Under the Ocean Waves

The clothes that he had been wearing disappeared along with his legs, leaving Vic wondering if he’d ever see them again. Kellin looked up with wide, scared eyes, gently placing a pale finger to the lips that had just been pressed against Vic’s. The Mexican just stared down at him with a little smile on his face. “You alright?” he asked, kneeling down beside him.

“Yeah,” Kellin said, his voice a little shaky. “So that’s how human’s kiss? And its just… just like that?”

“Mhm,” said Vic, nodding his head and looking to see how far away the water was. “Just like that. I mean, they don’t always have to mean something, you know? But they should.”

Confusion did bubble up inside of Kellin even more. Under the sea sirens kissed only when they were mating, as you would call it. It was a way to show very strong affection for someone since there wasn’t much else they could do and honestly, although it doesn’t seem like it, they weren’t as different from humans as they are made out to be. They fall in love, they have emotions and they show them in some of the same ways. Technically he was human when he kissed Vic, so it shouldn’t have meant much. Well, considering he still had the mentality of a siren, it did. The thing that was so confusing about all of this was the fact that Kellin wasn’t thrown off by the kiss itself, or uncomfortable even. No, he just wanted to do it all over again.

“I guess there’s lots you can do with kissing, now that I think about it,” said Vic, rambling on seeing as Kellin wasn’t saying anything. He shifted to a sitting position so that he was little more comfortable while Kellin sat up as best he could beside him.

“Will you do it again?” Kellin asked innocently.

His eye lashes were a little fluttery and he looked so cute and unsure and well, Vic couldn’t really help himself. It vaguely struck him that he had probably been Kellin’s first kiss, but he didn’t know if sirens weighed any sort of importance on that at all as it was. “Well, I gue-” He was promptly cut off before he could answer, however, by the siren leaning in once more. And of course leaned right in as well, catching Kellin’s lips with his own and working their mouths together. Almost by impulse he placed his hand closer to Kellin’s waist, but not so much as to startle him, even though he kissed back as much as Vic was kissing him. When they finally pulled apart Vic grinned and pressed his forehead to Kellin’s, wanting to pull him over on top of him in the sand. He knew that he couldn’t though. Overwhelming him was probably a really bad idea and the last thing he wanted was to start having bad ideas.

“Human kisses are amazing!” Kellin said breathlessly. “We have nothing like that down there!”

Vic shook his head and turned to face the ocean, noting the fact that the moon was starting to get full again. It’s light reflected across the water beautifully, making it sparkle. “Kellin, you’re adorable.”

“I am?” said Kellin, who seemed hyped and happy after the little, toned-down make out session that they’d had. Vic nodded, trying to stifle a yawn. It had been a long day and honestly the water on the silent, warm beach was starting to lul him a bit. “You look sleepy,” Kellin commented.

A yawn slipped out before Vic could say anything in response. “I kind of am,” he admitted. “So… I’ll stop by tomorrow, okay? Um, I guess I’ll be here earlier in the morning. Maybe a little after dawn. Do you want to stay on the beach… or?” He left the question open, not knowing how to word it.

The Siren nodded with understanding and turned his eyes to the sand as he was thinking. The surface made him nervous, but he loved learning about Vic. He didn’t want to impose but he also wanted to make him happy. “Um… its up to you, I guess,” was all he could come up with. “I feel like I’m troubling you…”

“Not at all!” Vic cut him off. “No, I like having you around, Kellin.”

A smile formed on Kellin’s face. “Okay, we’ll do whatever you want to do then,” he said. Vic nodded and stretched his back.

“I’ll help you to the water,” he breathed, getting to his feet. Kellin was going to protest but something inside him stopped the words. He wanted to feel Vic’s arms around him again and he realized that that was something he was missing a little. “Ready?” The warm feeling of arms sliding around his torso was so nice that Kellin threw his head back to enjoy it. Down under, they rarely felt some kind of warmth like that and Vic’s strong arms were almost foreign. Of course, the tanner boy noticed the little smile playing on his lips and the way he squeezed his arms as he dragged him towards the ocean. And that stirred up a whole whirlwind of thoughts in his mind that he silenced until later.

They said a quick goodbye; Vic fought the urge to kiss him away. But he probably didn’t understand goodbye kisses and its not like they were a couple. No, Vic wasn’t sure if wanted to even try to explain that to Kellin. He stood ankle deep until he was sure that Kellin was gone, swimming under the water back towards his friends and his home, leaving Vic to trudge back to his car and drive home with the wistful feeling of longing for the siren boy.

—

“Matty, it was so amazing. There is so much up there! I wish I could bring skittles back for you, you’d probably love them. And there was saltwater taffy too! Oh and you have to meet Vic but don’t let his car scare you, it just moves you places.” Kellin seemed to be talking a mile a minute, completely ecstatic after the day he’d had. His best friend rested in one of the bends in the rocks, his arms folded comfortable under his head.

“So when are you going to tell me about whatever it was that you were doing on the sand when he brought you back?” asked Matty, sounding unimpressed.

Kellin, however, jumped on the explanation. “Its called kissing!” he said, swimming up close to Matty. He was acting like a little kid; it was unlike anything Matty had ever seen from the other siren. “Humans do it all the time! Its great!”

“You worry me,” Matty admitted.

“Don’t worry. Vic took such good care of me today. He can drive cars so well and he avoided hitting all the other cars. And we’re seeing each other tomorrow again too and oh, humans wear clothes! Did you know that? Well I guess I did but I got to wear some today. Jeans are weird.”

“Kellin, this is the most you’ve ever talked since I’ve known you,” asked Matty sarcastically.

A small, unintentional giggle escaped Kellin’s throat and he felt his face flush under Matty’s accusation. Rolling his eyes and crossing his arms, Matty looked away shaking his head at the boy. “What?! If we weren’t supposed to go up on the surface and talk with humans we wouldn’t have to option to like we do!” argued the blue-eyed siren.

“Thats the thing though, Kellin. We really aren’t supposed to. I think you should maybe tone it down a bit…” said Matty carefully with a flick of his tail.

The look on Kellin’s face, however, told him that he hadn’t made any impact at all except to piss him off. Words literally failed Kellin at the thought of not seeing Vic as much as he was getting used to. How long had he wanted to try and talk to him? A while, and finally he’d come on the day of a half moon where Kellin was granted to ability to walk on the beach and they were able to become friends. “Why would you say that, Matty? Its not like I’m harming anyone.” Kellin eyed him warily as his friend got up and moved a little closer to him with a concerned look in his eyes. The urge to back away tapped on the pale siren’s shoulder, but its not like Matty would ever do anything to hurt him.

“I just worry that you, yourself, could get hurt. That’s all,” Matty said gently. “I don’t know this human person and well… you know. Its just dangerous. I don’t think there’s ever been a fish out of water so often unless it was for all time and well, that fish was probably captured and killed.”

Now it was Kellin’s turn to roll his eyes. “You’re being ridiculous. Vic is there to keep an eye on me and we usually stay on the beach anyways.”

“I don’t really care,” Matty said immediately, moving just a bit closer to Kellin. “It doesn’t change the fact that its risky. You’re putting that necklace to good use though, aren’t you.” his eyes trailed down Kellin’s neck to his chest where the pendant hung, shiny even in the darker waters lit only by the moon shining bright above. Kellin nodded his head; the necklace was the best thing to ever happen and he hadn’t taken it off since Matty gave it to him.

“I’m still really thankful that you gave it to me,” admitted Kellin quietly. Matty nodded, still staring intently at the necklace. “I wouldn’t be this close to Vic without it.”

“I know.” Matty frowned, flicking his eyes up at Kellin. “You know I’m you’re friend, right Kels?” Kellin cocked an eyebrow, nodding warily at the question and backing away just a tad only to have Matty take up the space where he’d just been. “I wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t in your best interest?” Again, Kellin nodded, starting to feel a little afraid. He moved his hand up to wrap his fingers tightly around the pendant, but before he could reach it the chain was snapped off his neck as Matty grabbed it.

“Matty! Give it back!” cried the siren. His friend backed up, holding the pendant away from Kellin. “Matty stop it!” Kellin yelled, reaching for it. Matty was bigger and stronger though and easily pushed him away so that he couldn’t reach the pendant where it dangled on its chain, still glinting in the water.

“I’m sorry, Kellin. Its for your own good.”

Anger bubbled up inside the usually quiet boy and his eyes went dark. Why would someone who was supposed to be his best friend randomly take back something that had been a gift? It had made him so happy! Walking with Vic was one of his favorite things to do and now he was trying to take that privilege away for no good reason? “How could you do that?! Matty its like you’re betraying me!”

Matty turned his back to Kellin, starting to swim away. “Betraying? I’m protecting you, Kellin,” he said quietly.

“Get back here!” Dashing out to follow him, a sick, fearful feeling welled up inside Kellin’s chest as he realized that Matty was serious about this. And the situation was almost hopeless because the bigger siren was able to swim a lot faster than the weaker one, and away he went, disappearing under the waves with Kellin screaming his name, begging for his link to the human world, and Vic, to be returned.

—

The sun rose bright on Sunday and not a cloud was in the sky. It was so clear and the air felt so fresh and warm and nice on Vic’s skin as he stepped outside the house, hopping in to the car before anyone could wake up to ask him where he was going. Although as early as he was, it was a little later than he’d originally intended and he hoped he wasn’t making Kellin worry by not being there. As he shifted the car in to drive he realized that he had forgotten his phone on the counter on his way out the door, but it didn’t really matter. Today he figured he would bring Kellin back home again, maybe to actually meet the other guys if they weren’t all busy doing things. He knew Jaime wouldn’t be around as he had plans that he was talking about late last night, but perhaps the less people, the better in Kellin’s case.

Driving to the beach was an ordeal. Excitement and eagerness was welling up in Vic’s tummy after yesterday, when they had kissed like that. It felt perfect. The first day he’d ever met the siren, Vic was running away from home to be alone, because he’d always figured that he was better off that way after what had recently been happening. A girl that he’d been seeing had been seeing someone else on the side and things hadn’t ended well no matter how badly Vic wanted them too. And suddenly any thought of her was gone after she’d been weighing so heavily on his mind for such a long while. Now, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d stopped thinking about the siren.

He pulled up to the beach and jumped out of the car, almost forgetting to take the keys and lock the door in his haste. His feet kicked up sand as he walked so swiftly down towards the water, but he promptly slowed down when he realized that no one was there. Perhaps the boy was waiting on him, and would surely be here any minute, right? Although he usually saw him the second he arrived since Kellin seemed just as ecstatic to see him.

A few minutes passed, but there was still no sign of those bright blue eyes. Vic had no way of checking the time as he didn’t have his phone, but maybe time seemed to be passing slower for him since he was anxious. Or at least, that’s what he hoped.