Chapter Text
The water was cool as it lapped around his tail while Keith carefully checked over his scales, cleaning and polishing them. He normally never took much care or interest in his looks, and if anyone in his family or shoal saw him, they’d be concerned. Which was why he was so far away from them right now, up in the Air Breathers territory, and looking over himself. There were scars that littered his body, he couldn’t do much about them. Peering over, he could make out his reflection in the water, the long cut on his cheek standing out stark pink against his pale skin, stretching down under his chin and along his neck. A run-in with a sawfish that he had gotten too close to while hunting. Everyone in his shoal had been worried, but none of them seemed to notice how Keith would touch it, marking out the large scar. Keith didn’t care about his looks.
But he did. A little. He knew he looked pretty, gorgeous red and white scales and long, delicate fins. Keith was a very pretty mer, and when he’d gotten attacked, that small part of him that cared about his appearance felt distraught. No one commented on it, because no one thought he cared.
But he cared. And he didn’t realize how much he cared when Lance had brought it up.
Lance had shown up one day, travelling on his own in search of a place to settle down. Keith’s shoal had offered to take him in until he was ready to go back out and explore. And Lance had taken to talking with Keith, teasing him about any and everything he could. But never about the large scar. He always seemed to shy away from it, but Keith saw the way Lance’s eyes would linger on it. It had caused him to snap one day, demanding what Lance was staring at.
And Lance had touched the scar. Had asked what happened. Had listened, then apologised. “If it makes you feel better,” Lance had added on, “I still think you look pretty.”
And Keith’s heart had fluttered madly, face blooming red and he shot off, covering his blush.
But Lance had called him pretty. Said his scar didn’t make him unattractive. So, maybe he wanted to make himself even prettier. Take a bit extra time in cleaning his scales, making them shine and glitter like sea glass. Make himself look pretty enough that maybe Lance would take him with him when he left the shoal.
It was such an absurd thought, but Keith had latched onto it tight, realizing how badly he wanted that to happen.
Keith startled, hearing the water behind him splash and turned around, his heart pounding more when he saw the blue scaled mer looking up to him, eyes reflecting the ocean and the sky. “You’re hard to track down sometimes.” Lance said, smiling as he easily climbed up onto the rock Keith was resting on, his own tail splashing up water. Keith blushed, pouting as he looked away.
“No one ever looks for me up here.” Keith said, fingers twitching against his scales.
“They clearly aren’t looking hard enough.” Lance relaxed, laying back and trailing his fingers along the surface of the water. “It’s so quiet here.”
The waves slowly crashed against the rocks in response as Keith kept his head lowered, seeing all the flaws he hadn’t been able to fix in his scales. He hunched his shoulders up closer to his ears, feeling himself blush in shame. Lance took notice, and sat up. “Hey, you alright?” he asked, reaching out a hand, lightly touching Keith’s shoulder.
“Yes,” Keith didn’t look over, and Lance lightly tugged on his shoulder, gently coaxing him to face him.
“You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to. I know I’m not part of the shoal or anything.” he said, smiling softly. “But I am a pretty good listener.”
And while Keith stared into those large blue eyes, he found himself speaking, “I wanted to look pretty for you.” he dropped his head back down, avoiding the blush on Lance’s cheeks. “But, I don’t usually-” he gestured towards his tail. “I found more things than I thought were wrong. I’ve been trying to look nice, so when… when you- You’re going to leave one day.” Keith’s voice fell quieter, “And I wanted you to take me with you.”
There was silence between them, and when it started to reach being too much, Lance had moved his hand, fingers gently turning Keith’s head towards his own. “Do you want to leave with me?” he asked.
Keith swallowed, nodding. “Yes.”
“Then,” Lance leaned over, brushing his nose against Keith’s face, breath ghosting along the scar. “Will you leave with me, Keith?”
Keith’s pulse increased, gills fluttering lightly. “Yes.” his own voice was breathy, not entirely sure he wasn’t imagining all this.
Lance moved his head, lips lightly tracing along the scar, before he pressed a soft kiss against it, right above his neck gills. Keith shivered, trilling quietly.
“Let’s leave. Together.” Lance spoke into his neck. And Keith nodded, arms coming up and wrapping around Lance.
“Yes.”