Accidental Flushed Feelings

Feferi's thoughts swirled in her mind like a whirlpool of mixed emotions. She was so happy to be leaving the ocean at last, but also sad that she was going to have to lie to those dearest to her to get out there. She was so excited to be meeting someone new, but also scared that he might not like her.
It was the day that she was going to go to the surface. Her gills spread wide with a tingling nervousness that she had never experienced before. She didn't change anything about her outfit; if he didn't like who she was then she didn't need him. Though she desperately wanted him to like her. She brought along her double trident for safety. She had never been to the surface before. Who knew what kind of dangers awaited her? After telling her fish friends where she was going and bidding them goodbye, she swum down to Gl'bgolyb to ask for freedom of the ocean for a while.
"Hello, Gl'bgolyb! How are you doing today?" She started, being cautious not to sound like she was up to no good.
Gl'bgolyb responded in her language of indiscernible 'glubs' that Feferi understood to be "Hello, Princess. I am doing well. What would you like to talk about?"
Feferi bit her lip lightly and decided to go for it:
"I was just going to let you know that I am going to the surface of Alternia today. I will be back later in the day when the moon is about to set."
Gl'bgolyb made a noise that sounded like a small groan.
"But Feferi, are you sure you are ready to go to the surface? There are horrible things there."
"Gl'bgolyb, I am going to be eight sweeps old soon! I think I can handle more than the waters of the deep by now! And I will only be visiting a friend."
"Who is this friend?"
Feferi held her head high as she answered because she knew what the response would be before she uttered the name.
"The purple-blood, Gamzee Makara." She closed her eyes shut before listening to Gl'bgolyb's response.
"A Makara? But I have heard the youngest Makara is insane and consumes bad things that turn his mind to mush!"
Feferi considered that before answering.
"It's not like I'm flushed for him! We are friends, and I want to see the surface!"
Feferi was confident Gl'bgolyb would break now.
"…As long as you're safe. Are you taking your royal weapon?"
"Of course I am, Gl'bgolyb! What do you take me for? Don't worry! I'll be fine. I love you."
"I love you, too."
And with that sorted out, Feferi swum to Eridan's hive to receive the inevitable yelling.

Only there was no yelling or Eridan for that matter. It seemed as though he had already gone for one of his visits to the surface and hadn't come back yet. Feferi decided to leave him a note, telling him that she had left to visit Gamzee Makara while he was gone. Gl'bgolyb had agreed to let her go, so really it didn't matter if Eridan approved or not. She put that in along with her signature smiley face.

It was time. She was really going to do it. She swum as fast as she could, zooming past fish and sunken treasures belonging to long forgotten plunderers. She slowed as she spied the beach that had the butt print and then emerged from the water, hair sopping wet and clothes clinging to her. She decided that because there was no water to get in her eyes, she didn't need her goggles on.

She looked around for a bit. There was the butt print in the sand and the green sopor slime next to it. She heard a faint honking sound from inside the hive. It was a large hive, though not as large as her palace.
"Gamzee! It's me, Feferi!" She called out. She hoped he could hear her. It became apparent that he could when a very tall, very lanky male troll strolled out of the door holding a can with a grin spread across his face. He had long, curly hair and sharp horns that stuck in the air. His t-shirt looked like he had worn it the previous day and his polka-dot jeans hung loosely on his hips revealing a pair of dark purple boxers.
"Hey, Feferi. Motherfucking fantastic to see you." He held out the can to her. "Faygo. As promised." His smile grew bigger. She tried to walk over to him and not fall over but her legs wobbled slightly. Walking was hard for a sea-dweller who had never been on dry land before. It felt strange; her muscles had to work in a completely different way. Gamzee saw this and walked over to her in one long stride, picked her up over his shoulder and took her inside. Feferi didn't know whether to laugh or cry out for help. She simply stared as the ocean became the inside of Gamzee's hive.

He placed her gently in a pile of horns and sat next to her in it. Once again, he held out the Faygo can. Feferi accepted the offer and opened the can with a satisfying 'pshck'. She took a swig and Gamzee looked at her with an anticipating smile.
"Mm! Tasty. I've never had anything like this before!" She looked over at her host. He looked very happy to hear that.
"Yeah, sis. Faygo is a motherfucking miracle. I can't enough of the stuff." He chuckled, sending shivers down Feferi's spine. "I'll join you in a motherfucking drink."
He pulled out another can, opened it and promptly took a swig.
"You know, my lusus was so worried about me being here but I don't think you're as dangerous as she says! You seem really nice!" Her face flushed a little as she realised that she said it out loud.
"You're motherfucking miraculous as well." He said smiling. There was something about the way he looked at her that made Feferi want to hide her face in embarrassment.
"Wow." She breathed out. "Thank you, Gamzee."
"Ain't anything to be up and thanking me for. It's the motherfucking truth, princess."
She giggled and took another drink. There wasn't much room in the horn pile, so they were sitting rather close together. Her heart was beating so loudly she could hear it. She looked into Gamzee's dark purple eyes. They seemed to have begun changing from black already. Hers were still deep dark pools surrounded by yellow sunlight. She felt so young looking up at him. It was then that she realised they had been staring into each other's eyes for quite some time and cleared her throat, looking away.
"Um, so what do you do for fun here on land?" She said trying to sound nonchalant.
"Oh, you know. Eat some pies, try to ride my unicycle, talk to my buddies. The usual stuff. My moirail Karkat is a real good guy. He's kinda loud and angry but once he chills the motherfuck out he's motherfucking great."
"And does Karkat have a matesprit or a kismesis?"
"Yeah, his matesprit's Terezi. She's blind. Also never lets anyone forget it." Gamzee let out a small laugh. "But she's motherfucking great, too. Real good at drawing."
Feferi smiled and giggled at Gamzee. How could Gl'bgolyb think he was dangerous? He was lovely! He loved his friends and had unique hobbies, he was harmless. Feferi knew of the violent Makara history and the revolution of the lowbloods against the highbloods, but Gamzee didn't seem to be like that at all. Gl'bgolyb was wrong about him.
"I'm sorry to get you all wet like that." Feferi said, referencing to the wet patched on his t-shirt.
"Don't motherfucking worry about it, Feferi. It's just a t-shirt I got plenty more just like it." He smiled at her kindly and she grinned up at him. He was so tall! And Feferi herself was just below average in the height charts. She watched his throat as he gulped down some more Faygo. The lump moved with each mouthful that went down. Feferi's cheeks went fuchsia once more as she realised she was staring at someone she barely knew.
"This is my first time on the surface. I can't believe how hard it is to walk on dry land! I almost fell over, but thankfully you were there to help. Thanks." She looked up at him with grateful eyes and his face flushed at the sight.
"No need to thank me, I was just motherfucking helping out. Anyone would've done that. Really, it's nothing." He said looking to the side. Feferi bit her lip. Did she embarrass him? She giggled.
"So, tell me about your other friends." She said politely.

They talked the whole night. Their conversations moved and twisted and turned from one topic to another, they laughed and joked about all kinds of things: Eridan and his silly scarves, Sollux and his weird bees, the other highbloods that lived not too far away from Gamzee, the FLARPers and their crazy, sometimes dangerous, antics and Feferi's home life and hobbies. At one point, Gamzee got one of his pies and started to eat it. Feferi decided that it couldn't hurt that much if Gamzee had been using it to calm down for sweeps. It made her feel very warm and her head felt fuzzy, which led to her flailing all over Gamzee while he laughed at her reaction.

By the end of the night, Feferi didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay on the horn pile with this strange and wonderful troll and hear more about his life. But she knew Gl'bgolyb was waiting for her and Eridan was probably worried, too, if he was even back. She said her farewells and promised to return at some point. Gamzee said he looked forward to it, and they held each other for a few seconds. She breathed in his scent: musky and like sea-salt from the ocean water Feferi had soaked him with. When they broke apart, they stared longingly at one another. Her lips parted and so did his. Her hands lingered on the back of his neck and he moved his hands from her back to her hips. She stood up on her tip-toes and he pulled his head down to meet her lips with his. The kiss was slow and very passionate. Her knees trembled and she felt like she was going to fall but he caught her leg and pulled it up beside his. Her heart beat in time with his and in that moment, they were one.

They reluctantly pulled away as the first beams of light broke through the horizon. She grinned at him and whispered:
"Oh, I will definitely be back." At that, Gamzee laughed and they kissed one more time before breaking apart. Feferi got back into the water and almost fell backwards because she was still saying goodbye to him. Once she was no longer visible and submerged into the sea, she burst out laughing like a maniac. She was definitely flushed as could be for Gamzee Makara.