0~
Bakugo rolled his eyes and swam past Todoroki and Midoriya as quickly as possible to where Kirishima was attempting very awkward loops in the water, finding their 'love-talk' ridiculous. "Tsk… You'd better not ever expect me to say some dumb shit like that to you."
Kirishima laughed and reached out, grabbing the blonde's broad shoulders so that he could pull them together. "Don't worry, I can talk like that for both of us!"
Had anyone else said something like that, Bakugo would have probably gagged and told them that he'd kill them if they tried. Though he'd never admit it to absolutely anyone, maybe it wouldn't be too awful to hear Kirishima coo over him like that… possibly.
"Yeah, yeah…" he settled on instead, tossing his head to hide the blush starting on his cheeks. "Do whatever you want on your own time, Eijiro; today, we're going to put in some work."
"Oh? What kind of manly task are you going to have me practice today?"
Bakugo had to actually bit the inside of his lip, eyebrows furrowing as a vein throbbed in his temple. "Not you, damn it. Me… You're going to be the teacher today, dumbass; We're going up on the shore."
Kirishima's eyes widened to comical levels at the declaration, head snapping in the direction of the sandy beach. "Wh-what? Already?"
"Tsk, yeah. I already did a preliminary test and it wasn't awful… Plus, Deku is a needy little squishy fish that is bound to get impatient and ask hell-spawn over there to take him somewhere. I've got to be ready to protect his dopy tail."
"Uh… well…" The redhead stumbled, his cheeks quickly flaming bright while he kept his eyes really anywhere other than the Mer in front of him. "I didn't bring… er… I don't suppose you grow pants when your legs form, do you?"
"AH? What the hell are pants?" Bakugo snorted, completely oblivious to what Kirishima was getting at.
The redhead's face grew hotter while he tugged on the boxers he was wearing. "You know, clothes? Stuff humans wear to cover… private areas?"
Bakugo blinked for a moment and then grew a wide, toothy smirk, eyes lighting up in amused victory. "Oi Deku!" He shouted over his shoulder. "That floppy thing between my legs is the equivalent of Merfolks slits! I fucking told you!"
He snickered even more when he heard an embarrassed squeal off in the distance, returning his attention to Kirishima without the barest hint of modesty. His courting partner looked absolutely mortified and yet equally impressed by his brashness, gawking at him.
"Tsk, what? You've got one too, don't you?" Bakugo questioned, quirking a daring eyebrow.
Kirishima croaked out a nervous squeak and somewhat nodded. "Well, yeah…"
"Then what's the big deal? Besides, I've seen you and Half-and-Half put something on over the 'clothes' or whatever you where in the water; I'll just put those on if you're so shy about seeing me in all my glory… Now come on, this shit takes time to happen."
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Kirishima watched in amazement as two legs emerged out of the previously strong red tail, finding the process fascinating even though he'd draped his pants over the more explicit parts of his partner's body. "Woah… so that's what happens… Mom never told me it looked so cool!"
"Tsk, yeah I know I'm awesome, now show me how to put this weird-ass looking contraption on," Bakugo responded proudly, eyeing the pants like it was something completely useless and beneath him.
"Uh, you just… put your feet through those two holes and pull up until the top is over your hips…"
The blonde nodded and awkwardly leaned forward, struggling to get his knees to bend properly so that he could reach. It took him a good several minutes with Kirishima absolutely refusing to look back until they were solidly on, though he wouldn't have asked for help on such a simple task anyway.
"Alright, now what?" he questioned, feeling only slightly unsure of himself for the next part. It was only Kirishima's hopeful smile that calmed him enough to not snap in anger at his own lack of knowledge; he'd have already been seething if anyone else saw him at such a total loss.
"Er, well, I guess I can pick you up and see if you can stand at all?" the redhead offered as he reached out and pulled one of Bakugo's arms over his shoulders. Just as he'd expected, the Mer was pretty well solid muscle and not at all light when he finally got enough leverage to begin lifting.
The process was awkward even before they made it to a simple standing position as the blonde had no idea how to angle his body in its new form. His ankles bowed as he tried to get them to stabilize beneath him, knees now deciding to bend when they'd just about refused during the 'pants' phase of the training.
"Argh! What the fucking fuck is this?" Bakugo huffed. He'd have hit the ground a good several times already if Kirishima hadn't been physically strong in his own right—every move he made seemed to almost make them topple in one direction or another and he could tell the redhead was supporting the majority of his weight.
Kirishima couldn't help but laugh heartily at the blondes annoyance. It took literal years for humans to learn how to do this and he could tell that Bakugo wouldn't want anything less than figuring it out in the next hour or so. "Bro, it's not easy to get your feet coordinated… I still trip over mine sometimes and I've had them since birth!"
Bakugo's eye twitched and he switched positions, pulling himself directly in front of Kirishima and wrapping both arms around his neck so that their chests were together. He could feel the heat of the boy's cheek on his own as he used his upper body to hoist himself up higher, leaning into him until he'd completely stabilized. "You'd better not say one damned word about this to Deku or that douche Prince, you hear me?"
Kirishima slunk his arms around Bakugo's strong core and locked them together while he kissed the boy's tanned shoulder sweetly. "Wouldn't dream of it!"
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Midoriya kept side-glancing at Bakugo on their swim back to Yuuei. The boy's arms were littered with small scrapes and bruises and though his tails color hid most of the damage, he could tell that there were some wounds around where his knees would have been.
"So…" he started coolly, "how'd it go?"
Bakugo licked his teeth and cocked his jaw, keeping his proud eyes forward while his cheeks dusted red from embarrassment. "Isn't that fucking hard."
"Oh, yeah? Because it looks like you got into a fight with a pod of pufferfish."
The blonde's face looked so twisted, caught somewhere between a scowl at the smug tone of Midoriya's voice and proud adoration for his courting partners' patience dealing with his many mishaps during the few hours they'd worked. "Laugh all you want, Deku; I can't wait to see how busted up you are when that precious prince of yours tries teaching you how to walk."
"I doubt it will be nearly as difficult," Midoriya chuckled. "You and Eijiro are the same size, remember? He probably had to work a lot harder to keep you upright than Shoto will have to with me! Plus, Shoto already said he'd carry me if I didn't get it right away..."
"Only you could think up some bullshit reason where being fish-bait size is a good thing, Deku."
The smaller Mer laughed again and twirled some in the water, staring up at the sun filtering through the gentle waves longingly. "How long until you get walking down, then? A couple of months or—"
"Tsk, bite your stupid tongue, Deku. By the time we were ready to head back today, I'd already managed to walk without much assistance so I just have to get in the habit. I'm going to have this shit learned by the end of our next meet up with them."
"What?" Midoriya nearly shrieked, excitement exploding out of him. He'd thought based on the pitiful state of Bakugo's limbs that the 'training' had been fairly disastrous, but he couldn't say he was all that surprised to be wrong—the blonde had always been good at EVERYTHING he tried and his determination to learn quickly was nothing to scoff at. "Really? That soon?"
"Of course, Deku. It's my job to protect you and I can't do that unless I'm as deadly on land as I am in the water; since I know you won't be able to stop yourself from doing something stupid I've got to be ready as soon as possible to step in if something goes wrong."
Bakugo expected some quip in return, or at least an overly enthusiastic laugh, but instead, he was met with another smug grin, this one even more prominent than the last one. "What? What the hell is that look for, huh?"
"Oh, nothing… It's just normally you tell me you're going to do X, Y, and Z for when something goes wrong for me and Shoto and this time you said if."
Bakugo sputtered as he attempted to come up with an excuse or retort, finding he couldn't really think of anything. "J-just—fuck you, Deku!"
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I know, I know... Much shorter than my usual chapters for this work (by about 500-ish words...) but this seemed like a logical break *Sweat-drops*
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