Part 1 || Part 3 | Part 4
Keith had been starting to wonder if he would ever see his miracle merman again. It’s been two weeks since his life was miraculously saved. Two weeks since he first saw Lance, a beautiful blue merman, and his world was changed forever. The merfolk were real, he had met one.
“I can’t believe I found you,” Keith says again. Lance is still beaming at him.
“I can’t believe you actually looked,” he responds.
Keith had pushed out further and further in his search each time he was in the water. Even though he started to wonder if he would ever actually find Lance, he knew he wouldn’t stop trying.
“I brought something for you,” he tells Lance.
Lance’s eyes are bright and curious. He has the most mesmerizing, breathtakingly beautiful blue eyes that Keith has ever seen. Keith smiles at him and pulls a sandwich bag out of his pocket; a bag that he’s been carrying with him every time he comes out into the water since the day they met.
“What is it?” Lance says grabbing for the small plastic bag. Keith holds the bag out of reach.
“It will be fire,” Keith chuckles, opening the bag and pulling out a small box of matches.
Carefully, Keith opens the box and pulls out a match. He drags the match quickly along the rough side of the matchbox, and the flame bursts into life.
Lance’s eyes are huge. He looks between the flame and Keith’s surfboard, clearly trying to see the resemblance. Keith chuckles again.
Lance reaches out for the flame, but his wet hands extinguish it immediately. His face contorts into a confused frown and Keith laughs.
“It can’t get wet,” Keith explains, pulling out another match and lighting it. He holds this one closer for Lance to see.
Lance inspects it closely. The fascination on his face and the curiosity in his eyes makes Keith smile.
“I still think your fin looks more like a fish,” Lance says decisively and looks up at Keith.
Keith arches an eyebrow and shakes the match with his hand to put out the flame. He places everything back in the sandwich bag and returns it to his pocket. Lance is now inspecting his board and running his hands along the smooth surface. He grips the edge of the board and squeezes it. Then he lifts and tips it with surprising ease. Keith leans forward, laughing, to keep himself from pitching into the water.
“Sorry,” Lance says, looking a bit sheepish and putting the board back down. “What is your fin made from?”
Keith smiles at Lance still calling his surfboard a ‘fin.’
“It’s made from…” Lance probably wouldn’t understand what all the man-made materials are, “well, from fancy plastic. Sort of.”
Lance frowns, staring at the board. Maybe Keith will need to explain more than he thought he would.
“I know what plastic is,” Lance interrupts, his voice hard.
Lance’s eyes study him for a moment. His gaze runs over Keith’s face before flicking to the pocket where Keith put the bag of matches.
“Are you going to ride the waves today?” Lance asks suddenly, his voice softer.
Keith is grateful for the change of subject. Trying to explain or apologize for his people’s pollution habits is more than he’s willing to take on at the moment. Keith makes a mental note to get more involved in recycling programs and be more active in Clean Earth projects.
He loves surfing, even when the waters are unfriendly, but he wants to get to know Lance - an actual merman. Their first meeting has haunted his thoughts and dreams for two weeks. It makes Keith reluctant to leave.
Lance tilts his head in question. His brown hair is starting to dry from being above the water. There are iridescent blue scales that travel up his neck and along his hairline to his forehead; they shimmer and shine in the sunlight. Keith’s breath catches at how beautiful he is.
“I finally found you again. I don’t want to lose track of you so soon,” Keith says, answering Lance’s unspoken question.
Lance beams at him. His smile is so radiant it almost hurts to look at.
“Come on, then. I’ll take you somewhere that you can ride the waves and I can stay close.”
Keith smiles and Lance starts to push his surfboard, trailing the coast at a safe distance.
They don’t go very far. Lance takes him to a secluded stretch of beach. The shoreline is rocky here with only a few patches of white sand. Keith had no idea this area was even here. It doesn’t look like it can be accessed easily, if at all, from land.
“The waves here are just as good, but no wave riders come here. I don’t think they know about it,” Lance tells Keith as they come to a stop. “I come here to lay in the sun sometimes.”
“You like to lay in the sun?” It seems so funny to Keith, so pedestrian, like it’s something that merfolk just wouldn’t do.
“Of course. I like the feel of the dry sand, and the waves brushing against my tail.”
Keith just smiles at him.
They come to this secluded spot every time they meet. After the first few times, Keith found a way to reach their beach on his own. It isn’t easy, he has to climb a few rocks, but he makes it work. He’s even started to leave his surfboard in a hidden nook along the beach to make getting here easier.
It’s better than risking Lance’s safety. Keith still vividly remembers how serious and sad Lance’s face had looked when he mentioned how people have treated the merfolk in the past. Keith can only imagine what kind of horrors might cause them to stay away for so long that they’ve become a myth. He never wants to put Lance in that kind of danger.
That’s why Keith loves coming to this stretch of beach. Lance is right: the waves here are just as good as the place he frequented before, and even better is that no one else is ever here. Which means that Lance can stay close and watch Keith surf without risking his safety. Sometimes he’ll even swim alongside Keith in the waves.
It’s exhilarating and exciting. Each time they meet is a new adventure.
He spends every possible day with Lance, and they keep learning new things about each other. Lance tells him about the merfolk and life in the ocean; and Keith keeps learning about all the things that Lance has never experienced. And Lance asks so many questions. When they first met Keith hadn’t realized how different life was for Lance. It made sense that he wouldn’t know what fire was, but it’s all the other things that keep surprising Keith. He’s made the decision to introduce Lance to every new thing that he can.
Keith is hauling his surfboard out of its hiding spot when he hears a splash behind him. He glances over his shoulder and catches a glimpse of Lances tail. Keith’s never been able to get a good look at it, but he knows it’s blue.
He smiles as he carries his surfboard to the water. He’s brought something with him today that he thinks Lance is really going to like. Lance’s head pops above the surface as Keith wades into the shallows.
Keith climbs onto his surfboard and and paddles out to him.
“I brought something for you,” he says when he’s close enough.
Lance tilts his head and swims up to drape his arms over the front of the surfboard. He looks expectantly at Keith.
Keith swings the knapsack off his back and pulls out the plastic bag full of pastries.
“This is what you eat with your brother? The sweet food made of… bread?” Lance asks as he peers curiously at the bag.
“Yep, but you’re going to have to wait until your hands are dry to try one.” Keith points out.
Lance holds his hands up in front of himself and frowns. He starts waving them around in the air and Keith laughs.
When Lance has deemed his hands to be sufficiently dry he makes a grabbing motion at the bag.
Keith opens it and points out the different kinds before pulling one out.
“This one is a classic glazed, this one is filled with jelly… that’s made from fruit, and this one is chocolate.”
Lance eyes the choices carefully before giving Keith a helpless look.
Keith reaches in and pulls out the jelly filled one.
“You might as well go big for your first donut,” he tells Lance and hands him the sugary confection.
Lance’s eyes grow large at the first bite. The jelly is all over his face by the time he’s finished eating and Keith can’t contain his laughter at the sight.
“What did you think?” Keith asks as Lance cleans off his face.
“I’ve never had anything like it.” Lance admits. “I’ve seen all kinds of land treasures, but nothing like that.”
“What do you mean ‘land treasures’?”
“The stuff the land people leave on their floating land when it no longer floats.” Lance shrugs.
Keith has to think for a moment.
“Do you mean ships? Sunken ships?” he asks.
“I don’t know what you call them.”
“What sort of things do you find on these ships?” Keith’s always been fascinated by what might be found on shipwrecks.
“All kinds of strange and shiny things, but nothing that I would ever try to eat.”
“You’ll have to show me some of those things sometime,” Keith says. He glances out to the waves that are rolling in. They look ideal for surfing. “Are you going to ride the waves with me today?”
“Of course.” Lance smiles at Keith.
Keith smiles back. He’s really glad he met Lance, his miracle merman, his new friend and surfing partner. He couldn’t have asked for a better partner to ride the waves with.
As Keith stands on his surfboard and catches a glimpse of Lance’s blue tail in the wave beside him, he can’t help but think that they have a very bright and fun future ahead of them.
