A/N: My KBL Reversebang Entry. The beautiful and amazing cover was created by cheesycheesecake (tumblr. VISIT HER! SHE IS AMAZING!) and inspired me to write this. also big thanks to the beta: Solalea

Warnings: trigger warning! For further information visit my tumblr: heartstringduet & click on: Fic Warnings! (Hate to spoiler those who don´t need warnings but want the ones who need them to know!)

I have worked so hard for this. So pleeease ENJOY!

Heartbeat to Heartbeat to . . .

"And then the man called doctor took out his drill and pierced the boy´s tooth. The boy screamed and struggled, but the doctor laughed like a madman."

"No." Rachel whispers, squeezing Kurt´s hand hard.

"Yes he did. Do you want to know what he did when he was finished?" Quartez asks, letting his good eye wander to everyone that sits around in the stonegarden. Most mercreatures have now leaned forward, always eager to hear the great finale of Quartez stories about humans. Kurt is the only one shaking his head in fear.

"He took a huge tong and pulled out two of the boys teeth for his collection. You have to know he was one of those sick humans who collect unusual things. Next to teeth, eyes were his favorite. Mostly, blue ones."

Few mermaids and merman giggle, Quartez the only grown-up remaining serious. Kurt, Mercedes and Rachel gasp in shock about the horror story they have been so adamant listening to and now regret having heard. Even though Kurt has to admit, that he neither knows what a drill, nor what a tong is, he is scared. He even has his hands over his blue eyes now, as if this ´doctor´ could grab him to take them any moment. Whatever those things are this human uses, Kurt is sure to never want to experience them.

"Come on, Quartez, don´t scare the children. Those stories are nothing for their ears, you should know that by now." Emma says, her uniquely orange-red shimmering fish tail flopping angrily, causing the sand to whirl."It´s time to sleep. Kurt, you too."

As they swim to the ruins of the underwater castle they all live in, Kurt is the only one looking at Quartez longingly. He has so many questions about the humans who live on the other side of the invisible wall, but Emma always prevents him from asking them. She always says he is too young to ask them.

Rachel and Mercedes give him a knowing look, before gesturing for him to go as they start to distract Emma. The six year old grasps the opportunity, swimming back as fast as he could go to the stonegarden.
He is lucky to find Quartez still seated on the halfway crumbled archway that leads nowhere. He is alone by now, as he seldom is, since he is the oldest and wisest one, with the most colorful stories and songs to share. His hair has already started to get gray peppered and the left eye has ceased its movement not long ago. His fishtail, once a rich blue, is starting to fadee the more time passes. Kurt sometimes wishes he could stop the colors from draining out of Quartez, but he doesn´t know how. If only he could color him in.

"Kurt, weren´t you supposed to sleep?" Quartez is not looking at him, instead he is staring upwards, as if he can see something other than the artificial light of the lamps overhead.

"Is what you say about the humans true?"Kurt cuts to the chase.

A washed out eye then turns to him as the merman begins to smile.

"Do you want it to be?"

Kurt thinks about it, about the boy outside his home, then shakes his head no, something he has adapted from the humans he often observes. Gestures are the only way he can converse with the curly haired one.

"Why not?"Quartez asks."Your home would be the endless blue sea and not a large aquarium if it wasn´t for them. You wouldn´t be forced to have pictures taken of you every day or be experimented on. You could be free."

"You are right, but-"

Quartez laughs loudly."But you are fascinated with the boy that visits every morning."

Kurt´s face glows brighter in embarrassment at being figured out that quickly.

"I-Is he a doctor?" Kurt asks after a while.

"No. He is a young human, just as you are a young merman. He is innocent and not yet tainted like most humans are. He doesn´t torture other humans; at least I don´t think so."

He feels relieved with this knowledge, has hoped that Quartez would like the boy. Quartez is wise, he knows everything.

"Can you keep a secret?" Kurt´s voice is low as he swims closer to avoid the others from hearing."He has this black thing, on which he writes words for me to learn. Human words, with objects or pictures to show what those words mean. He is the only human who has never tried to take a picture of me or knock against the invisible wall-"
"Glass." Quartez corrects.

"Glasz. He never knocks on the glasz. Also, his name is Blaine, strange name, isn´t it? I teach him my language in return and he always waves goodbye when he has to go and…He is my best friend, but don´t tell Rachel or Mercedes. I can never play with him though and that makes me sad sometimes. But Blaine has promised someday we would, you know. Sometimes he brings along those things he calls toys and he says he would love to give them to me if he could."

Other grown-ups have been worried when they had seen the two creatures of a different race interact. Some had made fun of him. Not Quartez though. He nods, his expression serious again, but he doesn´t seem irritated like Emma or Will often are. Kurt gets even calmer when Quartez thumbs brush over his eyebrows, a gesture to show other mercreatures that one cares for them and wants the other to feel safe.

"Listen, Kurt. Humans can be mean, selfish things. They care about wealth instead of peace, appearances instead of beauty in the nature , and mostly about themselves instead of others."

Kurt opens his mouth to ask another question, only to be ignored when he continues.
"But there are exceptions. I have traveled the world and on my journey, few humans have become friends of mine. Don´t let others discourage you in what you have with Blaine. They took your freedom to flee, not your freedom to feel."

Divided by Glass

-by JESSICA HELTON

FLORIDA 24.11.2000 – An unusual friendship blooms in O² Aquarial Park between a boy and the main sensation, the nacre merman Kurt.

Never before has the O² Aquarial Park released footage of their surveillance cameras, but the video that was leaked only hours ago has captured not only national, but international interest. The whole world was able to witness the interaction of the newest addition to the Park with a human boy. Kurt was the first nacre Mercreature that was captured alive, and became the newest member of the mermaidian family with approximately four years. Scientists still experiment on him, hoping to use his scales for medical improvements, causing worldwide riots to break lose. One would expect Kurt to be wary of humans by now, but the footage shows how accommodated he is to this particular human boy. They greet each other with a press of their palms against the glass that divides them and wave each other goodbye when the boy leaves. They appear to be friends as they gesture and smile, having conversations that overcome the language barrier. What happens then has never been recorded in human history. Many historians have spent lifetimes trying to learn and understand the complex language of Mercreatures, with its figurative and curvy letters. Their speech sounds melodic and more like a song without a pattern than language to human ears. This is the language Kurt writes into the sand for the boy to learn, carefully wiping it away whenever other humans draw nearer. Like human children, they appear to create their own language, mixed with English and Mermaidian, to keep their conversation to themselves and secret. The short clip of them shows how even under difficult circumstances, friendship can blossom and the world waits for more footage of Kurt and the boy.

The O² Aquarial Park has leaked that in honor of a good relationship between Mercreatures and humans, the boy can visit his new friend anytime he wants for free. News that should not only make the boy, but the merman happy as well. We wish them the best of luck.

.

When Blaine is seven, his father takes him to his workplace every day. It is a large building, with an elevator that shoots you up the whole way to the sky, Blaine always says. It looks funnier than it really is though. It has lost its appeal when he drove all the way up, before going all the way down again for ten times. His father would roll his eyes and chide him in front of his colleagues, then would leave him alone in his big booth with nothing but a blue ball pen and one sheet of white paper that Blaine had already scribbled on days ago. Blaine continues being a good son for a month, only making small exceptions now and then when he sneaks in his favorite cookies. He can´t remember what had been different on that one warm as always day, he chose to sneak out of his father's office.

He does it as easily as he manages to convince the security man that his Mum was inside the water zoo. Every day they would drive by the O² Aquarial Park and Blaine would nag until his father promises to take him there. Needless to say he never did and Blaine is forced to make this trip alone. Being a little drama queen, his fake tears still cling to his cheeks when he has permission to enter the Park to search for his mum´.

Starring at all the fishes in the aquariums, his eyes get bigger and bigger and his mouth doesn´t close for a while. Never has he seen such brightly colored fish, never has he had the opportunity to see a shark up close and flinch when it moves. He doesn´t really notice where he is going, hasn´t bothered to read the signs that point to different sections of the Park. He just takes whatever path is convenient, letting his feet lead him to new and fabulous locations.

And there, in the biggest aquarium he has seen until now, barely hiding in the multicolored seaweeds is the boy that makes him catch his breath. He has brown, short hair that seems to be untouched by the water, blue eyes and pale skin. He looks human from his waist upward, his skin only shimmering differently than that of humans and from time to time scales break through it. What catches his attention the most is the fishtail the boy has instead of feet, yellowish green with blue and light red scales in between and ending in a multicolored fan.

Blaine has heard about creatures like that, but it is the first time he´s actually seen a mermaid. He walks up to the glass, right in front of the aquarium, fascinated by the big eyes of the mermaid and their beautiful color. Both of them look each other in the eye, before Blaine hesitantly raises his hand to wave at him. The mermaid looks at him funnily, before quickly swimming away. Blaine is perplexed, afraid he did something wrong. His first instinct is to go to the next hall, but when he tries to, he sees the mermaid following him at a safe distance. Now he´s the one that is confused, but also curious. Apparently the mermaid is as fascinated by him as he is by it. So he will return tomorrow and try to communicate with the mermaid again. Somehow he knows that they could talk and Blaine desperately needs someone to do that instead of sitting in a boring office.

It takes weeks for the mermaid to wave back at him and a few weeks more before they both are each other's best part of the day. While it is hard to understand each other, they always find a way. The first word Kurt writes in the sand is ´luminera´, causing Blaine to return with a black-board the day after.

Behind the foreign word, the mermaid writes the translation: Hello.

There are days when Blaine doesn´t show up that leave Kurt restlessly swimming near the glass, anticipating his only appreciated visitor. Days like this he gets more food, since he has attracted more people to come to his section of the Park, they say. All the bribing is for nothing though, because he is sick of it. They have known each other for two years by now and never have they fought about anything. Bicker, maybe, but not really fight. He has waited for seven days before he decides to stay away from the invisible wall for good. His eyes still wander over to it though, finally spotting Blaine by the ninth day. The boy is waiting patiently it seems, not knowing that behind the seaweed is what he wants to see. Kurt observes him, while having no intention to give the boy what he desires to see.
"Not going to see your boy?" Mercedes asks in their language, her fishtail swinging in bewilderment.

"No."

She frowns, obscuring his view a few seconds later when he dismisses her. "Hey. Don´t ignore me! What is up between you two? Normally you wouldn´t shut up about him and be at his side the instant you see him, and now you stalk him?"

"I don´t stalk." Kurt shrieks."I am just not willing to see someone who hasn´t bothered to show up for a week."

Mercedes seems to contemplate his words, humming thoughtfully. Then she snickers in a way that lights up her face, but promises no good. Before he can protest she grabs his arm and pulls him along with her. He doesn´t struggle, mostly because it would be futile with her strength, but a part of him is so happy when he is dragged right in front of Blaine.
"Thank me later." He hears her say, before she swims off.

Kurt does not turn his head to watch her go. His eyes are trained on Blaine, seeing his lips lifting in a bright smile that shows his teeth and lets wrinkles appear in the corner of his eyes. Pink lips mouth his name and ignoring the hand that has just pressed against the glass tugs at his heart too much, so he presses his against it as well. They don´t feel each other´s touch, they just know what it would feel like. Sometimes their hand´s are on the surface long enough to heat the glass with their body heat and it´s as close to actually touching as they will probably ever get. Whenever that happens the water doesn´t feel as cold to Kurt anymore.

´Are you alright?´ is written on the board Blaine always brings with him when he visits. As soon as Blaine´s hand had left the glass, Kurt´s does too, no point in having no connection. Kurt looks into those hazel eyes, imitating so called ´scowls´ that humans do when they are angry. He doesn´t seem to have the right technique yet, because Blaine starts to laugh, the sound not loud enough to reach Kurt´s ears, but enough to reach his heart. The anger disappears along with the laughter that Kurt can't hold in any longer.

After that they fall into easy conversation about what they did the days Blaine couldn´t visit. The human tells him about human holidays that seem as magical as the stories Quartez always tells. Probably even better with the gestures that Blaine does. His hands move while he writes down something about a Christmas tree, indicating its height by jumping up and down with his hands raised over the head and then about Santa Clause with his white beard and his belly and colorfully wrapped presents that he draws on his board and Kurt can´t help but yearn for having this holiday as well. He watches Blaine set the chalk on the board to draw a cross over the Santa Claus he drew, but then Blaine seems to make up his mind and wipes it away with his fingers.

Christmas seems to be even better than birthdays. Maybe Quartez would know about that holiday as well and could tell more stories? Or no, Blaine´s story was colorful enough. If it were a normal day, Kurt would write about the experiments they still had done on him three days ago, but somehow today just wasn´t fitting to put Blaine in a bad mood. So he just shrugs when he is asked about his days, grateful that the backside of his tail isn´t visible to visitors. Blaine always seems as in pain as he is when he sees Kurt is injured, so Kurt has learned to hide it when he needs to.

´I have something for you. Your Christmas present. Not much.´ Kurt reads off the board. He waits for Blaine as he opens his green frog-shaped backpack and pulls out the black thing Kurt despises. It´s the thing they use to blind him with their flashes. Photographs, he remembers. His instincts tell him to hide like he often does, but instead he stays because it is Blaine. Blaine is his friend and unlike other humans. Blaine is just his Blaine and he would never hurt him.

And instead of producing flashes with the black thing, he presses his back against the glass, holding the thing to his side in order to make them both able to see something on the small glass thing at the back. Then the unmoving picture on the glass comes to life and instead of the dark background, a white light explodes. Then a pink one. then a yellow one and then the glass is a blur of exploding colors.

When it is over, the glass thing is still again and Blaine turns back around in time to see Kurt's eyes opened in awe and his whole body pressed to the glass to be closer.

´What is that?´Kurt writes down in his own language. It takes a little time for Blaine to translate it, but soon he scribbles his answer on his board in his own.

´Fireworks.´

´Beautiful´

´It´s to celebrate the new year. ´ Blaine wipes away the words to write new ones.´To welcome a new start.´ He repeats his action. ´Happy new year, Kurt!´

´Happy new year. I love them´

´Someday I will show them to you in person then.´

It should feel like any day to Blaine, walking down the overly familiar paths through 0² Aquarial Park, but it doesn´t. It doesn´t, because today he is allowed to enter through the staff entrance and to wear the blue shirt with a name tag that is pinned over the picture of the little mermaid. Blaine Anderson- Apprentice, it reads.

The head of the mercreature department has asked him personally if Blaine wants to work with Kurt, and he had reluctantly agreed. The opportunity to finally talk to the Merman instead of writing down to converse has been too tempting in the end, overshadowing the negative aspects. Kurt would finally be in his reach, able to talk to him, able to touch him, to give him the objects they are limited to only show to each other. He will make sure to bring one of them for Kurt as a present soon though.

The downside of his new part-time job is the fact that the news stations would be all over them again and this time his new boss would be able to pressure him into agreeing to participate in a documentary. While Blaine honestly doesn´t care much for fame or for the cameras that often follow him inside the Park, he knows that Kurt hates too much attention from other humans, they scare him, as he has once admitted in the sand. Neither of them think of what they have as special.

They have been friends for years, fish-tail or legs, what is the big deal? That doesn´t mean that Kurt isn´t special to Blaine; he is very much so. In the ten years they have spent every possible day talking, getting to know each other and Blaine had secretly fallen in love. Being the dense kid that he is, he has taken all those moments Kurt made him laugh, mesmerized him or was there to listen to him, as granted. As something a friend is supposed to do. It was his ex that had opened his eyes a few months ago, screaming at him that he had to choose between him and the ´stupid fish´. Well, here he is and what does that say about him? What does the beating of his heart that seems to increase with every step he takes to get closer to Kurt, say about him?

He sighs, going over the words he has spent hours on perfecting, in hopes to share this secret with Kurt once they could actually talk. He curses when he gets them wrong again, but is quickly distracted when a man in a lab-coat walks up to him. The smile he receives triggers his alarm.

"Blaine Anderson, how nice to finally meet you. My name is Professor Gregson and I have worked with Kurt for many years now. Whatever questions you may have will be gladly answered by me. For now, please follow me and I will tell you what you are supposed to do." He says.

Mr. Gregson is slender, bald and ugly. Just as Kurt has described him and the other doctors. In fact they are all unfashionable idiots with less hair than brain-cells, to put it into Kurt´s words. Blaine is happy he doesn't have to attempt to be nice to him, since he turns around, expecting him to follow. This is one of the man that wouldn´t cease to torture Kurt to find whatever cure the myth promises. They never would, but in all those years they have never stopped trying, ripping out Kurt´s hair or scales, taking his blood or making him starve. Blaine remembers the days he wasn´t allowed to visit him and the lies they told him to fend him off. Kurt had told him the truth afterwards, how he had spent days in their labs and someday Blaine had watched the shimmer in Kurt´s skin fade forever. He would never forgive them for that and he would do what he could to protect Kurt from now on.

"This is our break room."The monster says, opening a door to his left."There is a fridge you can put your lunch in if you want to. Don´t forget to label it though, some workers are like animals when it comes to food."

As if he has told the funniest joke in human history, the monster begins to cackle. Blaine scowls."Can we proceed?"

"Sure, Grumpy."

The next ten minutes Blaine spends trying not to tackle the man while he is shown all the rooms the Park has to offer for the staff. He is even allowed to get a glimpse of the lab, its big tanks and the silver surgical tables. It looks harmless despite all the things that went down here. Blaine is relieved when they leave the room and isn´t forced to watch the manically glint in the eyes of those monsters for any longer. He has never had a doubt that they enjoy what they do, but to actually witness it makes him feel sick.

"There we are, the door to your right leads to the home of your precious little friend."

Blaine´s hands start to sweat, like they do before performances, when he enters the room he would meet Kurt in. It is huge, only a small patch of white tiled floor one can walk on, the rest is peacefully rippling water and bare walls. The magnitude of all of it is impressive, there is no denying it. From up here Blaine can even see down to the bottom of the aquarium, to the sand that held so many messages for him.

See the stonegarden Kurt had mentioned, with damaged statues of humans and angels and mermaids. The places further away, like the remains of a castle or too far away to gather any details, apart from blurred white color. Every now and again multicolored seaweed lightens up the otherwise gloomy area. It takes a while to figure out why some places shimmer too brightly to see beyond the surface, but Blaine understands when he sees the scales that gather at the edge of the big aquarium. Their various colors reflect the light overhead, making them bright enough to be forced to squint at them. The few that float around on the surface cause the place to be even more magical, before the bile rises in Blaine´s throat. He is not sure if the mercreatures losing scales is a sign of their perfect health. He supposes it is not.

And that is it. This is the place Kurt and other Mercreatures have to reside in and it´s not for the first time that Blaine detects the unfairness and cruelty in it all. It is huge for an aquarium, but narrow for a home. Not anywhere near to feel familiar to creatures that have grown up in the widths of the sea.

"In here you can find any supplies you might need." He looks at the door which he points at."You tend to this area for 2 hours, before Billy will take you with him to unload some trucks. That would be pretty much all for you today."

"Okay." Thank you would be too much.

"On the blackboard you can keep track of how you can all of them to the surface. Kurt and Rachel are our divas, they want to be called with music. The player is inside of the room as well. Today your only task in here is to look after the welfare of the animals, of Kurt, but tomorrow you unfortunately will have to do some other things, like testing the water or feeding them. Anymore questions?"

Why are you smiling when you mention Kurt? How many times have you called him to the surface, knowing you will hurt him? Does it turn you on, being superior over someone who can´t breathe while you cut into his skin? How can you still sleep at night?

Why do you always smile?

"No."

"Someone is eager to be alone, huh?" The monster turns around, but Blaine can still hear his amusement through his voice."We employed you because people still think your friendship is worth attention and it´s good publicity for the Park. Some people who work here are strongly opposed to you, but not me. Actually you should be grateful to call me your only supporter."

As the door closes behind him, Blaine sucks in the air he forgot to breathe in when he listened. It takes some seconds for his stomach to settle. He sinks to his knees as his breaths echo all around him, because who he needs right now is now is the one below the surface. Someone he secretly aches for when he lays in bed, someone who has been his only friend for a while when he came out, someone who doesn´t know he is here today. The door to the stereo system is too far away right now, and even if his throat is dry and he doesn´t know what kind of music Kurt is called up by, he opens his mouth and sings.

It is a song he knows by heart, has sung on many occasions, but never directly to someone. Never for this one person his heart desires. It is about an unfulfilled love that lasts over the miles that separate the lovers and Blaine isn´t startled when he hears his own voice echo back at him. He has never heard himself sing with so much emotion and frankly that would scare him if he hadn´t know about his feelings for Kurt. Even if all those pop songs he did with the Warblers were sung with the thought of Kurt in his mind, they have never reached the ears of the person they are dedicated to.

He just hopes that Kurt listens and knows that it is him singing somehow. When the first chorus comes to an end, forcing him to raise his voice even higher, he spots the Mercreatures in the stonegarden, gathering around to look at whatever they can make out on the other side of the surface. One of them is Kurt, his fishtail standing out through the others with its brightness and color variety. He can see him slowly swim closer, warily holding on to what appears to be an angel with only one marble wing. Then, as he seems to recognize his face, he hurries to him. From up here he looks even more beautiful swimming, the lights breaking in rainbow colored scales as his tail moves, than he ever did before.

The moment when Kurt´s head breaks the surface is magical, the air almost cracking with the lightning bolts that shoot through Blaine, the last note of the song hanging in the air like the soundtrack to it. Not only is Kurt the most beautiful man on earth, he just burst the one thing that has always kept them apart. The barrier between air and water, once inches thick glass, is now replaced by invisible gas.

Kurt looks at him with eyes that can't decide if they are green or blue, surrounded by wet lashes. They widen as they take him in without anything between them and Kurt's look is mirroring his own.

"Blaine." He whispers, no hint of doubt in his voice, making the name he has always been called by sound exotic and new. It is pronounced slightly different by Kurt, emphasizing the ´L´ instead of the B. It is music.

"That song was—very beautifully sung."

His English is much the same as the name he said, in Blaine´s mother tongue and foreign all the same. He can see that Kurt worries about his speech as it is very likely the first time he has spoken it.

"Thank you. I was hoping I wouldn´t make a complete idiot of myself the first time you heard my voice." Blaine replied in Kurt´s language in order to make Kurt more comfortable.

Neither of them comments on the fact that suddenly Blaine is up here and not out there with thousands of people who see Kurt as nothing more than a fun attraction to their family bonding time. Kurt simply crosses his arm on the edge and rests his chin on them. His eyes never leave those of Blaine´s. He would only have to lean down a bit to kiss Kurt´s lips, he had so often caught himself looking at. Now, after so many years of silence, in a moment they should talk until one of them is hoarse, they say nothing. It is as if for now, looking at each other in privacy, no one to disturb them and nothing between them but air; there are no words needed. Blaine reaches out when a strand of Kurt´s hair falls onto his forehead, brushing it back gently into its place.

Just like that, it is the first time they touch and both of them feel the weight of something that should have been trivial. Now that he has felt Kurt´s skin under his thumb, he can´t just stop. His fingertips start to run along his cheekbone, along his jaw, before tracing his lips with shaking fingers. Blaine had spend hours imaging Kurt´s skin, wondering if it was slimy and moist like a fish's or soft and dry like those of humans. He finds out it is neither. It is smoother than human skin, and wet with water, but it does not feel like a fish's. It´s an entity that he has never touched before and wants to explore more thoroughly now that he can.

"You could never be an idiot to me, Blaine." Kurt says, feeling Blaine´s fingers move in time with his lips. "I treasure you too much to think that."

Just a little bit closer. Just a bit and he could replace his fingers with his lips. Instead he catches himself right in time, before Kurt will know of his feelings, and says: "I always wanted to swim with you."

Kurt's inhuman eyes widen, for he hears him talk in his own mother tongue for the first time as well. He knows Kurt wished it was the first time hearing English, instead of the English those monsters used. That was one of the secrets he has shared with Blaine. The gaze that lingers on him is loving though, instead of hateful.
"I always wanted to walk with you." Kurt admits, letting his fin splash water somewhere as it breaks the surface."Your wish can be fulfilled though."

As if being able to wipe away the sadness on Kurt´s face, Blaine repeats the movement of his fingers. It makes Kurt smile, even if it is a little strained.

"How long are you able to stay underwater?"

Blaine bites his lips, embarrassed by the answer he is about to give."A minute at most, I guess."

He has tried to remain underwater, trained in his tub, never knowing this method would lead to nothing. All he ever got from it was headaches and times he was dissatisfied with. Kurt smiles though.

"A minute it is then." Now it´s Kurt turn to look uncomfortable."I-With what do you-umh-how does your body take the air in?"

Blaine laughs, because a clueless Kurt is kind of adorable. "Humans ´breathe´ through their mouths and noses. My head needs to be out of the water and I will need a few seconds before we could dive again."

"Breathe- never wrote me that word. I will memorize it." Suddenly Kurt is underwater again, before he emerges a few feet away.

"So?" The merman asks, splashing him with some water. Blaine has seldom felt the need to be so much closer.

"So, what?"

"Pull out your clothes and get into water with me. I will grant you your wish."

Both are unable to stop their snorts when it comes to the word clothes. It had been a weird conversation when a young Kurt had asked him why humans wore those things. And it had hit Blaine only then that Kurt had been practically naked the whole time in front of him. By now he was used to it, as he was used to the fact that Kurt knew more of fashion than himself nowadays.

"Curious what humans look like under the clothes?" Blaine teases. As he talks he is shedding his sweater, trying not to be self-conscious.

"Yes."

Kurt´s answer is not the only thing that causes him to blush as he unbuttons his pants. It is mostly because of the way he is looked at, observed even. Kurt, the main attraction in the Park, a merman, is now watching him as if Blaine is the precious one. Intently looking down, he sheds the last piece, until he is in his underwear, grateful that it´s the Hugo Boss one today.

Then he just stands there, trying to look his best, back straight, hoping the cookies he very much loved to eat would not cause his stomach to look fat. Kurt´s eyes were trained on something different though, never leaving his legs, as if they were of utter importance. To him, they most probably were. Blushing under the intense gaze, Blaine quickly sits down, letting his knees sip into the water. Kurt is right in front of him, reaching out his hand. He grasps it, intertwining their fingers as he takes a deep breath. He scoots closer to the edge, until his body is being pulled into the water by gravity.

The low hums of the machines in the rooms are now muffled, the only constant and anchor being Kurt, whose hand fits so perfectly into his. A few seconds later he opens his eyes slowly. When his eyes adjust to the new surroundings, the first thing they make out is the blurred shape that breaks the clear water with vibrant colors. Brown, and white and blue and green and red. And so breathtakingly beautiful, that he feels the need to go back up to get some air into his lungs. He doesn´t though, instead clutching Kurt´s hand only tighter. Taking this as indication that Blaine is ready, the merman leads the way, pulling the human along like he is the weight of a feather.

"Stonegarden first? It´s one of the places where none of the other humans can see us through the glass."Kurt says in his language, his voice having a different, more melodic tune to it under water.

It is clearer, like the sound of small bells through a winter night, as if his vocals know that he is home. His voice is home underwater, like Blaine´s is on land. The only difference is that Blaine can´t utter more than bubbly speech that would limit his time here only further and would not be understandable for anyone safe him.

Receiving no answer, Kurt turns around to him, checking if he was still there and alive. With two squeezes, Blaine tries to tell him that he needs to go up now and it needs no words to make Kurt rush to the surface so fast, that it puts an aching strain on the arm he pulls. They have never made up a code to tell Kurt what Blaine needed when they were underwater, and still Kurt had knows.

"Are you alright?"Kurt asks after they broke the surface."I didn´t even notice a minute was over. I am sorry, Blaine."

"No. I could have gone a few more seconds underwater, I just needed to tell you something."

Their hands never let go, they only clutch tighter now that they are finally not separated by the glass any longer. How often had they touched the glass, either one on their side of their worlds, wishing the material that kept them from each other away? Certainly long enough to know when they would let go now it would physically hurt.

"What is it?"

"Humans can´t talk underwater."Blaine admits."You wouldn´t understand one word and it would take the air I try to contain even faster."

Blaine furrows his brows when Kurt starts to laugh, a sound so rich and beautiful it fills his chest with a warm feeling. He has often caused Kurt to giggle or laugh, but he hasn´t heard it until then. It feels like his heart expands right then, like a sponge trying to absorb this laughter and the love that Blaine feels.

"Why are you laughing?" He shoves his shoulder playfully, breaking out into a laugh as well.

"When I was younger I was really afraid of humans. Except of you, of course." He adds when he sees Blaine´s worried expression. " Quartez always told horror stories about your kind. About doctors and politicians and wars. And now you´re telling me you can´t even stay underwater for more than a minute and can´t even talk? I worried for nothing."

Blaine can tell that he is only mocking him and that his words are not meant to insult. But most of all, he knows that Kurt is very much scared of some humans, when they take his blood or inject him with something in their labs. Or of those that knock so hard against the glass that it hurts his ears. For now he wants to make sure to keep Kurt away from those memories though.
"Wait until you see my kickass boxing moves, it will bring the fear right back into you."

Kurt giggles, apparently remembering the times when Blaine would do shadowboxing in front of the aquarium glass, to show him what kind of sport he did.
"I´m sure it will." The Merman says. "At least it would if you weren´t as slow as a snail in the water. You couldn´t even hit me if you tried. The Hummels are just that superior."

Blaine grins, trying to hit Kurt under the surface, but to no avail. He is too tired by staying afloat, and honestly, Kurt is way too fast for him. It is painfully obvious how much Blaine is in disadvantage in Kurt´s element.

Kurt giggles again, seeing that he was right, dodging every attempt made by Blaine to prove him wrong. Before one of the hits can collide with his torso, he grips the hand, pulling Blaine closer. There is no air leaving Kurt´s lips, no breath tickling his lips even though they are only an inch away. Blaine clutches both of his hands when he feels like he can´t resist the gravity of Kurt´s lips any longer, intent to close the gap that feels like a huge cliff between them.

"Breathe." Kurt orders.

He barely manages to fulfill it, before Kurt pulls him underwater again. His now curly hair touches the water surface right above him and he uses Kurt´s hands to remain in place instead of floating upwards. For the longest time they stare in each other's eyes, both smiling, Blaine´s not even strained under the water pressure. He is just content to stare into blurred blue-green eyes that are right in front of his.

As they lean in, their eyes close slowly. First they were only anchoring each other with their hands and now with their lips as well. Blaine can taste the salt of the water they are in, but the tingle in his body is much stronger when he is sucked into the moment he had dreamed of for years. Soft lips meet his over and over, caressing them, while Kurt´s thumbs do the same to his hands. Wherever Kurt touches, he feels like being on fire and electricity, making him shiver under the various feelings colliding into a pleasurable mess. It is so much more than his head could ever conjure up and not enough at the same time. Again and again their lips separate only slightly, meeting again into an earth-shaking moment nanoseconds later. The feeling of Kurt´s chest against his, warm despite the cold water he spends the days in, feels like the definition of home and security. The water increases the feeling of being afloat on clouds even more, until he is weightless and Kurt is gravity.

His lungs start to burn the longer they kiss, but Blaine has waited too long for this moment to let it end so suddenly. Soon a headache sets in and his heartbeat that has been so fast just now, slows down while his muscles cramp. Desperately he clings to Kurt, wanting to kiss again, to feel and taste and love, but he is too weak. He is too far gone by then to open his eyes, to realize he can breathe in if he wants too, because Kurt has saved him by dragging his heavy body up again.

"Blaine."He hears someone yell in the distance."Blaine, what can I do? Wake up, come on, wake up. Please, Blaine, I need you. Breathe for me!"

The pressure on his chest makes him sputter in surprise. His eyes snap open, as his body convulses on the ground, shaken by the coughs that catapult water out of his lungs. Tears spring to his eyes, as he hugs himself, coughing painfully until he feels delicious air penetrate him again. Finally, his body says, while Blaine is now conscious enough again to feel the sting of irony settle in.

His body would always reject water.

As he looks around, he is confused to what he is looking for. A man in a lab coat kneels beside him, spinning only slightly with the world that hasn´t quite returned to its steadiness to Blaine. He is not the one his mind is looking for though, it is Kurt.

"I told them they should watch the beast. Never know what to expect from them. Did they listen to me though? No! Look who gets the next promotion for keeping the next scandal off the Park! It will definitely not be Karminsky." The man rambles. It is only then that Blaine realizes he hears a faint peeping.

Slowly Blaine spits the rest of the saltwater out of his mouth before focusing on the man beside him. His voice is raspy to his ears, his throat hurts, but he has to know.
"Kurt?"

"No, it´s Professor Tanaka, remember? Professor Gregson introduced us in the lab."

Blaine feels too tired to be annoyed by him. Even his eyes don´t manage to roll in contempt."Where is Kurt?"

"In quarantine for the rest of the month. I told them it was dangerous. I told them!"

If he could, he would jump up and demand Kurt to be set free. He would go and break the container himself if he had to. Reality hits him like a freight train, like the water has after ignoring the symptoms of his own body. He just can´t.

"He didn´t do anything." Blaine tries to sit up, but his body feels heavy, like a wet sponge. "We just dived too deep and forgot the time-"

The monster clicks his tongue."No point lying to me, we have everything on tape. You know, you should really be more grateful for me saving your life. If it wasn't for me, this creature would have eaten you alive or something."

It is hard to decide if he should take this serious or start laughing, no matter the pain. In the end he decides to go with his gut instincts that´s telling him to be angry.
"He wouldn´t eat me damnit. You work with Mermaids on a daily basis and it´s your job to know that they are herbivores." He coughs again, clutching his chest. "I demand to see him."

Now it´s the professors turn to laugh, making what little was left on Blaine´s strength deflate. He then stands up, brushes invisible dust off his lab coat and looks down to him.
"Too bad for you that you are merely an apprentice, whose task for the next week will be to scrub the toilets. I will do what I can to keep you out of this room and away from it. And now get up, your work for today is done, as you are in no condition to continue."

It is not so much the lack of trying that keeps him motionless, it is the heaviness of his limbs and the ache in his lungs. Professor monster #2 over there is not helping by looking at him and impatiently tapping his foot. When Blaine finally has gathered enough strength to lift his upper body, Professor Gregson enters the room. By comparison he doesn´t seem as awful as monster #2. He even wears a kind smile when he looks at him that does not annoy him as much as it has at their previous meeting.

"Entel, your wife demands to speak to you. Something about breast feeding and not enough cucumbers-"Professor Gregson says.

"What? I was sure I bought some."

He continues rambling, his eyes frantic as he leaves the room. With a plop, and a sharp pain in his head, Blaine lets himself sink onto his back once again.

"Blaine, I am sorry this had to happen-"
"I want to see him" He whispers, no more force left in him." You know he didn´t do anything."

Gregson nods, kneeling next to him. Blaine feels observed, as if the Professor expects him to suddenly leap up and reveal some secret. Much like he probably looks at Kurt before he cuts him open to see what he can find inside when the outside isn´t enough anymore.

"I am the head of the mercreature division, so I have the last say in what happens."Blaine´s face brightens at this information, only to return its state when he continues speaking."Kurt could be in here with his friends and with you again in return of a small favor from you."

"And that would be?"

The Professor grins, probably waiting for this question. From the inside of his lab coat he pulls out a vial with something in it Blaine can´t quite identify. It resembles a cotton swab though.

"I just need a saliva sample of you. That´s easy, right?"

Blaine dislikes the way the smile never leaves his face. He still looks innocent, demanding something that he could use against Kurt. A long time ago Blaine´s mother had explained to him that ´still waters are deep´ and being young he had never understood what she meant by that. Looking at the professor now, comprehension dawned on him.
"What for?" He wants to know.

"Come on kid. You´re a smart one, right? I am a smart one as well, Blaine, and I know you kissed the merman. I want to analyze your saliva sample because the interaction between Mercreatures and humans is mostly undiscovered. I swear it won´t harm your precious boy."

Blaine is reluctant. While Professor Gregson appears to be nice and acts as if he is on both his and Kurt´s side, he is a little too good. A little too friendly not to be evil. On the other hand Blaine desperately wants to see Kurt, make sure no one has harmed him, wants to kiss those lips again, wants to talk about his feelings, because he has had waited long enough. It´s one sentence that leads him to open his mouth willingly.

"If you cooperate there will be no more examinations for the next months."

Kurt is not allowed to cry. Not in the lab tank where his tears could be sampled and analyzed and used against him. He knows of the secret of tears, has heard they can be used to cure some human diseases if used right. That would be a good thing if it would not lead to the hunt of the entire mercreature population.

No, Kurt would not cry into the tank that kept track of his vitals. His body might shake as the worst of all humans enters the room, examining him through the glass, sitting down in front of his tank, just looking at him. There is this one thing he permanently does that riles Kurt up, he smiles. He smiled when he had cut open Kurt´s fishtail, smiled when he had pulled out one fingernail, smiled when he electrocuted him and smiled when he had dragged him away from a barely breathing Blaine.

Blaine, who could be dead by now, for all Kurt knows. And he doesn´t know much about humans. He forces himself not to think about it, because his soul screams whenever he does, a song bubbling on his lips that speaks of mourning, but was not something he would let his enemy hear. His human side wants to cry though, cry until the tank is filled with even more salt.

The professor leaves, only to return a few minutes later. As always, he drains the tank with the push of buttons, causing Kurt to helplessly lie on the ground, nothing but air surrounding him, before he is picked up. He knows somewhere in the lab are devices that would keep his body wet for transportation, but this monster never uses them. When they return to the aquarium, Kurt sees Blaine, his clothes dripping, his face pale, but alive as he leans on the wall for support. He wears a half hearted smile when he spots him that is not enough to convince Kurt, but his heart leaps either way.

Quartez always says that mercreatures only truly love one person in their whole life and Kurt is relieved that his one person is well and breathing. He has known at a young age that this is it. This is the first and only time he would be in love and that his soul would have withered in the knowledge of Blaine´s dead. But Blaine is alright. He is alive. His own heart can return to its normal state now.

Two days later Blaine is allowed back at Kurt´s aquarium after helping Billy out with the deliveries the previous day. It has been a quiet day since Billy´s way of communicating was through grunts only. That had been alright with him though, has given him more time to prepare the ultimate speech for Kurt. His love declaration masterpiece.

Now, singing a new song, this time from ´The Little Mermaid´ as homage, he isn´t as sure about it anymore. What did he want to say at the end again? Will he even finish, or will Kurt tell him that the kiss didn´t mean anything? It is unlikely, since it has been groundbreaking and everything to Blaine, but his insecurities get the better out of him. Again, all the occupants of the aquarium look at him, but this time Kurt is prepared, swims to him at top speed right away, before he could get to the chorus of ´Kiss the girl´. Too bad because he wanted to change it to kiss the boy, just to give a little hint.

"Blaine."

There it is again, his name on Kurt´s lips as the merman flings himself at him. His shirt clings to his skin as it gets wet by Kurt´s equally wet chest, but Blaine doesn´t care. Breathing in the salty, florally scent of Kurt, he hugs him back as tightly as he can. Blaine´s fingertips brush his shoulder, as silky and smooth as his face had been, and he buries his head into the soft skin of Kurt. It fits like Kurt was molded just for him.

"I was so scared you would die. You didn´t breathe and it was past a minute and-"

"Kurt, I am alright."

This time it´s Kurt that reaches out to trace the contours of his face, his touch feather light and fire inducing at the same time. It doesn´t need water this time to cause Blaine to catch his breath and hold it, it just takes a smile.

"You are."Kurt sighs."You are alright."

Then they kiss, neither knowing who started, just in the knowledge that they both want to. If not even need to. There is no water between them this time, only air and Blaine is allowed to open his mouth and let his tongue taste more than salt water. Kurt shivers in his arms and Blaine realized that, yes, Mercreatures do get goose bumps as well. For a while they explore what they couldn´t two days ago, tasting new things, touching places they haven´t to this point.

Both are fascinated with each other's bodies, tracing foreign skin wherever they can, not bothering where the other touches, because it feels good and it is done by the one they love. As soon Blaine´s hand slips lower though, Kurt´s one already under his shirt, the Merman pulls away. For a second Blaine has felt the smooth and warm scales that he imagined would be thick and act as protection, but instead are so thin he can feel a pulse through them, puckering with Kurt´s blood.

Reluctantly Blaine opens his eyes and looks at him, excited as he sees his flushed state and his wide blown eyes and knows it was him that caused that. Just then Kurt´s eyes turn away and Blaine feels his heart sink.

"Did that hurt? I am sorry I didn´t kn-"

"No." Kurt hurries to interrupt, hugging him tighter. Blaine has the impression that Kurt only does that to avoid being looked at though.

"It´s just that-you know the place you-this is-urgh-verluve."

Blaine chuckles at the first time he hears Kurt curse out loud, because it honestly still sounds like a piece of art that literally means: Fuck. One of the first words Blaine had been taught, because how cool was it to curse in another language? Before Kurt can interpret the chuckle as any different than it really is, he explains.

"This is the first time you said a curse word. Now tell me and take all the time you need, what is the matter?"

Kurt hugs him tighter, resting his warm cheeks on his skin."The fishtail is-you know-the place that feels good?"
After just a few seconds the light bulb of knowledge turns on ,burning bright. A little too bright for his likings.

"You mean like the erogenous centers of Mercreatures?" Out loud it sounded crappier than it was supposed to. Blaine is comfortable with his body and with the topic sex, but honestly it is the first time he talks about it with a foreign species.

"I suppose? I´m not quite sure what your word for it is, but it´s the place for pleasure."Kurt clears his throat. "What nice water temperature, right? Summers are especially warm, so they sometimes let us play with icebergs to cool the water temperature down."

Blaine smiles. "Not your favorite topic, huh? That´s okay."

"It´s just that you are the first one who I would need to explain such things to. Honestly, for our second real meeting, this topic is really-specific."

Then Kurt lets go, sinking back into the water, until all Blaine can see are his blurry outlines and colorful scales. He waits for him to emerge, knowing that Kurt needs time. Like he did when Blaine had come here black and blue after Sadie Hawkins or when he asked Kurt why he had a large wound on his tail. It is just something he does and though Blaine is getting impatient, he doesn´t let it show. Because he is here for this man only and he loves him either way. A few minutes after, Kurt is back up again, giving him a shy smile.

"I apologize."

"Don´t worry, I am not offended. Actually you will be glad to hear that there is something important I wanted to talk about with you."

He receives a nod and suddenly he needs more air for what he is about to say. God, he can´t do it. He can´t. Well, now he has to and he takes a deep breath, closes his eyes and grabs one of Kurt´s hands into both of his.

"Kurt, if I ever had to pin down a precise moment, I would be unable to. It was not a lightning that struck me or an arrow that pointed me into your direction, my feelings were just there. I can´t remember a day since I met you that I wasn´t sure that you were it for me. When I was little I was so obsessed with you, you were all that occupied my mind and you were all I talked about and you still are. The reason I almost drowned was because I honestly hadn´t bothered that much with you by my side, finally kissing me. Because you make every second precious and-" He clears his throat. You can say it, Anderson."I guess what I wanted to say is that, Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, I lo-"

"No!" Kurt suddenly screams, making Blaine flinch.

His fast beating heart seems to skip a beat so painful he gasps. His eyes are now anywhere but on Kurt and his hands leave the ones they were holding this instant. He had been so stupid to believe Kurt would return his feeling. For all he knows, which is very little, Mercreatures just kissed for greetings.

"Oh-uhm. Yeah. Sorry and. Yeah need to go, how the time runs-"

"Blaine, stay. I just wanted to say it first. I love you." This time, Blaine is sure Kurt´s language is a song, because it sure sounds like it."I love you. I love you. I needed to say it first. I don´t have a perfect speech prepared, but Blaine this love is a onetime thing for me. You are the only creature on earth my heart will ever belong to and the emotions in your eyes tell me that I won´t ever regret handing it to you. Nothing will ever compare to you, nothing will break my trust in you, because you make me feel safe for the first time. This would never be the home I feel it is without you. I love you, Blaine Anderson."

The kiss they share after that is how a kiss on the wedding ceremony they would never have, is supposed to feel. Blaine is on the peak of happiness, his heart racing , pounding in time with the name that runs through his head. They have exchanged their vows, now they exchange their souls. Whenever their lips part, Blaine whispers ´I love you´. Kurt´s hands on his face feel warm and soft. This kiss is probably recorded, and who knows maybe the whole world will see a new documentary about them. Neither cares. Not when they have each other.

"I want to give you something."Kurt whispers against his lips, causing new shivers to run down his spine. "Come with me."

Blaine opens his eyes, sees the hand that reaches out for him and takes it without hesitance. This time he does not wait to shed his clothes, he just jumps in headfirst, like he does with everything. The only things he had put outside were his shoes and his cellphone. Kurt leads the way, his hands never give a painful squeeze even though he has to hold on tight with the speed he is swimming in. Before Blaine feels the need of fresh air, they are hiding behind the big decaying walls of the underwater castle.

"No one can see us here."Kurt lets go to grab something that´s covered by sand, forcing Blaine to grip desperately on a wall to avoid automatically swimming up.

"There is something I would like to give you, that they can´t know about." Kurt takes a deep breath, eyes closed, before he hands him a small object." This is an actual piece of my heart. Don´t ask, it´s a mercreature thing to be able to protrude something like this and live on. Anyway, I know your time here is limited, so I need to get it out. You are the love of my life and I want you to have this and hold onto it for as long as you love me. I trust you to never reveal what this is and to treasure it, like I treasure you."

Blaine feels the familiar ringing of his ears and the water pressure that works against his body, as he looks at the object he holds in one hand. It doesn´t look like a heart, neither in its shape, nor in its color and it is not soft to the touch like organs should be. It is smooth, and hard like a polished diamond, glittering in different colors when the light hits different parts of it. It´s the color of Kurt´s scales and small enough to fit right into the middle of his palm and shaped like a sea shell. This is a piece of Kurt´s heart and he is not surprised that it rivals Kurt´s beauty. This is his beauty within and it is as pure as Blaine had been sure it would be. He can´t help but stare at it, before he finally closes his fingers around it and holds it against his own chest.

He can feel a soft fluttering in his fist and he has so many questions that can only be answered when he has the air to do so and then he will be unable to ask in case someone listens. By now they know Kurt´s language enough to understand. For now he had to accept it as it is, he owns a piece of Kurt´s heart.

"This is not the only surprise I have, but let´s get you up for some air first." Kurt says, shining as bright as the piece Blaine holds onto.

They only stay with their heads over the surface for a few seconds, not enough time to ask anything, before returning to the spot. The wet clothes hang heavily on Blaine´s body and make it easier to stay on one spot while he waits for the second surprise. Kurt looks at him, his eyes green now instead of blue and his expression soft and relaxed.

"I talked to another Merman yesterday, one who is really wise as he has seen very much of both worlds. Remember my wish to walk with you? He said if I get out here and find a famous seawitch I could ask her to make me human. Like the girl from the movie you told me about, just without the taking of my voice I hope. If she wanted it, I would give it to her though. What do you say? You just need to get me out of here to the nearest coast and wait for my return."

Just need to get him out of here, as if that would be the easiest task in world's history. A part of Blaine takes pity on Kurt though, wanting him to be happy. And quite frankly he had often dreamed of the moment they would walk through the streets of Florida, or really wherever together as well, so he nods. He needs a plan, the help of the Warblers and luck on his side, but he would try. The fluttering piece in his hands picks up in speed when they kiss.

For a week Blaine´s mind is occupied with a plan to let Kurt escape this horrible place. They never really talk about it, but they would drop some hints whenever they felt they fit into conversation. I hate how early they close on Mondays. I am so excited for Monday, when we have a special Warbler rehearsal. I will need all the back-up possible for such a hard piece of music.

Monday is what they agree on, when Billy will be too occupied with watching a new episode of some series and when the security is low. It hadn´t take much to convince Blaine´s friends of his plan. They know Kurt is his everything to him and if they didn´t help then he would go through with it alone. Though Wes and David were still highly against breaking the law, but Blaine´s puppy face helped them over that.

Trent would act as someone who had missed the time to leave the Aquarium, Thad would lock Billy into his little chamber and Wes and David would help transport Kurt, keep him wet and drive them to the nearest shore.

It wasn´t a master plan, but it could work. By Sunday they have developed their own routine. Blaine would give Kurt things from the human world, like a mirror, a comb or flowers that the merman would enjoy from the edge of the aquarium, while Kurt brings him things he found at home, like a crescent moon shaped shell or colorful sand. Today Blaine has a special present though, something he hopes Kurt would wear on him, like Blaine did with the piece of Kurt's heart.

However, he isn´t under any illusion that a ring could compare to something as precious as what Kurt has chosen to give him, but he doubts cutting out his own heart would do either of them any good. Nervously he waits until he has fed all the Mercreatures and cleaned the storage room, feeling Kurt watch him meanwhile. When he is finished, he returns to his love, gripping the objects in his pocket in need of support. In his right hand he has Kurt´s fluttering heart, in the other he holds a box with his present.

He kneels down in a now familiar position right in front of Kurt, nervously gulping and smiling with quivering lips. He is 17 for god's sake, his parents would faint knowing what he is about to do. He himself hasn´t quite grasped the weight of the situation he is about to dive in. Kurt´s wet hands on his knees steady him, and just like a week ago, he reaches out to hold one of them.

"You already know what you mean to me, Kurt. I wear your heart with me every day and I feel you by my side wherever I go through it. I know you mean it when you say you will only love me in your life, as I will always love you."He pulls out a silky blue boy with his unoccupied hand. Then he positions himself to only kneel on one leg as he stares into the curious eyes of Kurt.

"We humans have this tradition where we exchange rings with the person we want to spend our lives with. It´s only fair to be traditional as you have been with me. Kurt Hummel, will you be the person I can trust with my heart as well?"

Kurt looks at him, as if he is the moon and the stars, before tearing up. It is as if he knows exactly what to say, what to do as he holds out his shaky hand and says: "Yes. Until our dying day!"

It is just a silver ring with their initials engraved on the outside, and on the right side of them, all Blaine could afford with the money he earned instead of using his parent´s. To Kurt it seems to be everything, as he gasps and squeals when Blaine places the ring on his ring finger. It doesn´t fit, Blaine notices to his disappointment and shame. Kurt still smiles though, angling his hand until the ring is positioned on his index finger instead.

There is no ceremony, no one to testify their whatever someone want to call it, and still Blaine can honestly say this is one of the happiest days in his life. He leans down, desperate to seal their promise with a kiss, when the bang of a door interrupts them. Three men are in the room now, wearing those horrible lab coats. One of them is Professor Gregson, significant smile in place as he watches the other men rush in.

"What the-"Blaine says as they grab Kurt´s arms, before he can escape. The shove Blaine away in the process, their faces hard and unyielding, as if they can't see the confused and hurt expression in Kurt´s face. As if they possess no emotions at all.

"What is wrong, what are you doing?"
He pulls at one of their arms, trying to lose the iron grip they have on Kurt´s arms, but they just curse and shove him. Blaine ungraciously lands on his back, gasping as air leaves his lungs.

"Blaine. Blaine, please." Kurt screams, struggling as they drag him out of the room and he can´t do anything. He scrambles to get up and run after them though. The attempt is futile though when Professor Gregson obstructs his passage.

"You promised there would be no more examinations!" Blaine yells.

"You´re right, I promised there would be no more of them for the next month, but I never said for whom. Because let´s face it, I will not stop until we have what we want from Kurt. His kind possesses the cure to various diseases. What is one life against billions?"

Blaine feels his fist tremble, wanting to wipe the smile off his face for good. It´s the fast puckering piece in his pocket that grounds him. He will need his job if he wants Kurt to escape for good. His mouth is much harder to control though.
"You monster!"

The professor laughs loudly."It´s not me that abnormal Blaine. Falling in love with a creature half-human half-fish, that´s what is abhorred. But thanks to your unhealthy obsession we found interesting material in the sample you oh so readily gave me. Thank you for that."

He feels a gloved hand on his cheek and flinches away. His stomach clenches and he feels sick at the knowledge that he is the reason Kurt has to go through with this again. The piece of Kurt´s heart is still fluttering in his pocket, now in an accusatory pace.

"No."

"Well, yes. If I could do what I want to ensure that the life of humans is improved, I would cut Kurt open and search until I find what I look for." Blaine gasps, his hand flying to his stomach."Don´t look at me like that, I won´t. A cut here and there, but nothing that would be lead back to me. The audience wants to see their sweetheart well up. At least as long as it takes for me to finally convince our employers. After that, Kurt may end up as a delicacy in Japan."

Another laugh fills the air, as Blaine staggers back. From the distance he can still hear Kurt scream his name, while he is here, unable to help him.

"Now go and feed the creatures like you are paid to do. Don´t make this more difficult than it is, you wouldn´t want to lose your job and go back to see him from the outside, would you?"

Blaine breathes in, but no air reaches his lungs. It´s far worse without Kurt by his side. He should work on autopilot, but he doesn´t. He just looks at the monster as he leaves the room.
"Oh and Blaine? I am afraid there will be no jewelry allowed in examinations."

When the door closes, he lets himself sink to the ground, hearing Kurt´s friends shout at him, and try to drag him into the water as he feeds them for the second time this day. There is only one reason he fights them off, because there is still a plan he has to go through with.

Blaine has stuck to his plan to free him on Monday, only a week later than he had planned. Whenever he had tried to go into the lab people were there, sending him out before he could see more than a glimpse of the merman caged in the tank. He had used the time to get to know when people left at night, who would leave when and a way to transport Kurt. By Monday he says goodbye like he always does after 6 hours of work, only this time he doesn´t leave the building, but hides in the staff bathroom, light out, waiting hours until the last professors have left and the security, namely Billy, is supposed to take over.

He´s in. Lead the way. T is in as well.

He reads the message, waiting a few minutes before exiting the room. Quietly he makes his way over to the lab, pulling out the key Billy gave him once to put some deliveries in there. They were lucky Billy was all meat and no brain. The click when the lock is opened is loud to his ears, causing him to look around for anyone who may have heard. There is no one and he can breathe again.

Then Blaine enters the room, using a flashlight to guide his way, instead of the much brighter light that is installed in here and rushes over to the tank. When he sees the still form lying on the hard ground of it, he just stops. For a moment the world seems to stop for all the wrong reasons, as Blaine gazes at him in stupor, unable to function.. The yellow light of his flashlight lets Kurt appear sick, almost lifeless. The vibrant colors of his scales have faded slightly, have lost their life and lost their quantity. Most of the scales swimming on top, covering the water surface like a rug, don´t reflect the light that shines on them. Like a fake tattoo that fades and crumbles with time, this Kurt looks like a more human looking replica of his former self. Whatever they did, the result was the loss of magic Kurt had always possessed in Blaine´s eyes. They had cut his hair shorter, had watched as he grew thinner and done various things that Blaine can´t see to his body. He probably will as soon as Kurt opens his eyes.

He gulps, guilt clogging him up once again, before he is set in motion again. Carefully he approaches the tank and hesitates before he lets his fingernails drum softly against the glass. Kurt is awake in this instant, flinging himself against the glass as if he knows it is Blaine. Maybe he does. Their hands meet as they have so many times, only this time they know the touch of the other. Blaine bites his lips when he realizes that they have taken his ring as well. He doesn´t want Kurt to see the pain he is in, not when he is the one that needs to be taken care of, so he hides it.

"Blaine." Kurt mouths and both of them soak in what they couldn´t for a week. The presence of the one person they need to live. Then Blaine searches and finds the button at the bottom of the tank. He waits for an approving nod, before pushing it. The water vanishes out of the tank, disappearing into the ground Kurt is lowered to. Few seconds pass that Blaine remains waiting for the glass to magically open in order to take Kurt and go, but it doesn´t. Wes and David meanwhile have entered, pushing a wheelbarrow filled with water with them.

"Hurry Blaine, Billy has noticed he has been locked in and the security of the upper levels will be here soon. Why isn´t he out of the tank already?" David asks, standing beside him.

"It won´t open. I don´t see another button either."

He is frantic, waving his flashlight around in search of some kind of device to help open the tank, before Kurt´s skin starts to dry. A loud crashing sound, followed by the tinkering of glass lets him look up and see Wes still armed with the fire extinguisher he has broken the glass with. Both of them share a look, before they are back at the task at hand. Blaine´s boots make the splinters crunch as he bends down to pick Kurt up. There is no alarm when they rush through the halls to the emergency exit Trent´s truck is parked in front of. Everything goes as planned to their surprise and they rush off, leaving the Park behind them until it is just another shadow in the night. While driving Blaine is at Kurt´s side on the loading area, pouring water over his tail and his upper body. Even though it was an especially hot day in Florida, the wind flutters coldly through Blaine´s clothes now.

"How are you?" He asks loudly. Kurt looks at him, his eyes tired, his finger devoid of the ring it has worn mere seconds, but he manages a weak smile.

"I have escaped this prison. I have left my friends, my family, to fend for themselves without saying goodbye. You are all I have now."

Those words tug on Blaine´s heart." And I will try to be the best person possible for you. I will make sure it was not the last time you see them."

"You already are."Kurt intertwines the fingers of their left hand, kissing Blaine's knuckles."I trust you."

"Only a few more minutes until we reach the shore."

Kurt hums in response, making sure his eyes say on Blaine's. They only drive through scarcely used streets, otherwise it would raise questions seeing a merman into a much too small wheelbarrow on the back of a truck. They may have left the Park successfully without being caught, but they are in no way safe yet.

"What have they done to you?" He asks, fearing the answer before he has spoken the first word.

"Nothing. Talked about mercreature hormones, threatened me, took blood samples, injected some weird human hormones into me that made me sick for a day, but nothing too serious. The worst they did was taking your ring and throwing it away. I am so sorry."

Now it´s Blaine´s turn to kiss the spot where the ring should be. It is not there now, but the feelings haven´t left. They never would.

"Don´t worry, I will buy you a new one as soon as you can walk. We´ll go buy one together. Hell, we can buy anything you want."

"I want clothes. Beautiful clothes! Like a ton of scarves or something. And shoes. I always wanted to have feet even if it was just in order to wear shoes." Kurt exclaims, laughing before turning somber the next second."Blaine, they will know it was you. What will happen if they find you?"

Blaine has thought about that, of course he has. This was the main contra argument his friends had, to try to convince him to let it go. He hasn´t, and neither had any of them found a solution to that problem. This was not what he would tell Kurt though, even if it feels wrong to lie.

"They have no proof, so they can´t pin that on me. Waiting on a shore everyday won´t do us any good though, I guess."

Mainly because it is possible that Blaine couldn´t show up, because he would be in juvie. Or how easy it would be to find Kurt through him that way. The car comes to a final stop right on the shore and the boys get out of the car to help Kurt into the water. Under Blaine's instruction they make sure to avoid touching Kurt´s tail while helping him. The first time Kurt sees the sea again, he can´t speak, his mouth opens after a gasp and as soon as he sits on the shore his hands trail in the soft sand while wave after wave tries to pull him home. His eyes shine with unshed tears as he looks at Blaine.

"We´ll wait for you in the car. Don´t worry we have everything prepared, just wait." Thad says, touching Blaine´s shoulder before they go.

Kneeling down, as he had so often, Blaine kisses familiar lips, savoring their taste and the feel of them against his. They don´t let go for several minutes, clutching at each other, reluctant to say goodbye. When they do stop, they stare at each other in the bright light of the full moon. Kurt´s colors have returned to his skin and scales, as if his body knew this was where it belonged. For now at least. He had never looked that breathtakingly beautiful before. Blaine is in awe as he finally sees the light inhuman glow Kurt´s skin possesses again. When the first loud boom sounds from above them, tinting them a light green, Blaine does not even look up. Another sound, another color that bursts on the night sky, but he can´t look away from Kurt. The merman´s eyes glisten, his mouth slightly opened in surprise as he sees his first live fireworks and Blaine realizes he was wrong. Kurt would never reach a state of the most beautiful he ever looked.

"Blaine, it´s the magic lights you showed me so long ago. Fireworks."

Blaine nods as various rackets burst over their heads, still only paying the man beside him his sole attention.

"Yes, I wanted you to see them. They are used for celebrations and this day deserves to be counted as such."

"It is so beautiful."
"You are." Blaine confirms.

Unfortunately all good things come to an end and for the last fireworks he pulls Kurt closer, embracing him from behind and nuzzles the soft hair on his neck. In the corner of his eye he sees the ribbon like silver firework rain down on the dark blue canvas of the sky while he listened to the soft noises Kurt makes in the back of his throat.

They stay like that for quite some time, enjoying the warmth of the other body while they can. Blaine is the first to pull away when he feels Kurt´s skin begin to dry.

"I think it´s time for you to go."

"Wait for me. We will meet at the boulders over there in four month from now at night." He points to the only boulders that are distinguishable among the beach. They are sharp edged and big enough to hide whoever is in the water that way.
"Four month from now?"Blaine interrupts.

"I will have to cross oceans to find the seawitch, have to discover her whereabouts and return. I am afraid it will take quite some time. Don´t you pout at me Blaine, you know it's my weakness."

He continues pouting, until Kurt kissed the pout away, but the deep settled feeling of already missing him remains.

"Four month will be too long."

"I will return with legs."
"I will die missing you."

"You are a sap! I love you."

Blaine hugs him tightly, until he actually feels he can´t be any closer and kisses his neck. One hand of his is pressed against Kurt´s heart that beats in time with the piece in his pocket. Car lights blink up twice, indicating that it is time to let go. Once more sea green/blue eyes meets soft hazel/gold ones. Once more lips meet lips in seething kiss. Once more Blaine runs his fingers through short brown hair and unique skin. Once more he hears his name being spoken in such a foreign, beautiful way, and then they have to separate.

"Forever yours." Blaine whispers against warm lips.

"United until the day we die."

Then Kurt really lets go and vanishes into the sea-foam. He leaves no traces that convince Blaine that he is real. Nothing but the fluttering piece he now holds in his hands.

Kurt´s heart.

Fours month have gone by, seasons changed, but when Kurt returns the sun has still heated up the ocean near the shore and until it finally sets, the beach is full of tourists, kissing couples and of people who take one million pictures of the sunset, unbeknown that they are being watched by a merman the whole time. Whenever he spots men with curly hair, he feels his heart leap in his chest, only to seize when he realizes it isn't Blaine. He spends hours doing this, until it is dark and no one is left on the beach apart from the occasional jogger. But even then, when the only sounds are the soft whoosh of the waves, he still has troubles getting used to, Blaine doesn't show up. Hiding behind the boulder they were supposed to meet at, Kurt leans back against it waiting.

He feels the glass container with the shimmering green substance dig into his rib-cage and pulls it out of the makeshift belt of algae he has created. Holding onto it, it turns his whole hand a light green. The mixtures outward appearance seems harmless and not distinguishable from green tinged water. Not like a magical potion should look after month of searching for it. But it had been for free and even if it isn´t what they had hoped for, they could be together through it. The seawitch has been generous so all he can hope for is that it works.

"What do you want, lady? I don´t have time for another love elixir."

The seawitch looks at him, her long black hair like a halo around her head. She is a beauty, there is no doubt about it, but she looks far away from innocent. Her eyes are malicious as they take Kurt in.

"I am not here for a love elixir. Actually, I heard you are the only one who is able to change our body parts."

She laughs."Another little mermaid? Listen Ladylips that one is a myth. I am no Ursula or whatever. If I were I´d weigh a ton, resemble a whale and would not be the hot piece of ass I am now."

All the excitement rushes out of Kurt as he hears that. Three month of search, of asking people, of swimming until he collapsed in exhaustion, all for nothing. Only the thought of Blaine keeps him from leaving right then.
"There has to be something you can do. Anything…Please, I have given him my heart." Kurt pleads.

It´s then that she finally seems to listen, giving him her attention. Her back is multicolored by various bright fluids and the deep red tail flicks as she raises her eyebrows. Her condescending aura is gone and she appears to be just another mercreature by then.

"You gave your heart to a human? What a foolish thing to do."

Kurt frowns."I will never regret it. I love him."

The seawitch swims closer, positioning herself in front of him. In her eyes he can see pity and pain."I did the same thing once, stupidest thing I ever did. She was the love of my life, but she had a fickle heart. One month she was in love with me, the next she loved a human boy. Your human will be the same, they all are!"

A glass breaks behind her, but they don´t pay attention to it. In an attempt to comfort her, Kurt hugs her. It is such a human thing to do that now comes to him so easily. She doesn't cry, they almost never do, but her loneliness screams at him from every fiber of her.

"Well, little mermaid, I said what I meant. No feet for you, Suzy Q. So no use for you to be nice to me!" She snaps, pulling away.

"I am sorry." Kurt hugs her again."I am sure she still loves you."

"You think? What about the human trouty-mouth boy? He really does have a trouty mouth after a little magic here and there, but that´s what he gets for stealing from me."

Kurt chuckles at her insult, wondering what the boy really looks like now. "She still has your heart, hasn´t she."

Wiping away the tears, the sea witch nods. He can only assume she is embarrassed because she turns around and doesn´t turn back. Instead she mixes several fluids, careful not to let the seawater touch them.

"Do you think your human is different? That he loves only you and would do anything?" Her tone is icy again.

"Yes." He swims to face her, but she only turns around again."He would never betray me. Not Blaine."

"Would he give up live on earth to join you in water?"

"I don´t-"

"Will he?" She screams and Kurt flinches.

It is as if she had cried away her soul along with the tears. The temperature has dropped in the water and it makes him shiver. Kurt think about it, about the boy he has know for several years, of hot kisses and confessions and of the piece of his heart Blaine carries around. Then he answers.

"For me he would."

When the seawitch turns back around, she is smiling. It is neither warm, nor cold. It is devoid of any emotion. Her face his tinged an eerie green by the substance in the vial she is holding.

"Give this to him, make him drink it and he will be able to live underwater with you." Kurt´s mouth opens in astonishment and he reaches out to grab the container. Before he can reach it though, she pulls away." As you can imagine not many want to be around me. You seem to be a good company Kurt. If I give this to you, you just have to promise me one thing."

"Anything!"

She laughs as if she has expected him to say that. "When you lose him and your heart withers like mine, you have to return here and stay for eternity. I mean it, the second he is gone you will return to my side. Promise me!"

If Blaine refused him, loved somebody else and Kurt lost him, there would be no real living afterwards, he knew that. So of course he agreed. Blaine would never betray him!

He was too preoccupied to see the malicious smile she wore, quickly snapping her fingers to alter the mixture a tiny bit. She was so lonely, she deserved better. Santana had been lonely long enough, it was time to change that.

Kurt sighs, the long wait making him drowsy as he thinks about the seawitch. Someday, when Blaine old and Kurt was a little younger, as mercreatures aged much slower than humans, he would return to her when he died and keep his promise. But not until then. He still has a life-time to spend with Blaine. If he ever turned up at least. Another hour goes by, just enough time to make Kurt´s eyes close in exhaustion, as a whisper wakes him. His nerves fizzle and his ears recognize the voice before his brain can catch up.
"Kurt? Are you there?"

It doesn´t even take him one second to be wide awake, swimming further away from the bolder to be able to see the human standing on the boulder. There is too little moonlight tonight to really see Blaine, but that doesn´t matter. It is him, he feels it in his bones.

"I am."

"Oh my god." Blaine stage whispers and for a moment he is gone just to emerge as he jumps down into the water. Immediately Kurt dives to help him up, not wanting him to be hurt. He isn´t and the instant they are close enough, they touch, chest to chest, lip to lip and hands everywhere. All the pain of missing the other has its peak and its end in this moment and it hurts so bittersweet. It is hard to let go, but the vial in his hands is slippery from the water and he has waited long enough for this moment. His chance at happiness after years of torture is right here. He gets a little space between their lips, holding Blaine in his arms.

"What happened at the Park? Have the visitor numbers dropped after the disappearance of the one and only, the fabulous Kurt?"

Blaine´s face turns somber, but it is far from being in a state Kurt had feared it would at this topic.

"They fired me, tried to sue me, but in the end they had too little proof. We have to thank my brother for pulling some strings for that. Actually, we really could. As soon as you have your legs I will take you to meet my family and friends. They have been dying to talk to the infamous Kurt Hummel."

"There is something I need to tell you-"

"Right." Blaine laughs, pecking his lips."Clothes first. I know. I actually wanted to give you the bowtie you were so fond of that I wore last Christmas. It´s up on the boulder though, so we´ll have to wait for your feet to form."

Kurt bites his lips, pulling away before he can be kissed again. It would hurt too much, because facing him, the fear of him refusing is slowly setting in. The one he was so confident in shouldn´t have to change his life. He really shouldn´t have to, but Kurt has never been selfish in his life, he deserves a try.
"That was what I wanted to talk to you about. I won´t be able to get feet instead of my fishtail." He admits.

There couldn´t be too little light to hide the shock in Blaine´s eyes or the confusion that settles on his features when he grabs the vial.

"What? What is this for then?"

Blaine´s voice sounds hollow and hardly understandable. He looks as if he had not doubted once that anything would go wrong. Both of them are naive, neither of them would agree to that though. Kurt wants to prompt him to understand, running a hand through the curly hair.

"I-This is-" Kurt mumbles.

Blaine´s gaze is serious as he waits for an answer.

"You don´t have to do this. I want you to know that I understand if you can´t leave your world behind to live in the sea with me. Really. If you drink-"

He can´t go on, because what does it matter when Blaine´s has tipped back his head, opened the cork of the vial and the liquid has already vanished into his mouth. Forgotten are all the dreams of shopping malls, of meeting Blaine´s family, of ever wearing shoes and forgotten is the bowtie on top of the bolder. Blaine is joining him in his world and he feels his heart grow bigger, until it threatens to burst. Then Blaine blanches, coughing and holding on to Kurt´s shoulders as if they are his rock. Kurt does not even feel the pain when the fingernails dig in, he is far too invested in watching Blaine´s face.

"Fuck it hurts-" Blaine says through clenched teeth, before he erupts into pained groans. His head snaps back, exposing his neck where the skin begins to bubble and change.

"Blaine, hold onto me. It won´t hurt forever. Why would you drink before knowing what it would do, you beautiful idiot?"

Everything Blaine attempts to say sounds like a gurgle by now and somehow Kurt is close to tears. Later he couldn´t remember what he said, but while Blaine grunts and yelps, he whispers soothing sentences into his ears, until finally singing songs he had been taught by his family in the park. He doesn't let go until Blaine´s body stops his quivering and the nails stop cutting into his skin. When he looks at Blaine´s face it is pale, exhausted, but not in pain any longer.

"Are you alright?"

Blaine´s mouth moves, a strange sound escapes his lips, but no words escape. He panics, clutching at his throat. It causes Kurt to act, grab his lover and drag him under the surface. It is even darker underwater than it was over it, but Kurt´s eyes adjust the instant the salt-water touches them, making it possible for him to see. He makes sure to stay near the surface, in case he misinterpreted and Blaine needs air instead of water. He is confused though when a foreign, but familiar voice rises behind him.
"Kurt, I can´t breathe any longer. I have gills. Fuck."

This angelic voice, it belongs to Blaine, he realizes. How does he sound so much clearer in a thicker substance, he wonders. Then reality snaps into place and his heart clenches.

"I am so sorry."He begins to apologize."I didn´t know that mixture would take your ability to breathe. What will your parents say when you go missing. This is not what I wanted."

"I love you." Blaine kissed him, this time without care of the water that runs down his spine."Yeah, they will worry, but they know I went to you. They have always known that you are my everything and that I am so recklessly in love with you that I would do anything to spend my life with you. I just hope my skin doesn´t wrinkle."

Kurt wants to ask if he really is okay with it, but his voice is drowned by kisses. Kisses filled to the brim with love and devotion. This is what flips the switch in Kurt´s brain making him realize, that they really feel the same. As long as they are together, anything could happen.

Anything would happen.

365 days later.

Blaine has accommodated to his new lifestyle, he could honestly say that. Once they have left the shores of Florida and started diving deeper and deeper, a whole new world has opened its arms for him. A world he was now able to enjoy with his new ability. Not only could he survive without air, he also had gotten sharper eyes that make it possible for him to see more than blurry shapes, even if it was very dark down here. He even sees the world in brighter colors when the sunlight breaks on Kurt's beautiful scales, reflecting his outer beauty, while his heart beats against Blaine´s on the necklace he had made for it, in Kurt´s inner beauty. To his surprise neither his skin, nor his hair are affected by the water and the water pressure leaves him untouched and his organs intact. In addition to that his body never tries to float upward either. Frankly spoken, algae will never be his food of favor, but it keeps him fed and thus by Kurt´s side.

Days after mindless traveling, catching up on the events the both of them have missed, they have finally reached the place of Kurt´s childhood. Hidden under a dazzling sea of anemones, a city appears. It consists of simple buildings of natural stones that are placed on top of each other in constructs that wouldn´t work with the gravity and the breeze on land. Here, miles under the surface, they stand high and proud and oh so different from anything Blaine has ever seen. And while Kurt had few memories he treasured about his real home, he couldn´t help but fall in love all over again. He would do so every day they spend in the city of Lucretia Ima.

They have built their own home in weeks of work, since that was the way things were here. The Mercreatures had shunned Blaine at first, but he was relentless in his tries to win them over. He finally did after month, Kurt teasing him, saying he just used his magical Blaine charm. Maybe he had, how else was it possible to have someone like Kurt by his side?

Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, the boy who defined the word love anew. The closer they got, the more they saw the edges and flaws every creature had, but they didn´t dare try to smooth them over. They just added to the person they loved. It had been a normal day in the city, Kurt had sold a few of his scales in exchange for a foreign instrument, he intended to teach Blaine how to play, when he enters the room to see a merman occupying the seats he had spent days on to grind into the right form. Blaine sat on the opposite stone, reaching out to hold Kurt´s hand. His eyes were trained on the man though.

"Who is this, Blaine?" Kurt asked.

The merman then swam over, causing Kurt to finally recognize the unique set of scales he himself possessed.

"You are my son."

Thus, the family reunion was celebrated weeks, if not months. Blaine became as much of a part of the family, as Kurt was. Partly because Kurt may be Burt´s son, but they had never actually gotten the opportunity to get to connect and now Blaine was immediately between all that. On the other hand he is a part of Kurt and Burt´s family states more often than not, thus making him a family member as well.

There are nights though, when Blaine wants to be alone, to mourn the loss of his own family and friends. Nights when not even kisses and touches of Kurt would heal the pain in his heart. The longing for the sun, the craving for dryness is deeply embedded into his soul. This is one of those nights. He has snapped when Kurt offers to console him and has fled out of the city to lie down in the anemones field.

A pink part of one anemone is now tickling his face as he stares up at the endless water that gives no indication that there is anything beyond it. He wonders if his family has declared him missed and dead by now. Wonders if the hurting will ever stop, because Kurt should be enough. Oh god, Kurt. He sighs, letting his hands rest on his bare stomach that has long ago lost its shirt. All he wears is makeshift underwear out of the materials that they sell in Lucretia Ima.

Even if he actually wanted to be alone, he feels his body relax when he hears Kurt's singing voice. Kurt has been singing more often the longer they stayed here. He sometimes sings the whole day long, but Blaine never gets tired of it. To show his whereabouts, he raises his arm that is instantly grabbed by soft, familiar hands that fit into his.

"I am sorry I yelled at you." Blaine says, kissing the wrists that are now full of colorful bracelets. As always Kurt is quick to forgive. By now he is smiling at him warmer than the sun ever did.

"What´s done is done. Just don´t let it become a habit. I like my ears intact."

"I won´t." He seals the promise with a kiss and sighs when Kurt strokes his cheek. Then the merman lies down on top of his chest, resting his head in the hollow of Blaine's shoulder.

"I know you miss them so much and I wished there was something I could do to make it better. To avoid you ever regretting coming with me, you know."

In response Blaine runs his fingers through silky hair, then down the spine and up again. "That´s it, I don´t. I miss them, how can I not, but you are as needed as the water now. If I could rewind the time, I would do it again."

"How can you say such things without feeling like the protagonist of the Twilight movies?"

"Don´t tell me even living in the Park hasn´t spared the hype to you?"Blaine laughs, planting a kiss on top of Kurt´s hair, feeling a little better."You poor thing."

Suddenly Kurt is off his chest, looking down on him, his hands on both sides of his head. His short brown hair sways a little with the water movement.
"Blaine Devon Anderson, don´t you dare try to deny you liked it. I heard you fan girl over the first book like crazy. So much that even Rachel doubted you had balls-"

"I did not."

"Yes you did!" Kurt teases him. "But by the sequel you avoided ever talking about your obsession again."

Blaine can´t help but pout, crossing his arms in front of his chest and avoiding Kurt´s eyes. In the end a kiss on his cheek lets him melt again and he mumbles: "Fine, how could Edward just go? It all turned awful after that. Don't let me get started again, that was a phase."

Kurt´s eyes widen, as dimples appear when he grins. He leans down, getting as close to Blaine´s ear as is possible, his lips brushing the soft skin as he begins to whisper. "I could be your Edward."

Then he laughs so loud, Blaine's ears hurt, but he joins in soon after. Laughing without air is different, it sounds different and feels different, but somehow it still is a laugh. A laugh that matches Kurt´s in its clarity. "For a second I thought you meant that. Are there any mental health clinics I can get help in, if that is ever the case?" Blaine asks, again holding Kurt's hand.
"No! And you wouldn't do that. You love me too much for that."

It is hard to convey your feelings in a foreign world, it still feels new, even after a year. He hopes Kurt knows he means it when he kisses him, exploring his mouth, before chanting ´yes, I do´ against his lips.

Kurt's soft hands trail down his stomach, skipping the part the makeshift underwear covers, before caressing the sensitive skin of his inner thighs. They cause Blaine to hiss, mirroring the action to a certain degree, not allowing his hands to travel over the border between human skin and fish scales. Of reality and myth.

Their lips meet in a dance they have done so many times without ever losing the tingling feelings they left in the place. As he feels Kurt tug on the material covering his half hard erection, he can´t help but nod in need. This is not the first time they have done this, but he still feels shy as the fabric comes away, revealing him to exploring eyes.

"Alurantl." Kurt whispers and without knowing the meaning, Blaine can see it in his eyes. And he returns this exact emotions.

He feels fingers on his penis, moans at their touch and throws his head back in pleasure. He doesn´t want it to end, but in order to do what he has planned on so many occasions already, he has to. Gently he lets his own hands travel south, over the scales until they find the place that make Kurt tense.

"You don´t have to." Kurt squirms in his hands."It´s weird."

"It is not! Let me take care of you." Blaine replies.

Kurt blushes and looks skeptical, but he doesn´t stop him when Blaine tries to touch him there again. He starts to rub the spot, massage it as good as he can, unfamiliar with the anatomy of mercreatures. The high pitched sounds from Kurt as he buries his face in his shoulders encourage him to go on though. It is weird how turned on he gets by giving someone else pleasure. Especially since he assumed being gay meant that his body would insist on another penis to have actual sex and feel comfortable. Apparently having the person you love in your arms, trembling because of you, chanting your name, is what Blaine determines as sex now. He is at the peak of happiness and content when Kurt collapses fully onto him, a long moan only slowly dying out. When Kurt offers to return the favor, he just shakes his head. For now he just wants to hold onto Kurt and drown in bliss.

"I never knew I could feel like this." Kurt sings into his ear.

"Like I have never seen the sky before."Blaine continues, before whispering."My whole world revolves around you."

They are lulled into silence, basking in their emotional state of happiness together, staring at the endless sea above them. From time to time they kiss, before settling back.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Blaine then asks. As he speaks he feels his windpipe constrict painfully. He tries not to let it show, determined not to ruin this perfect moment. A part of him feels unsettled though, knowing something bad is about to happen. The scratching in his throat is not familiar to him, but it resembles that of the lungs he once had.

"Sure."

Blaine swallows, suppressing a cough. His body instantly rejects the water he swallows at that. Whatever happens to his body makes his gills itch. Kurt looks at him confused as Blaine struggles to remain calm. His emotions feel serene in Kurt´s arms, but his body fails him again.

"Even as a child, I have always pictured my future with you."He chokes. "Three kids, a swimming pool you would live in and a dog to accompany us. I would go to work, while you taught the children how to swim. We would grow old together and watch the world change with us. See the day they accept things that are different."

"And we can´t now? I mean, sure, we live here now, but we could have some of those things. We will grow old together and maybe we can adopt kids. Mayal is always complaining about her kids. You adore Rhyall and Griph, right? We could babysit sometime to get the feeling of being daddies. Daddy Blaine, how beautiful is the sound of that?"

"Kurt." Blaine says, struggling to ignore the pain and the itching. His throat is dry as the Sahara and he feels the familiar tug and the lightheadedness. He panics when he suddenly feels his lungs kick in again and they ask for air. What is happening? Has the magic started to fade? Kurt is oblivious for now, kissing his tense mouth.
"I know it´s not the future you imagined, but at least we are together. Even underwater we can see the world change, just not in that way. Someday I will take you to the most beautiful reef you have ever seen. If that does not beat those lousy flowers you have up there, I don't know what does."

A gurgling sound interrupts the daydream Kurt has and Blaine finally scratches the place where his gills have been. They are gone.

"Blaine?"Kurt asks, worry apparent in his voice.

It is harder for Blaine to talk by then, his lungs feeling as if they burst into his chest. This is the time he will die, not even the speed of Kurt will be fast enough to drag him up. He needs more time, he hasn´t had enough time with Kurt. God, why is there so little time? They were promised to spend a lifetime together, not a year. What has gone wrong? He looks into Kurt´s wide eyes, wanting it to be the last memory he possessed. He wasn´t afraid of death, he was grateful for the year they had spent together. What ached in his chest was the yearning for more time.

"I don´t –need sunsh-in my life you-enough."

His vision blurs as he is dragged up. The last thing he sees though are sunrays and he is sure that it is Kurt who shines that bright. The fluttering of Kurt´s heart piece is now in time with his against his skin. They are united.

Kurt doesn´t understand why Blaine has trouble talking. For a moment he convinces himself this is a joke, but he can pick up the pain that radiates from him. Blaine´s hands fly to his neck, clawing at it until the water turns red with his blood and Kurt finally understands. He needs air. He will die. Again. Kurt grabs Blaine's arm, immediately swimming up, not caring if his grip is hard enough to leave bruises. Never in his life has he forces his body to go so fast. Not even the first time Blaine threatened to drown. Halfway up he can feel his powers slip and feels the grip loosening as the water works against him for the first time.

He wants to look down, make sure that Blaine is alive, but he can't afford to do that. He needs to be up. How much time has passed? A minute already? Why does he feel the pulse of Blaine slow down? Sunlight finally trickles through the darkness, beckoning them up, leading them with her warm rays. When he breaks the surface, the first thing he does is hug Blaine´s body from behind and press, like he had seen the professor do that one time. Blaine´s back is against his chest now as he squeezes. Again and again, he uses what little power he has left to try to squeeze Blaine's upper body.

"Blaine, come on." He whimpers."Blaine breathe! Breathe, please."

. . . .
The body in his arms is cold, no sunshine can return the warmth Blaine has possessed. The lips he has kissed so many times are blue as the sea and their skins compete on who is the palest now. In a desperate attempt to save him, Kurt searches for a heartbeat and finds one. He yelps in surprise, kissing a cold cheek. The hope that had vanished as Blaine´s body grew colder now flares up much brighter.

"You are alive. God, come back to me. Blaine, wake up, I´m right here. We´ll figure something out. Blaine, listen to my voice and let yourself be lead back by it."

Kurt brokenly sings the song he first heard Blaine sing into his ear. Now and then he is interrupted by his own sobs, tears running down his cheeks, but bravely he continues.
"Baby, listen. Our song." He whispers in his ear.

Blaine´s body remains limp though, only moved by Kurt or the occasional waves that stir their bodies. His face no longer shows signs of pain, but is serene and calm.

Desperately Kurt wipes at his tears, before spreading them on Blaine´s lips. They are known to heal, but no one had taught him how. He is a magical creature though, something Disney used for one of their movies. There will always be happy endings in Disney movies…right? They are allowed one too!

"This has to work." Kurt cries. "It has to."

Another broken song echoes over the sea, for no one but Kurt to hear. It is a love song, a song of longing, but the one Kurt longs for does not return to him, no matter how hard he wishes for it. The tears pour out of his eyes and he catches them once more to press them to Blaine´s lips. Nothing happens.

"Blaine, I love you. Don't do this to me. Don´t,don't,don't,don't,don't."

Another song, more tears, but it is as if Blaine doesn´t care anymore.

Once again Kurt reaches for Blaine´s heart that has lied to him. Has it not told him that Blaine is alive? He comes up with a necklace and a bleeding pendant that is fluttering weakly in his hands. It was once as colorful as Kurt´s scales, but the edges of it have already started to turn black. It is the piece of the heart he gave to Blaine. The thing that Mercreatures gave to the one person they loved in their life. Kurt knows by then that it was not Blaine´s, but his own heartbeat he had felt. He was betrayed by the one thing that should have connected him with Blaine. That does not stop him from reaching out for the place he had often rested his head on, once again trying to listen to the calming heartbeat of his love. Often times they had lain like that, Kurt´s head on Blaine´s chest, singing their song, while his heart had been their metronome.

It is still.

Uhm..Tadaa? Please don´t hurt me. I could not let this end with a happy ending, so I filled it with love wherever I could.
Reviews would really, really make me happy & we´ll cry together in the mails guys :))