Keith hadn't been down at the beach for the past few days. He knew with the fall season creeping up, mermaids won't be near the shore as much, but he couldn't risk seeing that blue eyed mermaid again. He's been staying cooped up in his house instead, which was something he normally did, so why did he feel so off doing it now? The thought of that mermaid was haunting him by now, and he's tried and failed to search for the answer of why so. There wasn't anything special about him, just an ordinary male mermaid, right?

There was the markings though. Keith has never seen merfolk with such beautiful markings. Sure, he's seen some with a few small ones, but this guy, this guy had displayed the most enticing markings he's ever seen. They were painted down his arms with delicacy, but a sharp stroke of a brush to his face, right under eyes; all with the color of the sky. Keith was nowhere close to being a poet, but that was the only way he was able to describe it.

Keith was one for beautiful things, most definitely, so that would be probably why he couldn't get this guy off his mind. Those markings were really taking a toll on him. They looked like they were carved into the mermaid's skin, and Keith honestly wondered if he would feel a dip where the markings were. The ones on the face looked like genuine scars, but the mermaid wore them with such a smile that Keith doubted they actually were.

Sitting in his room though, was most definitely not going to fix the constant thought of the guy. Maybe if he got to see him again he'd be satisfied enough for the mermaid to fade from his mind. Though just seeing him wouldn't be enough, he'd have to find some things out about the markings to be satisfied. The markings had to at least mean something within the merfolk community, and Keith was going to find out one way or another. All he needed to do was meet the mermaid again.

The problem with that plan was he didn't know how he was going to meet the mermaid again. For all he knew, that could've been the only time of the year that mermaid even resurfaced out of the water. He didn't want to risk wasting his time going down to the beach, but he also didn't want to risk missing the chance of seeing him again. All he could think of doing is going down there for an hour for a few days then leaving, and if the mermaid never showed, then that was that. Today though, he was going to stay in the comfort of his own room.

Or at least he thought he was going to, because only moments after he was putting on a jacket and heading out the door.

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No matter how many times Lance tried to convince his mother to let the family go back to the beach, she always refused. Her reasoning always being that 'other people would already be there' and 'it wouldn't be fun for the kids' and yada yada. It was always shellcrap to him, 'the kids' would be perfectly fine if a few other people were there; it wasn't the end of the world. What would be the end of the world was if Lance didn't get to see that avian again.

The passing few days he's already hated as there was no way to go back the beach. Tonight was different though, he had an escape plan that was bulletproof. All he needed to do was wait for the coral cave to all fall asleep, then he can sneak pass the rooms and leave. It wasn't helping that he was the last room down, but he could still easily sneak out the cave no questions asked.

It didn't take long for the space to go dead silent. It was already late enough for everyone to be asleep, so Lance wasted no time swimming out his room and past all the seaweed doors. It probably would've been smart for him to grab something on his way out, but in his moment of escape he wasn't thinking rationally, so he ended up outside the cave with nothing on hand. He didn't need anything anyways though, as all he was doing was going to the beach.

As Lance made his way to the surface was when he realized that the guy might not even be there in the first place. I mean, it was the middle of a windy night, why would you be at a beach? It was too late for Lance to turn back though, so he just had to hope the guy did end up showing.

Lance broke the surface, and the first thing he saw was the stars. He didn't see the moon, so he figured it was behind him. He wasn't too far from the beach, only maybe twenty minutes of swimming time before he was there. Though, twenty minutes already seemed so long for Lance, he wanted to get there as fast as he possibly could. So, using all the energy he had, he swam as fast as he could.

The current wasn't so bad, but there was definitely a struggle getting there. Lance had been pulled back at least twice by waves, and he really didn't appreciate getting forcefully pushed back into the water. He doesn't fuck with the moon goddess, but right now he was really debating cursing her out. And with that thought in mind, a wave crashed into him, and he was pulled back way further than any wave could pull someone. He made sure to take note of never even thinking about insulting the goddess ever again.

He could see the shore now and any source of doubt to getting there was left in the moonlit waters behind him, as he used as much strength as his body could give him to helplessly swim faster. The closer the beach approached the more reckless his swimming became as he tried to swim at inhuman speeds. If his sister had seen him in this very moment she would call him desperate, but you know what? He was desperate, and he wasn't going to deny that fact.

It was what had seemed to be a few minutes away from the shore when Lance's tail harshly slashed against some kind of sharp rock. It was a burst of pain, something Lance had never experienced before, but even with the weight of the newly found injury, he kept his pace of swimming. He kept swimming and swimming, with no sign of stopping, not even to look back at his wound.

It was a sigh of relief that escaped Lance's lips when he felt the cold sand to his chest. He was now overly aware of his heavy breathing when feeling his chest go up and down on the rough texture. He pulled himself further onto the sand and instantly hissed in pain when the soil made contact with his open wound. He propped himself up and turned to look at the injury.

It wasn't too big of an injury, thankfully, but that didn't bypass the fact that there was a trail of blood flowing in the water directly from it. Lance swore that rock must've came out of nowhere, cause he would've seen it when he was swimming, but then again he wasn't really paying attention. Or, maybe the moon goddess was being petty and hurt him on purpose.

A big wave collided with Lance's face. He wasn't all to surprised, seeing as that was what to come when insulting a moon goddess.

A gust of wind flew right past Lance's face, this time unexpected and definitely not from the moon goddess. He looked around to see what the source of it had been, and his breath instantly caught in his throat when he turned towards the shore.

There, right in front of him, was the guy he's been waiting to see for the past few days. His wings were curled behind him, and his face was painted with concern. Not only that, but he was starting to walk towards Lance, right towards him! He stopped and kneeled in front of him, and the words that came out of his mouth went through one ear and out the other. The only thing the mermaid could focus on right now was his face.

A sharp pain snapped Lance out of his thoughts and he hissed. "Sorry," a voice muttered, and Lance's mind now settled to focusing onto the voice alone. He let whatever words that came next relax him onto the sand. His vision was getting blurry, but he smiled at the warmness of the words. The voice was probably casting a spell on him for all he knew, but for right now he giggled softly and let the soothing words put him to sleep.

((A/N: Wow, look. Action??? Never thought I'd be writing that))