Chapter 3
Kurt shut his eyes and flipped his fins harder, not caring where he was going. He just had to get away. He could barely hear the anxious protests of Finn, who was speeding along precariously beside him, stream of bubbles pouring out of his gills as he tried in earnest to keep up with Kurt's pace.
He was swimming so fast.
But he couldn't help it. Biting his lip, he propelled himself through the water as fast as he could and did his best to drown out any thoughts of what his father would do or say when (or if) he found him. Kurt thought maybe he shouldn't have argued with him, shouldn't have protected his collection with such vehemence that his father thought it necessary to simply smash the entire alcove to pieces, pretty glass pots that shone in the sparkling light from the surface and glittering sand-roughed gems reduced to mere glittering shards. He felt his eyes sting as usual, as they did whenever he was painfully upset, as if the water was attacking him from the eyeballs first. Wincing, he brought up a clenched fist to press at each offending eye and zoomed ahead like a coral fish escaping a feral predator.
"Kurt, you're only making it worse," Finn cried desperately, "He's only getting madder by the minute. I can feel it. You know what he does what he's mad, Kurt, he'll-"
"He can make all the storms he likes because with or without a raging current, I'm not going back there," Kurt snapped in reply. He forced himself to banish all thoughts of what his dear father was capable of, tried to wash away any memory of how that sunken shipwreck came to meet its final resting place in the murky ocean depths.
His eyes stung once more, frustratingly.
He knew he couldn't outrun his father forever. As much as Burt Trident was a caring and essentially excellent father when he wanted to be, he was not the most patient or long-fused of Merfolk. Sometimes he feared too much for Kurt. He feared that Kurt's desire to see the Surface and the barbaric humans who roamed it would be the death of him, let alone the fact that he'd never expressed a desire to find a beautiful mermaid wife.
Not that he had an issue with Kurt's... preferences, as it was.
The King was simply a natural worrier.
And who wouldn't worry about a son whose features were both gentle yet angular, whose wide, inquisitive blue eyes brimmed with so many unanswerable questions, whose hair was a rich coral brown and soft enough to make even the most beautiful of mermaids weep with envy.
He was only trying to protect him
And Kurt knew he was only trying to protect him, shield him from the cruelties that lay beyond Atlantica's majestic gates, but that was it.
That was it exactly.
Ever since Kurt could remember he's wanted to visit the Surface. Ever since that day when he saw a human so close, so close he could've touched the strange tubes protruding from his mouth and back, could've lightly prodded his long black fins that were seemingly loosely attached to his tail.
His tail which was split,
Of course, Kurt's infantile mind had not yet learnt that humans had strange appendages called "legsan feet" where their tails should be, but after meeting the acquaintance of one Jacob the seagull he had learnt much more about Landfolk.
Or as Jacob called them, humans.
Kurt did his best to visit Jacob whenever he could at his stony perch on the surface, often dragging Finn with him- out of habit, of course. Finn was supposed to act as King Trident's eyes and ears when he wasn't around, keeping him out of trouble, but Kurt was beginning to enjoy his company as the brother he never had. Of course, his bossy older sister Rachel had gone to father almost immediately, and so Mercedes was reinstated as Kurt's "babysitter" of sorts.
But she wasn't so bad herself.
Oh sweet holy herring, what if she's following me too?
Kurt suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, Finn zooming ahead slightly before grinding to a halt and retracing his strokes back to Kurt. Kurt was squinting at the angry trail of bubbles he'd left behind, bringing his fins up to slap away the tiny silvery orbs in annoyance as he tried in vain to see if Mercedes was hot on their trail.
Which, thankfully, she wasn't.
Kurt allowed a smirk of satisfaction to tug at his lips before suddenly realising how dark the water had become, murky gloom setting in as if it were night time on the Surface already. But that was impossible. He was sure of it.
"Finn," Kurt ventured, sidling closer to his quaking fish friend, "Is it just me or is it getting dark kind of really really way too early?"
Finn gulped, convulsing in what Kurt perceived to be an equivalent version of a nod as he pressed his slippery body into Kurt's shoulder. Finn hated the ocean at night.
Kurt instantly snapped his head up to look at the surface. Blurry as the view was, he could always see golden light streaming through the water almost every day (unless it was, as Jacob dubbed it, "clowd-ee").
Kurt opened his mouth to speak but before he could utter a single syllable he found himself swept away from Finn by a viciously strong current.
"Finn!"
Before the fish knew what was happening, he was being pushed and pulled so fast that he was too disoriented to know what was happening. Alarmed at the sudden loss of Finn from his line of sight and fighting without prevail to break free of the tide, Kurt's stomach seemed to be lodged firmly in his throat. Grunting in desperation one last time, vision obscured by a flurry of bubbles, Kurt let himself go limp with defeat. He felt like such an idiot. What had his father said only that morning?
"I only want to protect you, Kurt. You don't know what's out there, you don't know what it's like. And I beg you not to try and find out."
But of course, Kurt hadn't listened. Stubborn, headstrong and blinded by the fascination of humans, Kurt had ignored everything his father had told him and now here he was about to get ripped apart in a nasty current and Finn was probably off somewhere getting similarly thrashed to the point of nausea and-
Suddenly, everything was still. Kurt hadn't realised, but at some point his eyes has glued themselves tightly shut, his arms wrapped protectively around his lean body like a feeble shield, slippery tail curled up beneath him. He let himself hover in the calm water for a moment, stunned by how quickly the violent motions has stopped, and then slowly, very slowly, cracked an eye open.
And then he gasped.
He was so close to the Surface. Inches away, in fact. Looking up through the crystalline water, he could see strange white and grey shapes blooming against a murky backdrop, a strange and slightly blurred circle of yellow peeping through the dull plumes.
It was all there on the Surface. It was all there within touching distance.
He'd been up there before, of course, but that was only during the times when it was bright and everything was clear and the colour of the now dreary backdrop (which Jacob proudly called "the sky") was a pale blue. But this? This was different.
Biting his lip, Kurt reached out with a finger, going up and up, trembling slightly as he breached the thin barrier of water and... well, whatever that cool, airy substance was up on the Surface. The sensation sent small tingles down Kurt's spine, thrilling him in a new and exciting way. He got the strongest urge to launch himself up, launch his entire body up to the surface and feel those tingles all over his face and chest and arms and tail. He ached for it.
So he did it.
His head broke free of the water first, sending droplets of salt water in all directions. Kurt's mouth opened of its own accord and he breathed in, gulping it down, feeling the icy sensation flood through his body. Water settled in the various hollows and contours of his cheeks, his collar bone, his nose, sticking to his lashes and framing the world with a dewy wet border. Kurt's eyes fluttered shut as a small giggle broke free. Instantly he clamped his hands over his mouth, eyes widening and darting about- everything sounded so much louder on the Surface- but he couldn't stifle a smile. It was magical for Kurt.
"Help- help me-"
The small, tired voice carried to Kurt's ears from far behind him. Instantly his hands flew away from his mouth and he ducked back underwater. He didn't recognise the owner of the voice, and the stories of Mermaid catchers had never sounded particularly enjoyable. But then he saw a murky shadow only a few feet away. Two long, slightly bent in the middle objects, and a darker looking shape just above them. Kurt was fascinated. Cautiously, he swam towards the figure, keeping his tail strokes small as to not make too many bubbles. Suddenly the two thick objects began moving, like arms do when you swim except somehow more gently, more controlled. Kurt wondered what it was.
And that's when Kurt Trident snuck back up to the surface to stick his head out and get a proper view, paddling gently forward as the figure gained discernible features
And that's when Kurt Trident saw him for the first time, arm strewn over a badly splintered piece of wood, shirt torn around his arms, eyes closed.
Kurt had never seen anyone more beautiful. His skin was slightly darker than his own, curly hair framing his angular face. It was like someone had taken one of those perfectly carved statues of gorgeous men and given it life, only this was even better because Kurt could see his shoulders rising and falling with breath meaning that he was actually real. There was someone else next to him, lying flat on his back on another slab of wood. Breath hitched in Kurt's throat as he took in the two long arm-like appendages situated where Kurt's tail was. Breathing out a stream of bubbles in shocked realisation, a tiny squeal making its way out too, Kurt ducked back underwater to look at the the dangling objects coming from the one who was half in the water. Then, Kurt zoomed back up to the Surface, heart thudding. Legs. Those were legs. And only one thing Kurt knew of, aside from crabs and lobsters, had legs.
Humans.
"Is... is anyone out there?"
Kurt wanted to call out, to make himself heard. He was only a foot away, half a foot even, and he really did want to speak to them. But the man looked like he was in pain, face contorted with a worrying mix of confusion and panic. The other man looked like he was asleep, but he was wearing a similar expression.
Kurt deliberated for a moment- was it safe to approach them?- but when he heard a low, guttural moan of discomfort issuing from the beautiful one with the dark curly hair, he found himself swimming towards him completely not of his own decision. Now he was right next to him, he was awestruck by the fact that he looked even more amazing up close. Thick lashes fanned around his closed eyes and soft pink lips parted, taking ragged breaths, Kurt had the overpowering urge to reach out and touch his cheek. Instead he settled for grasping his hand gently, marveling at how beautiful the delicate contrast between their skin tones was. A smile curled on Kurt's lips as he fondly stroked this fingers beneath his own before gripping the sleeping boy's hand tighter, solidifying his hold to making sure he would not fall off the plank.
"Hold on," Kurt whispered, reluctantly bringing his hand away, "I'll help you get back."
Once he'd grabbed ahold of the sleeping human boy as well, tying the two planks of wood together with a stray length of frayed rope, Kurt proceeded to drag them to the closest beach he knew. His brain was abuzz, fizzing over with excitement and curiosity, and whenever he stole a look back at the boy with the curly hair he felt his stomach flip flop. The sensation zapped through his body, head to fins, and it quite literally made him dizzy with happiness.
By the time he'd finally dragged the two boys up to a beach, yanking them up the soft sandy shore with difficulty, dawn was already breaking. He stopped struggling with the sand to turn and, shielding his eyes from the harsh light, finally see what that bright mass he'd seen through the ocean really was. It hurt to look for too long, but Kurt was disappointed to realise that it was really just a huge burning ball of fire. Like in paintings he'd found in old shipwrecks, except its rays were far too bright to stare in its direction for too long without being temporarily blinded.
"Here you go," Kurt mused, rolling the sleeping boy off of his plank. It took a few shoves, as Kurt's muscles ached from dragging them through the ocean all night, but eventually the boy was lying face up on the sparkling sand. Weirdly, he didn't move except to roll onto his side. Kurt simply shrugged and turned to gaze at the curly-haired boy.
"Wow," he breathed, brushing a stray curl from the boy's forehead, allowing himself the momentary pleasure of running his fingers over his eyelids and down those perfect cheeks. The boy seemed to shudder, nuzzling into Kurt's touch. He was truly magnificent.
"What would I give to live where you are?"
"What would I pay to stay here beside you?"
Kurt settled himself onto his elbows, propping himself up so that he could comfortably map his face with his hands, committing it to memory. Tail bending up to soak up the ball of fire's soothing warmth, Kurt was content to lay there beside him, singing and touching him forever.
He took the boy's face in both hands, running his thumbs softly across his hairline, and sighed.
"What would I do to see you, smiling at me?"
As if hearing his words, the boy's eyes fluttered open. Kurt had never seen such a colour before; hazel, with a touch more green than brown, dusted with specks of perfect gold. He gazed up at Kurt as if in awe, and Kurt was sure he was not controlling his own motions when he grabbed one of the boy's hands and pressed it against his own cheek, as if to say, Here I am. I'm real too.
"Where would we walk?
Where would we run?
If we could stay all day in the sun
Just you and me
And I could be
Part of your world."
"B-Blaine?"
Kurt pulled his hand away from the boy's cheek, causing him to do the same, and fixed his eyes on the slumbering boy. Or rather, the once slumbering boy who was now reclining on his elbows and staring wide-eyed at Kurt in shock. Kurt furrowed his brow and was about to pose a question along the lines of, What are you staring at? I just saved your life you idiot, but he decided against it when he remembered ah, his tail.
His stupid, stupid tail.
Groaning with equal parts irritation and reluctance, pausing only to glance down at the beautiful curly-haired boy who now had a hand extended towards Kurt's face, Kurt mouthed a quick goodbye before frantically clawing his way back down the beach and plummeting into the water. It felt cooler than usual, wetter too, and Kurt felt his eyes sting as he remembered the look on the human boy's face. As if he was looking at Kurt and seeing something... something beautiful. Something as beautiful as what Kurt had been seeing. And that thought gave Kurt that fuzzy flip-flopping feeling in his abdomen.
He suddenly looked back up at the surface, still so very close, and decided against his better judgement to breach it for one last look.
He was close enough to see that the other boy was on his feet, but was far out at sea enough, hidden safely enough next to a crumbling rock, to be seen by him. The curly-haired boy- Blaine? What a fantastic name!- was still lying down on the sand where Kurt had set him, and it looked like his arm was still partially reaching out. The sight made Kurt's heart ache a little.
Kurt gripped the sharp barnacles on the rock so tightly, his fingers were bleeding. His eyes were stinging again, except this time he saw water well up underneath them and felt the warm drops run down his cheeks. He reached up to touch them, bewildered, and tasted the water on his tongue. Salty. He'd never leaked salt water before. Kurt wondered if it was a human thing.
"I don't know when,
I don't know how
But I know something's starting right now..."
Watching the other boy helping Blaine to his feet, watching them walk slowly off of the beach, Kurt felt a whole new emotion swell in his chest. He didn't know how to describe it in so many words, didn't know if it even had a name. But all Kurt knew was that he wanted Blaine. He wanted to be with Blaine and to see Blaine's smile again and to be like Blaine.
Kurt had decided.
He sniffed, wiping his eyes with his blood-free fingers and, watching the two boys stride away, smiled.
"Watch and you'll see
Someday I'll be
Part of your world."
