I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender or the Barbie movie A Mermaid's Tale, which is where I got the inspiration for this story.

Chapter One- Odd Relationship

It was another beautiful, tranquil day. The perfect day for surfing, swimming, and other activities one enjoys in the sea. Shiro seized his surfboard off his porch, and rushed toward the water with a smile. The waves were different sizes and he wanted to get some surfing in before the early evening storm hit.

Shiro reached the water, got onto his board, and expertly paddled out into the surf. Shiro loved doing all kinds of water activities ever since he was a kid. He wasn't sure why except that his dad was an avid swimmer according to his mom. He had lived alone with his mother ever since he was born so he assumed his dad had died shortly before his birth. When he turned eighteen, Shiro moved to a beach house that was isolated but close to a local beach where he worked as a lifeguard and a surfing instructor.

A small wave rose up and Shiro easily rode it to ease into surfing and bring his skills to the surface. He slid down the back and he met up with another wave. He rode that one with a few of his favorite tricks. The waves varied from small to big the further out he went. He wasn't afraid of the big waves; if anything they gave him a thrill and he used them to perform complex maneuvers. He was at the top of a rather large wave and was attempting to pull off a move he had been practicing when the board went out from under him and he went under the water. He popped back to the surface and pulled his board toward him by the wrist strap. He climbed aboard and sat there to relax and reflect on the failed move and decide on how to tackle it differently when he next attempted it.

Shiro nearly fell off his board again when a boy with brown hair and eyes as blue as the ocean popped up beside him. "Lance!" he exclaimed. "Don't just pop up like that."

Lance flashed the grin that Shiro found attractive before saying, "Sorry. I should have popped up somewhere else and called out to you, huh?"

"Definitely." Shiro had been straddling his board but he slid himself so that his legs were sitting on one side as Lance pulled himself up onto the board, a blue tail with a white diamond pattern flashed before sinking back under the surface. Shiro didn't bat an eye.

Lance revealed himself to Shiro a year ago, claiming he sensed the older man was receptive to the mythical beings of the world. He was correct as Shiro had seen mythical ocean creatures briefly ever since he moved to his beach house, but he had never seen a merperson before.

"That's not a surprise," Lance had said. "My kind tend to stay at the very bottom of the ocean. My parents would probably be furious if they knew I was up here."

"I would imagine they would be," Shiro had replied, balancing himself on his surfboard that was balanced on a rock. "What do your parents do?"

"Rule the ocean."

Shiro had nearly slipped off the board at the casual reply. He had leaped off the board and landed on his feet. He had gaped at Lance before saying, "You're a prince?"

"Yeah. I guess I should have mentioned that earlier."

Lance and Shiro continued to meet almost every day over the year and eventually fell in love. At first, Shiro was a bit concerned that their relationship was forbidden but Lance countered that. "There's been occasional instances where humans and merpeople got together. It's usually male-female pairings and the child is human with no clue of their dual heritage until they are of mature age which for merpeople is twenty-five."

"I'll be twenty-five in a few months," Shiro had said.

"Well, then I'll come by then and say happy birthday."

"Lance," Shiro said as he came back to the present. "You remember that tomorrow's my birthday."

"Sure do. I've been planning some surprises for you for a week now."

"Such as?"

"A picnic with some food I'd like you to try and some rare shells one can only find on the ocean floor."

Shiro wasn't too sure about the picnic but being presented with rare shells sounded real good. I'll try the food. After all, Lance planned all this just for me. Out loud, he said, "I look

forward to your now not so secret surprises."

Lance did corkscrews and barrel rolls as he headed home with Shiro doing the same because of a storm. Lance had never seen a surface storm as they were dangerous for anyone up there. Lance pitied the humans who had to suffer through a storm and clean up afterwards; not that merpeople were spared as they had underwater storms of their own and there would be some clean up involved as well.

Lance ceased his tricks as his thoughts turned to Shiro. He had kept his meetings with Shiro a secret while he perused the library for books on merpeople history. He looked up every page that was related to humans and found information that he had ended up sharing with Shiro, like how their interaction was not really forbidden. He shared a lot of his findings as their friendship progressed and as they fell in love.

It had been easy to meet up with Shiro in the early days of their friendship. In fact, it was shortly before they fell in love that he was found out. He was surprised that his parents weren't angry for him surfacing and interacting with Shiro. They praised him for being cautious of approaching Shiro and were pleased when Lance explained why he chose to reveal himself.

When Lance announced eight months into his friendship with Shiro that the two of them were in love, his parents were surprised but they knew they couldn't stop him as Lance was a stubborn, headstrong merman. They questioned Lance about Shiro, saying that they may visit him at some point.

Turns out interaction between humans and merpeople is not exactly forbidden as long as the merperson is careful in approaching the human. Most of my family is happy for me…except my older sister, Veronica. She seems jealous and I've heard her muttering about how I'll be king before she will be queen as I have a lover while she does not. That is ridiculous. Shiro is human. He can't live underwater. The odds of me ruling before her are slim. She has time to find a lover, court him, and become engaged.

Lance reached his kingdom and floated above it, admiring the buildings that served as homes or businesses. Merpeople swam about as they shopped; buying cosmetics, food, drinks, clothing, or jewelry. Others talked and laughed with one another sharing gossip or showing off their purchases. It amused Lance how similar humans and merpeople were when it came to social behavior like talking and shopping.

"Lance!" a female voice called and he turned to see Veronica.

"Hi, sis," he said as she swam up to him. "What's up?"

"Were you with your…human again?" she asked with a tone of disgust.

Lance bristled at her tone. "Yeah, I was and I plan to tomorrow as it's his birthday and I shared what I'm going to do for him."

"Lance, you shouldn't share any more than you already have. He's a human and humans have a habit of betraying each other and especially betraying their lovers."

"Shiro's not like that," Lance snapped. "He's different. If you met him, you would like him."

"I doubt it and I doubt that anyone else would like him either." She swam away in a flurry of bubbles and toward the city, leaving Lance to shake his head in frustration.