NOTES ON THIS CHAPTER: Enough people want a small side chapter to continue the story a bit, and of course I had to oblige. This chapter takes place a while after the ending of Chapter 16. There will be an Epilogue which takes place even farther out in the future, so please watch out for that in the coming months! I hope you enjoy this small extra snippet I've decided to add to the story!

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Tonight was the night. You'd been planning this for a few weeks: asked off time for work, cleaned your apartment from ceiling to floor, and bought enough food to last about week in addition to investing in some tools to, hopefully, make things a bit easier for this extremely risky venture.

The weather looked a bit cloudy, which set the beach and roads darker with shadow than usual even though it was nearly midnight: perfect. By this point you'd written up a detailed schedule of when all the shops in the area closed and the observable routes of street patrols to make sure you could sneak around unseen. Getting caught this time would leave no room for an escape route, so careful planning was absolutely necessary.

You told Katsuki to meet you farther down the beach than normal, about half a mile away from the pier on a part of the shore that had just a few too many broken lamps. Although he had no way of telling time like you did with a watch or phone, Katsuki could read the position of the moon or slight temperature shift of the water to know the right time to show up.

"C'mon...where are you?" you mumbled while kneeling down in the sand and scanning the water for movement. Sure enough, a few minutes later a shape popped out of the water, his silhouette unmistakable. After looking around to make sure no one was watching gestured for him to swim forward towards the shore.

You held up a finger to your mouth, signaling for him to keep quiet as he pulled himself up into the sand where you could see him properly. His face held a mixture of nervousness and excitement at the prospect of, for the first time in his life, experiencing somewhere outside of his oceanic confines.

Last month you proposed bringing him away from the ocean for the first time in his life to be with you in your apartment for a while. It took a lot of planning to make sure things would be as comfortable as you could provide, but Katsuki was eager and excited to actually see where you lived, to explore dry land, to be able to spend more than just evenings with you.

Still, it carried a heavy risk: if anyone saw him, it would all be over. Humans didn't know merpeople existed, and anyone with common sense would probably freak out and cause a panic, drawing unwanted attention to the both of you. All you had to do was get him from here to your apartment - that was the difficult bit. Once there you'd be behind closed doors and wouldn't have to worry until you took him back to the ocean when he was ready.

"You ready?" you whispered while giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Katsuki just smirked before stealing a kiss of his own, this time on the lips. The idea of outgrowing or tiring of his affection never crossed your mind.

"Is it safe?" he asked while trying to keep any tension out of his raspy voice.

You hummed in response. "As safe as I can make it. I can't account for the unexpected, so we just have to be extra careful not to be seen or heard."

Katuski knew that if he was nervous, you'd also be nervous - so he put on a brave front and instead thought of how the night might play out if everything went perfectly. "Fine. Well? What're we waiting for?" Katsuki held out his arms with a smug look on his face knowing what you needed to do. With a sigh you bent down into the water and hooked one arm under his tail and the other behind his torso as he wrapped his arms around your neck. His scales were slippery and cold but you were careful to maintain a good grip, and your clothes were already wet but that wasn't a huge deal.

You knew he'd be heavy because of his tail, but you almost lost your balance as you stood up. "What the fuck," you grit out as you adjusted the merman in your arms as he gripped behind your neck.

An almost offended expression swiped across his face. "I'm not that heavy."

"Uh, your tail is longer than my whole body. Also, you're pretty much pure muscle." In a way you were carrying your Prince Charming - or, well, some kind of Prince since not everyone would find his personality charming or even likeable - to your castle, as cliche as it sounded. He didn't seem to mind being so close to you, either, which was more distracting than it should have been.

"Can you wrap your tail around my waist or something so it doesn't drag the ground?" The end of his tail still dangled in the water at your feet, and obviously it would stand out as something suspicious compared to a human carrying, for example, a drunk friend home. Lucky for you Bakugo really was made of pure muscle, so he easily wrapped his tail a few times around your waist before letting his fins rest in his lap. After making sure your grip was secure and the coast was clear, you carefully walked back towards the road.

Katsuki tensed the farther away you got from the ocean. Despite his bravado, leaving the safety of the ocean to spend time with you made him anxious. Noticing his shifting glance and mouth set in a tight line, you whispered in his ear. "We'll be fine, I'll make sure nothing happens to you."

You, his mate, had never steered him wrong so far. He put his trust in you. "I know," he whispered as his head swiveled his head around to take in the sights he'd never seen before.

After a minute of heavy steps you arrived at the aid you'd hidden earlier that morning just for this occasion. "What he hell is that?" he asked, looking down at the odd contraption.

"It's a wheelbarrow. I can't carry you all the way so I gotta set you down in here." Damp towels lay at the bottom for him to rest on as you lowered him into the wheelbarrow. Katsuki managed to fit his tail inside with only his fins draping over the edge a bit, though he didn't look particularly happy about it. "What's that look for?"

"It's just weird. How do- hey!" he answered before clamping a webbed hand over his mouth with the sudden jerk of movement as you lifted up your end of the wheelbarrow and started moving, eyes peeled for anyone who might be wandering around at this hour.

"Shh," you shushed. "Take in the view. It's not too far away, but we just need to keep watch."

Crimson eyes were locked on everything he'd only seen in pictures you gave him: windows lit with white or yellow lights littered among dark ones like rare stars sparkling in the night sky. He memorized the different styles of cars and bikes parked along the road. He read the dark shop signs - or attempted to, anyway - and peered curious into storefronts, wondering what they sold.

Although the wheelbarrow helped, Katuski's weight in addition to the paranoia of being heard or seen forced you to move slowly and cautiously. You parked behind cars littered on the side of the road, scanned for movement and listened for noise, then moved ahead a bit before repeating.

Katsuki's expressions of wonder made the effort worth it, though, and you weren't even home yet. He'd bombard you with questions when you were behind closed doors, that was certain.

Eventually you passed by the shopping district and into a more residential area with small condos and beach houses, not yet invaded by the onslaught of predatory real estate developers wishing to bulldoze everything to build expensive high rises.

Stopping to rest a moment you leaned on the handles to look down at the merman lounging in this wheelbarrow you borrowed from a coworker with a strategic lie for why you needed it. Katsuki looked up at you and laced the fingers of his webbed hand with yours, the bracelet you gifted him sliding down his forearm.

You were so distracted that you didn't notice a door on one of the building across the street open and close, or the careful steps of someone attempting to be quiet until they were close enough to light up your peripheral vision.

"Is that really a mermaid?!"

You gasped in a panic, letting go of Katsuki's hand and head swiveling to your left to see a small girl - probably no more than four, maybe five years old - staring at Katsuki with unblinking eyes filled with mesmerizing wonder.

Both of you stilled. The one thing - the one thing - you needed to do had failed. You'd been seen. What the hell were you supposed to do now?!

Katsuki looked at the girl with obvious fear, ruby eyes darting to you for an answer you didn't have before looking at the child who now walked closer, step by step.

"Um..." you mumbled. There was nowhere to run as the girl clamped her hands over her mouth, suppressing a squeal of excitement.

"Oh my goodness it is it is! Wow, I knew they were real. Mom told me they weren't but they're real in my books so, duh, they're definitely real. Can you talk? You smell like fish. Is he yours?"

Come up with something, quick!

"H-hey there, kiddo...isn't it late for you to uh, be up? You should go back to sleep." No adult would believe a kid who said they saw a mermaid, so maybe you could play this off and get her to go back inside before anyone else decided to investigate.

She hummed, nearly close enough to wheelbarrow to touch it at arm's length as Katsuki gripped the side until his knuckles turned white. "I couldn't sleep so I was lookin' out the window at the stars and saw you and the mermaid and snuck downstairs and mom'll be mad so she can't know and I just wanted to say 'hi'. Does he have a name? Can I name him? He has a pretty tail."

"I have a name," Katsuki said, not liking the idea that this stranger wanted to give him a new name. The girl's mouth opened as her palms slapped her cheeks in astonishment.

"He can talk," she whispered, looking between you and him. "Aaaaaaaah," he said in a small, monotone voice. Kids were so odd, sometimes.

The longer you lingered, the more dangerous it would be out here. Plus you were exhausted and really wanted to get home and settled in. "You uh, can you keep a secret?"

"Uh huh," he said, not taking her eyes off Katsuki.

"I'm showing my...friend here-" Katsuki looked at you, his mouth a thin line, "around the city. He's never been on land before. We're doing it at night because everyone would wanna see him, but he wants to see how things are without a bunch of people. Don't tell anyone about him, OK?"

She puffed up her cheeks in a definite pout before nodding. "Good. Some people might be mean to him."

"Why?" she asked while reaching out to try and touch Katsuki, but he moved away from her hand obviously hesitant of the touch while he let you do the talking.

"Some people are just mean," you explained. Telling a child that some humans might want to take him away probably wasn't the best ideas. "So, can you promise to keep a secret?" You placed a finger on your lips, and she mimicked your movement before yawning. "Go home and go back to bed."

"What's his name first?" she asked sleepily. Maybe he was warming up to the kid a bit since she didn't seem like a direct threat, because Katsuki leaned forward and placed a webbed hand on top of her messy hair. She could've held the entire sky in her eyes with how bright they became in that moment.

"Bakugo. Now go to bed," he demanded. Apparently she took direct orders from the pretty merman and not you, because she nodded before waving goodbye and ran across the street, disappearing into one of the buildings. Immediately Katsuki turned to you with a crazed expression. "What the hell?!"

"Shut up! At least it wasn't an adult, kids say crazy stuff all the time so even if she tells no one will believe her. Let's go," you said, picking back up the wheelbarrow and moving at a quick pace down the road, tossing a bit of caution to the wind and instead thinking it best to get home as soon as possible.

Luckily you closed in on your destination after a few minutes, parking the wheelbarrow on the side of the building. "I'll...I'll give you a tour tomorrow. We get up there and I'm going straight to sleep."

"I'll get to see you sleep," Katsuki said with a small smile while looking up at you with his own tired stare.

Bending down to pick him up you paused. "Do you know what snoring is?" you asked while he reached up once more and wrapped his arms around your neck as you lifted him carefully out of the wheelbarrow. You'd definitely be sore tomorrow from all this heavy lifting.

"Snoring? No, what is it?"

Peeking around the corner to make sure no one was around, you started to head up the stairs. Normally they caused you no trouble, but now you really resented your building not having an elevator. "Humans sometimes make...weird sounds in their sleep," you explained while a bit out of breath.

"Weird sounds..." he mirrored with a small yawn he failed to hide while leaning his head on your shoulder.

Finally you arrived at your front door...but now you needed to fish out the key in your pocket with zero free hands. "Katsuki, dig in my right front pocket for my keys to open the door."

Using his strong arm to keep his hold around your neck, he used the other to fish in your pocket for your keyring. It was almost a bit ticklish, but even he was too tired to tickle you into submission as he pulled out a jingle of metal keys. "Which one?"

"The one with the blue thing on the end," you answered, thinking of the identifying rubber cover on your key.

"Now what?" While he held up the key you explained to slide it into the keyhole int he door. It took him a minute to figure it out, but when he did you realized what you were doing as the door swung inwards: carrying him through the threshold to your home. You were thankful it was so dark because the thought made your face burn.

"Home?" he asked.

"Home," you answered.

You left the kitchen light on earlier, but the rest of the apartment was dark since you knew Katsuki wasn't a fan of bright artificial lights. While still holding the keys he looked around curiously, sniffing at the air as you closed the door with your foot. "It smells...like..."

Just then a bark echoed inside the apartment as Pearl bounded in from the shadows. "Like dog!"

"Shh! People in building are asleep." Both Pearl and Katsuki calmed down just a bit as you carried him towards the bathroom and set him into the bathtub.

"This isn't the bedroom like the picture....bathroom?" he commented while situating himself into the cool porcelain tub. The end of his tail hung over the side a bit, but the high walls kept most of him in without looking uncomfortable. "But you don't sleep in here."

You stretched your arms to listen the tired muscles before leaning down and giving him a peck on the cheek. "Yeah, but I was gonna drag blankets and stuff in here tonight, maybe we can figure out a different situation tomorrow, but I'm too sleepy to think right now," you said as you turned on the water in the tub.

"What the shit...you can control how hot or cold it is?" he said, amazed as you adjusted the knobs on the wall and set the plug at the bottom and watched the water level rise. You'd scrubbed the bathroom thoroughly this week, so even though it was definitely still a bathroom, it was spotless aside from a bit of pet hair on the floor.

"Yeah, no problem. Hold on a minute." You were about to stand up to go change and grab your things when Katsuki pulled you down for a proper kiss while leaning over the edge of the tub.

"I'm glad you brought me here," he mumbled in a low and raspy voice. "I love you."

You hummed and returned the kiss, savoring the taste of him and the feeling of his lips on yours. "Love you too. Are you comfortable? Do you need salt in the water?"

"It's small, but I don't care," he said with a shrug before finally letting you go to stand up. "Don't know...I've only ever been in salt water. Don't forget, I get a tour tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," you laughed before walking out towards your bedroom. After changing into into your pajamas and grabbing a couple of blankets and pillows you walked into the kitchen to grab the large container of sea salt you bought last week. You turned out all the lights and walked back to the bathroom to find Katsuki being drowned in sloppy affection by Pearl. A meow at your right told you the cat was somewhere on the sink. "Guess the whole family is here, huh?"

Turning on the small wall light plugged into the socket you brushed your teeth and washed your face for your night time routine. Katsuki watched while leaning over the edge of the tub, one hand lazily patting Pearl behind the ear while the other grabbed a shampoo bottle and sniffed it experimentally before scrunching up his nose and dropping it back on the ground.

"I clean my hair with that," you explained before walking over to dump some salt into the water. "Better? I know it's not exactly the same, but it'll have to do."

"Mmhm," Katsuki hummed, eyes heavy and body limp as his eyes followed you setting up the makeshift bed. He poked the pillow, unsure of the point since he always just slept in the sand. Once you turned out the light, though, he was thrust into pitch darkness. For the first time he felt complete privacy and safety with you, shut out from prying eyes and the outside word. Despite the odd and enclosed space, as long as you were here he would be fine.

Reaching out his hand met yours as you knelt down at the side of the tub. "I am yours, and you are mine," you whispered before his lips met yours. Katsuki was eager as he pushed closer, webbed fingers gripping yours tightly...but the exhaustion of tonight adventures fought against his willpower to continue before you pulled away.

"I am yours...and you are mine," he mirrored as you slid down the side of the tub before a meow echoed on the other side of the room. With a groan you sat up to crack open the door and let the cat back into the living room; if she started nibbling on Katsuki's tail while you were asleep it wouldn't end well.

"Oh, one more thing," you said while scrolling through your phone quickly to find an app you'd downloaded earlier. The sound of ocean waves bounced across the tile, making his eyes widen. "Thanks, technology." You figured the familiar noises might help him sleep in this new environment, as small a detail as it was.

As you lay down on the blankets and your head rested on the pillow, you looked up towards the ceiling to see him looking down at you with unfiltered affection. For the first time he could watch you sleep for a change. "Goodnight, Katsuki."

Eventually you drifted off to sleep to the sound of the sea with Pearl nuzzled up against your side and Katsuki's soft humming as he memorized the soft lines of your face in sleep. Although this arrangement was temporary, he would savor every moment of this time alone and together with his mate. 

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Thank you so much for reading!! Please check out my newest Bakugou x Reader multi-chapter fic "Be Still, Just for Me"!!