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Keith and Lance had adjusted to this new life quite well.They were on a steady two year relationship, the halfbreed pups growing along with them as Keith continued to occupy the cave and Lance visited basically every day.Still a secret, yes, but they would work on that with time.The best part was that as much as the kids were concerned, Lance was their dad. They managed to completely look past the fact they didn’t resembled Lance whatsoever but whatever, there was all the time in the world for them to figure that out.But kids grow and learn, and then ask questions.“If Papas fins are blue then why are we purple? Doesn’t make sense.” Luna had asked with a yawn, curled up against Keith’s chest while Laith was fast asleep in the small seaweed bed they’d made.Lance gave Keith a questioning look from where he was settled against his side, wondering how his mate was going to handle this, being the first time anything of the sorts had been asked.“Well,” Keith started, a story that sounded like it would work starting to piece together in his mind as he stroked Luna’s hair gently. Not a big lie, just little. “Papa has blue fins, and a long time ago I used to have red fins. Because of that the two colours mixed together to make the beautiful purple you and your brother have.”There was a beat of silence, Keith holding his breath and praying it would work before Luna hummed in what must be agreement and slipped right back into sleep.Lucky she didn’t know how genetics worked. Fins colour was always transferred from the alpha, or omega if the alpha isn’t a species that has fins. Like Allura’s pups are pink because Lotor is a shark.After they were sure that the little girl wasn’t waking back up, Lance wrapped an arm around Keith and nosed at his gills. “You know that you suck at lying.” He mumbled.Keith huffed a quiet laugh, putting Luna down onto the seaweed bed and moving Lance so they could look at each other properly, “And? Got a problem with that?”“Yeah. Because you said all that with a straight face. You weren’t lying.” The sudden seriousness was disturbing, making Keith recoil slightly as he fought to think of an answer.“You didn’t tell me you were a halfbreed?” Lance said in a hushed whisper, not wanting to startle Keith but still as demanding for answers as he’d be with anyone else.“It wasn’t really relevant? And technically I’m only quarter mermaid, hence why the only features I got were fins..”“I’m not seeing any fins.”Keith sighed, wishing this conversation didn’t have to happen now of all times. He was already feeling sick, and the guilt of not telling Lance about this sooner wasn’t helping.He took Lances hand in his own, bringing it closer to run over a dip in his tail. It was a long white scar, going down from a little below his hip only for thirty odd centimetres. Another identical line was on the other side, making it clear that whatever fins he did have had been cut out.Lance was about to say something, opening his mouth but Keith was quick to shush him.“It was sharks. Now please don’t make a fuss about this.” It was too fast of a reply, Keith’s face was too tight. He was lying, but Lance wasn’t about to go digging just now. He’d learnt that it takes a lot to get Keith to open up even a little, so he should never push him.With a nod of understanding Lance moved down, pushing Keith against the cave floor and going to press kisses along the scarred white divots.“You’re still as beautiful as ever. So strong and brave. I couldn’t imagine that happening to me, even if it was a long time ago I’m proud of you.” He whispered the praises against Keith’s skin, making the shark flush red and pull Lance back up to catch him in a sweet kiss.They were on the verge of it turning into a make out session. That was until Keith’s stomach rumbled loudly.“That would be my queue to head out and grab some food.” Lance chucked, kissing Keith’s now flat stomach before pulling away to ready himself for the short trip back to his cave back at the shoal.“Don’t get any more of them crabs. They gave me food poisoning and I feel like shit because of them.”“If they were old then why did the pups and I also eat them and not get sick. You’ve got a cold, babe, don’t blame the crabs for your shitty immune system.”Keith grunted, flicking a small piece of slimy seaweed at Lance, who in retaliation just peeled it off his face and flicked it right back.“Fine. I’ll get oysters. And if you’re sick after them either all of my families food is rotten or you’re actually sick.” Lance agreed, coming back over to give Keith one last kiss and a soft kiss to the head for both of the pups.“Thank you, babe.” Keith sighed, bringing Luna back over to cradle her against his chest like he’d been doing before, watching as Lance set off.—“Were the crabs from last week fine?” Allura asked, looking up from the book she was reading as Lance scavenged through the cupboards to find the next lot of food to bring back to his little family.It was another week where Allura was babysitting, and no offence to Lances parents, but he preferred it when Allura was around.“Nah. Said that they gave him food poisoning. Nobody else felt sick, so he’s probably just coming down with something.”“Is it bad? I’m sure Lotor wouldn’t mind coming down to give him a checkup, he’s got a ton of medical supplies.” Allura offered, worry in her tone. She’d grown close to Keith, treating him much like a proper part of the family.“If it gets any worse then that would be best, but for now he’ll live. Though you should be more worried about me because I have to put up with his whining about it.” Lance scoffed, throwing whatever he could find to bring back into a bucket. Which, as promised, included oysters.Silence fell upon the pair, Allura not having gone back to her book yet as she thought something over.“You should tell them. I can get the kids out of the house, Veronica is staying at a friends this weekend. It’ll just be you and your parents, you can tell them.” She said quietly.Lance sucked in a breath, having known for a long time that someday this would come up. Allura was right, he really did have to tell them.“And if they get mad? Stop me from ever seeing Keith again?”He sighed, leaning back on one of the algae beds, tapping his long fingers against his tail before he got an idea.“What if I.. just brought Keith? So then they won’t have to trust my word when I say he’s a nice shark because they can see for themselves.”“You know how Keith is. That’s a terrible idea.”Lance brushed the comment off, grabbing onto his bucket with a wide smile, “No, that’s a great idea! It’s genius! Everything will work out just fine, ‘Llura, trust me.”
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Lance had swam full force back into the cave, knocking right into Keith and tackling him into a hug, completely ignoring the confused splutters from his now squashed lover.“What are you doing!” He yelped, trying to push Lance off of him but that only made him squeal and hug tighter.Completely misreading the situation, the two pups squeezed their way into the tight hug, which was something that Keith couldn’t deny was cute.“You do this when you want something, you be all sweet and hug me. What do you want?” He sighed, finally giving in and wrapping his arms around his little family. His perfect little family.“I want you to come and meet my parents.” Lance said quietly, a cheesy grin still on his face despite the massive thing he was suggesting they go and do. “I’m sorry, what? Are you forgetting that they are mermaids, and live in a shoal. And that I could be captured and killed if I go near them?”“No, of course not. But I also haven’t forgotten that you have never let rules or angry mermaids with spears stop you.”Lance was absolutely beaming, using the fact that he knew Keith’s weakness was literally just Lance in general to his full advantage.Keith tried not to break under the pressure of having multiple cute mermaids on top of him, but couldn’t bring himself to say no, “Fine! Only for an hour, right in and right out.”Within seconds there were multiple yells of ‘thank you’ and beyond too many kisses on his lips, face and just about anywhere he could be kissed.This was dangerous, but it would be worth it to see Lance so happy again.xHe’d tried to take as many precautions as possible.The pups were fast asleep in their seaweed bed, cracked oysters in a small pile for just in case they were to wake up hungry. Shiro was coming over the next day, that way if they did get held back he should get there a little after they would wake up.It was a master plan, if Keith did say so himself.“Don’t worry, it’ll just be you, me and my parents. Allura has taken the kids out, you have nothing to stress over!” Lance was trying his very hardest to calm Keith’s nerves, rubbing a hand over his arm and keeping him close. They were officially in the shoals territory, swimming behind shops and houses and doing everything they could to not get spotted.Even if they tried to pull the excuse that Keith was a halfbreed, he had shark blood and that was all that mattered.Even as Lance was attempting at relaxing his mate a little, he was also on edge. It was impossible not to.“Lance, this was a bad idea. We should go back while we can. What if someone sees us and takes me away? You can’t raise the pups on your own. Let’s just go.” Keith said as he stopped abruptly, pulling Lance aside.“Hey, nothing is going to happen, okay? Even if you did get spotted and taken, I’ll make sure to get you out again. My parents are lawyers, surely they’d figure something out.”That didn’t work very well, regret and worry still thick on Keith’s face as he leaned closer into the mermaid, tucking his head into the crook of Lances neck.“Calm down, baby.. you’re okay..” Lance whispered into Keith’s mop of black hair, kissing the top of his head gently as he held the shark close.This was a big thing, turning out to be a lot more emotional and worrying for Keith than Lance had thought. Of course it was, he was now in a place where his very existence was punishable by death. Not to mention that his precious pups were expecting him back soon.They stayed there in peaceful silence, just letting Keith pull himself back together before they could continue their short trip. As they pulled away and Lance was about to say something a siren sounded, loud and alerting. Keith and no clue what it was supposed to mean, but from the way that Lance grabbed him by the arm and swam off at a speed nobody should be capable of reaching, he knew.“What does that mean?” He asked, trying his hardest to keep up and not be completely dragged behind Lance.He didn’t get a reply, something clicking in his brain that this was very serious. Lance led them to one of the living caves in the shoal, to what Keith could only guess was his family home, and dragged him right down to a hatch in the floor.Upon going down, it was actually a bunker. Dark and cold and stone filled. The only light was filtered through two slits in the top of the wall that kept fresh water coming through.“Lance, what’s happening?” He asked again, this time not going to be ignored as he pulled Lance out of his panic and to properly face him.“It’s a siren that goes off when a shark is spotted in our territory. The whole area goes into lockdown until it’s found, nobody goes in nobody comes out.” Lance rushed to explain.This really wasn’t going to end good, especially not with the sound of things moving from upstairs, along with two older voices calling out Lances name.