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"A what?!"

"A mermaid," Keith said slowly, and Lance nodded earnestly.

Shiro stopped walking and turned towards Lance, looking him up and down. They were heading back to the beach parking lot to head home, to be able to all talk together with Matt and Pidge about Lance moving in. What else was he supposed to do? He had nowhere to go, even though he had plenty of money at his disposal.

After he had accepted the council's offer- staying on land, saving Keith, being a spy (sort of), Alfor had explained nearly everything to Lance.

1. Lance was only allowed to expose his secret to trustworthy, deserving humans, with a limit of five.

2. There was a bank account under the name Alfor Altea that had a large amount of savings in it. While Lance was allowed to take whatever he needed, he was only allowed to splurge once, just enough to get new clothes and whatever other necessities he needed.

3. Don't get drunk, killed, or a human pregnant.

Lance had counted up to 10 more rules, but he hadn't really paid much attention as he was planning how he would break it to Hunk. Allura already knew, but she had been waiting patiently for Lance when he had finally been released from the holding room after being interrogated by Alfor on the exact events of the morning.

"Lance! Are you crazy?!" she'd shrieked, then had hugged him so hard he thought his ribs would crack. "I was so worried," she said, then let Lance go and put on her 'Mom Face'. Stern and thin-lipped, she frowned, "You better not die up there."

Lance had laughed, then dragged her to Hunk's house where they explained everything to him. He ended up blubbering and kept on telling Lance to make sure to pack his lunch every day and eat healthily and make sure to visit every single week and to not forget him. Lance had poked his cheeks and promised he would eat healthily and visit every chance he could.

It was then that he remembered Allura's crush on Shiro, and had to go through his entire story of the morning's events again, and then answer all of Allura's dreamy questions about Shiro, including if he smelled like cinnamon (neither of them had any idea what cinnamon smelled like, but it was a human word and in human literature, especially the romance novels Allura read when she went to the surface, and authors sometimes described a significant other as smelling like 'pine trees' or 'cinnamon' or 'mint'.

"You lucky asshole, Shiro's gonna fall in love with you instead of me," Allura pouted, her pink luminescence glowing. Lance smiled sheepishly.

"I don't think so... Shiro really isn't my type anyway. And I thought that maybe Keith could be a potential candidate for Lover Lance's eligible bachelors list, but I think he might actually hate me and/or think I'm a total freakazoid because of the whole 'ohmigawd you have a tail' thing. But whatever. Watch out humans, Lancey Lance is coming to town."

"Snazzy," Hunk verified helpfully. Allura just rolled her eyes.

Lance already missed them and his family, who had actually been quite pleased that Lance had been selected for the mission. He still wasn't on great terms with his father, but Lance was sure that Carlos only needed a few days to cool down and he'd be okay again.

He snapped back to reality when he saw Shiro staring at him anticipatingly. "Uh, what?" Lance asked, embarrassed. It was so easy to just drift off... Lance had years of practice from school.

"I said, Keith and I are staying at our friends' house, Matt and Pidge. I need proof that you're a legitimate... mer-person... and they probably will too, but if you're telling the truth then I'm sure you can stay for a few weeks." Shiro smiled earnestly.

Lance beamed, "Yeah, absolutely! Lead the way."

...

"Are you ready yet?" Pidge hollered through the bathroom door.

"Almost!" Lance replied.

He was laying in the filling tub in Matt and Pidge's home, clean water washing over his skin. Upon arrival, the siblings had immediately been really kind to Lance, and he knew he'd get along with them, even if he and Matt had the potential to bump heads sometimes from his apparent flirt manner, similar to Lance's. They were both extremely smart, and the whole house was sprinkled with odd knick-knacks and partially-built machines, no doubt designed and assembled by the siblings in their free time.

The only machine that Lance was able to recognize was the one next to the toaster, holding a knife over a pat of butter. Butter. Lance had only heard from Ulaz what butter was. Since the mer had been sent to the surface to gain back weight after being held captive when he was little, Ulaz had described butter as 'nichimaua', the old Marmora word for 'Creator's Gift'. The way Ulaz had talked about it made Lance want to shove the entire stick down his throat.

As the water crept over his chest, Lance was suddenly nervous. He'd tried his best to explain to Matt and Pidge that he was a mermaid, but of course, they, along with Shiro, wanted proof, shoving him into the bathroom so he could change. He'd borrowed Shiro's shirt, oversized, because he'd been nude at the beach, and it now lay on the tile floor next to the tub. Lance made a mental note to ask Keith to remember to grab Shiro's other shirt of the rock he'd left it on that morning. It had been a long day, that's for sure. It was dark out, but the fluorescent lights of the bathroom were bright.

Lance had been as precautionary as he could. He warned the group that if they spread any information around, if they spoke of his secret to anyone, then they'd be killed. He knew that Alfor didn't rule these things lightly, he needed the group to know the gravity of the situation. They'd promised, Shiro had gone so far as to swear on his life, and Lance didn't think it was ironic- Shiro had seemed genuinely sincere, his fist over his heart and eyes deep.

Shiro reminded Lance of a shark, in some ways. His build, strong and sharp and toned, his dark eyes and hair, the startling bleached lock that hung at his forehead. Everything about him was precise and planned, skilled and smooth. His words commanded attention when he talked, even if it was just banter or small talk. Lance was drawn to him, even if not in a romantic way at all. Shiro seemed like a natural-born leader, but it also felt like he had walls up, walls that came down when he talked to the side with Keith. Lance had no doubt that they'd been close for years, and it actually seemed really sweet to see them act like little kids.

Dipping below the surface of the warm water (a new, wonderful concept- he'd only ever known cold), Lance felt his skin pinch and melt as his legs merged. Surfacing again, he slicked his hair back and called out, "You can come in!". The group of three rushed through the door quickly, Keith lagging behind a bit.

Matt was the first to talk, "Holy SHIT!"

Lance assumed that was one of those 'human swears' and he promised himself he'd ask Matt what they all were, now that he knew that the dude was okay with swearing in front of everybody. Maybe it wasn't as vulgar as his Human Studies teacher had told class it was. Pidge was writing things down in... his? Her? Their? notebook. Lance would also have to ask Matt about Pidge's pronouns.

Shiro knelt by the tub and looked down into the water, gazing at Lance's tail. Lance lifted it out of the water and rested his fin on the rim of the tub, breath coming in tight gasps as he recovered from the transformation. "You can touch it if you want. It's not poisonous or anything," he invited, folding his arms over his stomach. Matt's hands were soft and light over his scales, Shiro's calloused and warm. Pidge just kept on writing.

Lance looked up, forgetting briefly the strange sensation of soft fingers on his tail, the admiration of it all. His eyes met Keith, who was leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, looking vaguely interested but not by much. Keith was a whole other world, even compared to Shiro. He was guarded and moody and elegant, like a stingray weaving through the housing coves at night. Lance felt like if he got to close, he'd get caught by Keith's barb.

It took Lance a second to realize that Keith wasn't looking directly back at Lance, more at his neck. It was then that Lance felt his gills fluttering nervously, and he slapped his hand over one side (painfully, by accident). Keith's eye-roll was small but visible. Lance's eyebrows suck in annoyance. It wasn't his fault his gills had a mind of their own. They fluttered like this when he was nervous (or lying- his parents discovered that quickly).

"Wait, what are those?" Matt was pointing at Lance's face, and he was so stunned by the suddenness that it took him a few seconds to comprehend that Matt was pointing at his luminescence on his cheekbones.

He shuddered, dismantling his deep thinking, and nodded to Keith, "Turn of the lights." When the bathroom was dark, Lance pulsed on his lights and smiled in comfort. His ribs, hands, shoulders, collar... they all shone bright blue, the peaceful glow he used when he wanted to calm down or keep content. He didn't shine them to the max- that would be a little too much since they weren't in the murky ocean where the lights were slightly muted anyway.

"Cool," Lance heard Pidge whisper loudly, and he smiled. He could see their faces easily- he had sharpened night vision like all mers, but he knew that he probably looked like a bunch of glowing striped and spots with no body to the four roommates.

"Okay, Keith, lights on," Shiro announced, and Keith obliged, resuming his position on the door.

Pidge suddenly leaned close to Lance, frowning. "What are those?" Lance looked to where Pidge was pointing and looked sheepishly to Shiro.

"Shiro, do you mind lifting me out for a second? Not all the way out, just so I can show Pidge..." Shiro was already standing. Gently, he hooked his forearms beneath Lance's arms and lifted him out of the tub, their chests flush together, water seeping through Shiro's shirt. But he didn't seem to care because he was peering over Lance's shoulder, watching his sail raise to its full height, spines arching like the sail of a swordfish. He illuminated the swirls and stripes on the thin webbing between the spines and Matt and Pidge oohed and ahhed over the sharp spikes.

Apparently, this caught Keith's attention. He pushed himself off the doorway and strode forward, looking at Lance quizzically. "May I?" he asked, fingertip hovering over a sharp spine, and Lance nodded. He was too busy having his face pressed into Shiro's rock-hard pecs to even care. But Keith's thumb-tip on the point of his spine sent a weird shiver down his tail and his luminescence flashed, sail quivering. He gritted his teeth as Keith moved away and Shiro set him back in the tub.

"So can I stay?" he asked finally.

Matt grinned, "Fuck yeah."

...

As Lance lay on the pull-out cot in the small attic room, he stared up at the ceiling, unsleeping. Back at home, his room was small and comfortable, filled with warm jets of water coming out from small holes in the floor. His bed was made of layers upon layers of kelp and seaweed sewn together, slippery and just a little bit slimy. He could curl up on his side, tail waving gently in the soft currents.

But here, everything was backwards. He only knew so much from human studies. Downstairs, the roommates were eating dinner- Lance could hear their plates clattering and their loud laughter- but he'd excused himself, saying he was too tired. While that was true, there was something more. He felt out of place, no matter how kind and welcoming they all- well, three of them were. He kept on getting a weird vibe from Keith...

Lance's bed was a small cot in the corner of the attic, bouncy and old. Lance didn't have the proper words for what it smelled like, but it was sweet and musty. Matt had given him a large quilt in case he got cold, but Lance had left it folded beside his bed, as the attic was already pretty warm, almost unpleasantly. He wiped sweat from his forehead and got up, feet light on the wooden floorboards as he padded over to the window, large and circular. It looked over the beach, and had a small beach beneath it. It took Lance a few tries, but he was able to figure out how to wrench it open, letting in a cool, relaxing summer breeze.

As the attic aired out, Lance lounged across the seat, resting his head on his folded arms. The salty air was comforting, but he felt his heart pinch a little. The second night in a row without his father's snores next door, his mother's hums as she prepared the twins' lunches early in the morning, Sebastian and Carmen bolting into his room too early and bouncing on his sleeping form until he was conscious enough to chase them back out.

Was this homesickness? After the fight the previous night, then the apologies earlier, everything at home was so tangled and confusing. Lance just wanted everyone to cool off- mainly his father. Their parting earlier had been rushed and stuttered, apologetic and awkward. Lance closed his eyes and the sea breeze kissed his face.

After 10 minutes or so, he stood, closed the window to a slight crack, and clambered back to bed. Lance fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

...
:)) hi guys! hope you liked the chapter,, currently working on two other projects- the 30k present for Beat Drop, and the third book in my MysMes hanahaki series, but I'll update again asap (by next Monday, at least) ily!