Little Merman - Klance Mermaid AU

Chapter Seven

Keith felt weird whenever he was around Blue. Even if he was in the other room, he would always feel weird just by hearing him. Blue didn't seem the same, though. Any time he saw Keith, he'd swim up to him and grab his hand, dragging him off to wherever the fun was at. At first, Keith didn't really like it, but by the third day, he started to endure it, if only a little.

It was actually in the middle of the night on the fourth day that Blue came to him, silently asking what was wrong. Keith was sitting on the balcony of the castle, looking out towards the mainland with a sad look. His head was propped up on his arms, which were draped across the railing in a bored fashion.

"Nothing, Blue," he muttered, beginning to swim away, but Blue caught his arm. Keith looked back and saw that he had genuine concern in his eyes that made Keith want to cry. He just looked so worried that it was almost impossible to remember that they didn't really know each other.

Blue tilted his head to the side and softly patted his chest with his free hand. Hurt he seemed to say. The two of them had developed this sort of sign language, and emotions were usually stated through touchest to the chest. The gesture, mixed with the look on his face definitely asked if he was hurting.

"No, I just," Keith began, but had to stop himself to keep from crying, "I just miss going up to the surface. I would go, but Coran is always following me,"

As if on cue, Coran peeked out from around the corner and gave the two a bright smile before going back to where he had been.

Blue scowled and looked to the ground in thought before popping up again, his face alight with a new idea. He quickly pulled Keith over to the edge of the balcony and pointed to the surface, seeming to say go.

"I can't," Keith whispered, knowing Coran was still around the corner, "Coran or another guard will just find me again,"

Blue waved his hand, then pointed to himself with a smirk and knowing look in his eyes. He held up three fingers, then pointed up to the surface again.

"Wait three minutes, then go?" Keith asked, already excited. Blue was gonna pose a distraction!

Blue nodded and swam off of the balcony and into the castle, giving Coran a nod when he rounded the corner. Once he was gone, Coran glanced over at Keith, then looked back into the hall, seeing that he was still there. Keith began to count the minutes.

As soon as he hit minute three, an explosion happened inside the castle, nearly shaking the whole thing. Keith took that as a signal and took off towards the surface, glancing back only to make sure things were alright. The castle itself looked okay, except for the gently rising blue smoke.

Keith swam as fast as he could towards the surface, hope sparking inside of him. After a few minutes, his head broke through the waves and he was only about a mile away from the beach Lance would sit at.

"That actually worked!" Keith yelled, laughing and breeching out of the water in excitement.

His swim towards the beach only took a few seconds, but it felt like eternity for him. As soon as he reached it, he flopped onto the sand with a quiet laugh. The moon was high in the sky and the sounds of the city were quiet, making the whole place peaceful. It made Keith want to sink into the sand and never get out.

Some time later, he saw something else pop out of the water and looked up. Blue was bobbing above the waves, waving excitedly at Keith from a distance. He seemed to be silently laughing.

"Dude, what did you do to the castle?" Keith asked once he got there. He didn't sound angry, he actually sounded quite excited and wanted to know if he could use it for himself at some point.

Blue beamed and pulled something out of the leather satchel around his body. It seemed to be a shiny blue shell that fit in the middle of Blue palm, but, upon further inspection, he saw that it was actually a bug. Beady eyes stared up at him and tiny antenna twitched in fear.

"A color bug?" Keith asked in awe, "How did you find these?"

Blue smiled and put the bug back into his bag, holding his finger up to his mouth and winking. Secret.

"Ugh, fine," Keith moaned, "Don't tell me," He looked around and spotted Lance's house at the top of the cliff. All the lights were off and the windows were shut, but Keith couldn't help but feel that something was off.

Blue tapped his shoulder to get his attention, and gestured to the house with a concerned look. What's so special about this place? He asked, curiosity in his blue eyes.

Keith took a breath, deciding whether or not to tell Blue about his crush on a human. He knows that it was frowned upon, but maybe, since he used to live near humans, Blue would understand. He needed to get the off his chest anyway, and it wasn't like he was gonna tell anybody anyway.

"There's a boy that lives there," Keith began, tracing patterns in the sand, "His name is Lance and he has got to be one of the most beautiful boys I've ever seen,"

He looked up to see Blue's reaction, but his gaze remained unreadable, which made Keith squirm, but he and already started and couldn't stop.

"I would come here every day and listen to him sing and play his guitar, a human instrument," he added, making sure Blue knew what a guitar was, "I've been doing that ever since I was eight,"

Blue stiffened, looking at Keith in surprise, his lips parted in awe. His expression was still unreadable, but Keith knew he was at least taken aback by what he said.

"Anyway, something just seemed wrong and I was wondering if everything over there was alright," he mumbled, quickly cutting off the rest of the conversation. He felt a gentle hand wipe at his face, bringing away tears that he hadn't even known were there.

He looked up and saw Blue take his hand back, his face soft. His eyes were sad and relaxed, but he smiled in a way that made Keith feel warm. He brought his hand up to his chest again and nodded his head once. It's okay he said, smiling as he did so.

Keith swallowed the lump in his throat and roughly rubbed at his eyes, trying to stop the gentle flow of tears that had begun at the gesture. "Sorry, I just needed to get that of of my chest,"

Blue grabbed at his hands and pulled them away, shaking his head. He was either saying Don't feel sorry or Don't do that to you eyes. Neither made Keith feel any better.

"I'm sorry," he said again, taking a shaky breath, "I'm just not good with emotions,"

Blue shook his head again, more force behind his eyes this time. After a minute of thinking, he looked Keith in the eye and began to do some of his own signing.

He pointed to Keith. "Me?" Keith said, but changed his answer when Blue shook his head, "You?"

Blue nodded and turned to the sand, drawing an 'r'. "Are," Keith said, more sure this time.

Blue nodded again and began to write more in the sand. "Valid," Keith breathed, more tears threatening to spill out over his cheeks. His face scrunched up as they did, his whole body racking with silent sobs.

Blue smiled and looked up, but his face quickly fell at the sight of Keith crying. He scooted over to him, and held his hand, his face asking if he was okay.

Keith nodded and opened his mouth, his words garbled and slurred, but still understandable. "No one's ever said that to me before,"

Blue scowled with humor and crossed his arms, gesturing to his throat. Keith laughed at that, little giggles mixing with the tears.

"Maybe not said," he laughed out, earning a smile from Blue. He didn't even know why he was saying all of this stuff, it just felt right.