A/N: Shorter chapter but POV change, enjoy

Rock the Boat

0123...

Blue had never considered that the little creatures, who rode on wood and metal called "ships", were anything other than food or fellow-predator. He knew, as all Sea Kings did, that there were those to avoid, those that knew how to make his kind flinch and cringe and obey. He knew that they were opportunistic hunters, that they would eat the smaller of his kind, the dumber ones who didn't know to avoid their bigger "ships", the ones with the loud, metal weapons that fired burning metal that could kill or cripple as easily as any of the Large One's teeth.

He never thought that any of them could be more.

And then… Then, he met her.

"Oh, holy fuck mothering fuck, you're so prettyI think I'll die from it!"

He… He had never been called pretty before. Had never had anyone gush over his appearance. He was just, he was blue, the color of the water. He was plain by the other Sea Kings' standards, the color of their home but only outside the Depths. He stood out there, but not in a good way, more like prey that had wandered too far. But, this little creature, this human, so small he could swallow her and her equally-tiny ship together without more than a single crunch of his strong jaws…

She said he was beautiful.

The name, Blue, it didn't mean the same when she gave it to him, wasn't a note about his coloring and his home, wasn't just another calling for being water-colored. No, it was a compliment and admiration.

She Named him Beautiful Blue Bastard out of awe for him. And she did it again and again and again, every time he visited her tiny boat. She sang for him, like the whales sang for their family, she had a song just for him, one that made her chatter out her loud, bright dolphin-like noises that meant joy, the ones she made for him. She used her tiny, useless-seeming limbs and she pulled away the tiny, metal parasites that her species used to catch food out of the sea, and she bled for him to do it.

Blue knew that, sometimes, other species adopted the lost calves and guppies of other species. He had seen dolphins adopt baby whales and the reverse, had seen sea turtles adopt tiny fish. Even the sharks had little fish that lived alongside them, ones they didn't eat, and the older Sea Kings had whole reefs worth of filter fish and the like to help with their teeth and dried-out scales, and old injuries.

Blue thought, at first, that this human, this Sasha, was like those. That she called and sang for him so he would give her his metal parasites. And he was fine with that, was fine with carrying her tiny "ship" for a little while as she sang and chittered and called to him. But then, then they reached that Island, the one with others of her kind, and, Blue could admit, he was…sad, to see her go. But like called to like, and even jellyfish preferred to be with their own kind over others. So, he thought that it was goodbye, that this was the last time he'd see his little filter-human, his strange little podmate… And, he could admit, he stayed closer to the island than he usually would, circling it and staying just out of the shallows for his size, watching the bigger "ships" go out and catch fish in their silly "nets", like whale-mouths for humans.

And then… She Sang His Name-Song.

And then she did it again, and again, choosing to spend so much time out of the day working on his little metal parasites and then!

Then she stepped on her bigger-but-still-tiny ship…

And they swam together.

Blue had been alone for so long, longer than his egg-mates had, his uniform coloring making him fade into the water of the greater sea and keeping the others from wanting to interact. So long he never even considered that he wasn't as much of a Solitary Sea King as he'd always thought he was…

As he'd convinced himself he was.

It was… It was wonderful, being a part of a pod, even one as tiny as theirs, with just him, his Sasha-human, and her little "ship" that felt somehow more and more alive as they swam together. And, sure, they couldn't dive or hunt with him, but they laughed and sang with him as they danced on the waves, they welcomed him, gave him a Name-Song. And it was so very wonderful.

And then he tried to eat that damn interloper, the massive Leatherback Sea King that had been moving in to snack on the larger "ships" that came to and from Sasha-human's new Island nest. And he had won! He'd killed and eaten the interloper! Him! Barely even half her age and his head not even half her size, he had won!

…But he'd hurt his jaw in the process.

He'll admit, he hadn't wanted to show his Sasha-human, even though he knew by now that her tiny limbs and clever brain would help him, but… But he knew that, in Sea King pods, unless the injured member was the leader of the pod, they were usually eaten or abandoned and… He didn't want to be alone again.

So he hid, he hid and tried to ignore the burning ache in his mouth… until she Sang his Name-Song, their wood-and-metal podmate Guppy singing as well. She Sang it twice and he couldn't bare to make her Sing it again. So, he answered, reluctantly, nervously…

"Beautiful Blue Bastard, You Will Listen To Me Right Now, Or I Swear To GOD, I Will Ground You, Do You Understand?!"

He never should have doubted her. He had seen the humans travel in large pods on their ships, had seen pods of ships traveling. He had seen the tiny humans fling themselves so brazenly into the water for one another as well. He just… Hadn't considered that he would see such a tiny creature as the leader of a pod, let alone one that he was in. Or that she would go to such lengths to make sure he healed.

But she had. She had moved so fearlessly amongst his sharp teeth, had continued to help him and relieve his pain, even using her strange sounds to convey when her actions would hurt more and why. Sure, it was a little hard to understand sometimes, more from volume than clarity, but he had learned plenty of those sounds over their time together. And, whenever she rested so close to his ear-fins, it was easier.

He had hurt her in his thrashing, he knew, when the harsh, jellyfish burning came to his jaw with the liquid that would "help" keep the sickness at bay. He knew he did, could smell it on her afterward, when she and the white-clad human had been against his muzzle. But she hadn't punished him for it, hadn't blamed him, had taken his Apology Song and Sang with him, forgiving him.

Blue had never known that the Humans could be so… Good to his kind. He knew most weren't, that he wouldn't hesitate to eat any should they cross his path or threaten his tiny, new Pod. But he now knew that some were different.

…He wondered… How Sasha-human would treat others of his kind.

…Maybe…

…Maybe he could introduce her to some…

…Once he was healed, however. He surely didn't want any of them seeing him as he currently was, that was for sure.

A/N: Here you go. Every 10th chapter is going to be an Outsider POV chapter. Enjoy!