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The Foolish Merman (An A/B/O Klance oneshot)
By: ZeeRogue
Lance was in love.
His heart was full and blessed by the stars and he felt lucky for his love was loved and he loved his love’s love. But, his love was greedy.
Beneath the surface of the wetlands, Lance had gone years searching for love. Since presenting as an alpha, Lance had been on the search for a mate. No, Lance knew, his destiny lay outside his underwater kingdom. His loves were air breathers, land dwellers. A prince from lands far off caught Lance’s eye as he rode a large wave floater. Then pirates attacked. The prince had looked so refined, so regal, so charming shouting orders to his comrades. He fought bravely, was last on the ship as it sank. Lance wished he could be half the alpha this land dweller was. When he fell to the sea, Lance rushed to him and gave him breathe as he fought the war ridden waves to bring the prince to land. Once safely back, a princess rushed out to the shore to greet the prince. She was beautiful. She was elegant. She worried over the prince and used the magic of her kingdom to awaken him.
Lotor.
Allura.
They kissed and Lance knew they loved and he wanted to love them, too.
The Sea Druid was said to know the ancient magic lost to those below the waves centuries ago. They said he was ruthless and disfigured and cast off from their kingdom for his destructive talents, but he was an air breather and Lance needed air to love his loves. So, he snuck out when the sky pearl crossed the dark sky and went to the ends of their kingdom’s borders and further to the trench in the west where the Sea Druid dwelled. His cave was far into the trench. It was deep and the paths were blocked by anemones and sharp coral. There was a large boulder covering the entrance of a cavern deep in the cave and Lance pushed it aside only to be blinded by a light as bright as if the day’s glow was beneath the waves.
There was a gasp from someone inside the room and then the light dimmed. Lance blinked until his vision came back. A figure stood against a far wall with a dagger, growling, fins spread and lit with a rainbow of colors on a mostly black scaled tail. The scales around the deep v cut of their hips as they grew smaller and morphed into skin were sticky and glistened. The single tentacle of a male omega’s cock was poking out of their slit, quivering. Lance tasted the water. Sweet. An Omega in heat.
Lance’s gaze moved further up the omega’s body. Their black scales grew into purple then red. Small scars lined their pale skin and a harsh scar covered their right cheek. A familiar cheek. Indigo eyes. Inky black hair longer than most water dwellers kept it.
“Keith,” Lance said.
The omega instantly relaxed. “Lance?”
“You’re...you’re the druid?”
Keith’s eyes widened then he looked away. “Is that what they call me now?”
“They don’t know it’s you. They think it’s some monster.”
Keith held out his arms. “Look at me, I am a monster.”
“You’re beautiful,” Lance said and the water grew sweeter. “You’ve always been beautiful.”
Keith. The omega could be considered Lance’s childhood sweetheart or his love rival depending on who you asked. After Keith’s half brother’s abduction by air breathers, Keith became feral and was cast out. He was a half breed, so few missed him, but he had been Lance’s friend.
Now he was the Druid.
“Shiro came back, but you didn’t. Why?”
“I...those that took him and the others, I have their blood. How could I look any of you in the face again. Besides, I was outcasted.”
“Keith,” Lance started and tried to swim forward, but the Druid hissed and lifted his dagger again.
“Alpha!”
“Oh, sorry.” Lance lowered his head. This was still an Omega’s home, an omega’s nest. And that omega was in heat.
“You came here in search of what the Druid could do for you, isn’t that right?” Keith asked.
“Yes.”
“It will be five pearl rises before I can help you, Lance.”
“Five! I can’t wait that long. I have to go to the surface before they leave!”
Lance had heard his loves talk. A ship would be taken across the sea for war soon and Lance knew not of soon or war, but it sounded urgent..
“The surface? That magic itself will take me three days to prepare.”
“Please, Keith, I love them.”
“Love?” Keith asked and turned away from Lance.
Lance slowly swam closer. “Yes, my mates. I’ve not found one here. Like you father’s, they are up above. Please.”
Keith glanced at Lance. “You are aware I’m in heat, yes?”
“I apologize for bothering you, but I have no one else to go to.”
“I see,” Keith said and backed away. “Have you been with an omega before?”
“A couple during heats,” Lance answered. Unless mated, children could not be made. Even then, only when in heat or during mating season. “It helps omegas through their heats to have an alpha.”
“That is true, but I have no alpha. You, though, are an alpha and in my nest. Are you prepared to take responsibility? That is the only way to speed this up.”
Lance could feel himself reacting to the omega’s heat. He was still unmated, still an alpha. He felt his alpha slit open and the first set of his tentacles poked out.
“If that is all you ask then I will feel like the luckiest alpha in the sea. You are a friend Keith, I would have helped you through it long ago.”
Keith hummed. “Would you?”
Keith’s fins suddenly lit up once more, flashing through a rainbow before settling on a blushing red. He was swift as he swam up to Lance and began circling him. “You think this is your payment, Lance? This is simply for hurrying me up. A payment will come later.”
Lance turned and reached out for Keith, but the omega quickly darted away. “If this is a punishment, I’m going to enjoy it far too much.”
Keith chuckled, the tip of his tail, tapered, slid along Lance’s spreading slit as he darted away after another grab. “You’re the same as always, Lance. Still a beautiful stubborn idiot. You don’t know what dangers you’re getting into.”
“I could say the same about you,” Lance said and finally managed to grab Keith pulling him flush to his body.
Instinctively, Keith tried to swim away, but the first set of Lance’s tentacles held his hips. When he settled, Lance pulled them back and tiny spikes dug into Keith’s scales just enough to keep them in place during the coupling. The blood that escaped was light and sweet and Lance was thankful they were in a cave and not out in the wild.
Keith’s breath’s were quick at first, but they slowed as he lifted his head to look at Lance. There was a familiar look in his eyes, but an unknown look as hard to figure out now as it had when they were children. Lance had never assumed Keith would be an omega. The early signs of presentations were private with all organs sheathed inside. But, it was a fond look. Lance leaned down and pressed his lips to Keith’s. The druid gasped then melted against Lance as Lance pressed his tongue in. An omega melted into his arms was always a good feeling, but Lance use to play fight with Keith, losing most times, so to have him loose and trusting and submissive was a blessing. Certainly, he was on the right path to finding his mate in order to have something so good now.
A second smaller set of tentacles pushed out of Lance’s slit and moved to Keith’s. They rubbed along the length of his peeking cock coaxing it out further until the slit was wide enough for Lance’s to move in beneath it. They began to stroke at the canal below Keith’s dick where slick was spilling. Keith shuddered in his hold and moved a hand to rub up and down Lance’s chest before slipping behind Lance and rubbing at the cleft in Lance’s tail, more flesh than scale. Lance growled and moved one hand to copy the motion against Keith’s fuller mounds then to the base of a fin. It vibrated with color as Keith gasped before settling back on red. Lance moved his head into Keith’s neck, careful of the gland for mate bites. Keith always smelled so good, but now he smelt like an omega and it was entrancing.
Keith’s dick vibrated against Lance’s, the small sucker on the end kissing them. Lance could feel his alpha dick pushing out of the folds of his slit from the encouragement. He moved his tentacles more, rubbing the walls, pulling them out then in. Keith’s hands moved to Lance’s neck, sharp nails digging in and he fucked himself on the tentacles begging for more.
“Alpha, your spheres. I need you to breed me. Please, alpha.”
Begging was new. Lance didn’t help omegas that begged him through their heats. It wasn’t about breeding then, just enjoyment. Perhaps Keith wanted a mate as much as Lance did, or he was truly lonely here. Lance wished Keith would go back to the kingdom. Shiro would welcome him.
“Shh, I’ll breed you, I promise,” Lance whispered.
The push of Lance’s true dick was both painful and enjoyable as it made its appearance. It was much more rigid than the tentacles particularly when it was already growing. Lance’s tentacles spread Keith wide. Keith reached down and held his own dick out of the way. With his hand on Keith’s cleft, Lance guided his dick into the space. Keith whimpered as Lance entered him, but Lance didn’t smell pain. More slick spilled from him guiding Lance further in. Then, there was a pop and Keith gasped, whole body vibrating as Lance’s dick reached the channel where he would plant his spheres.
“Lance, you’re so...deep...my fingers…never...” Keith murmured as he laid limply in Lance’s arms.
“Come on, Keith, hold on to me,” Lance said and guided Keith’s arms back around his neck. “I want to mate you deep and good.”
“I want...that,” Keith said and pulled himself closer to Lance.
Lance pulled out and pushed back in starting up a rhythm. Keith’s dick slid against his abs, the sucker on the end kissing his skin. Eventually, Keith twisted his tail with Lance’s and began canting back against him encouraging him deeper and deeper inside.
“Oh, Lance. I...I didn’t think it would feel this good,” Keith said, voice broken.
Lance moved a hand to Keith’s hair and held him. “Am I your first alpha?”
“You’re my first...yes,” Keith said and Lance thought he was crying, but Lance let Keith hide his face against his shoulder.
So good he was crying? Lance felt both proud and concerned, but the pride took over as he moved faster and faster, the spheres bulging at the end of his dick. Finally, it stuck. Keith whined. Lance’s smaller tentacles moved to stroke Keith. Keith’s sucker planted against Lance’s stomach and ribbons of seed shot out. If Keith had coupled with a female beta or omega, the sucker would have clasped onto her womb. The orgasm tightened the pulsing flesh surrounding Lance’s dick and a gush of slick coated them. The pulsing began to encourage the spheres and slowly they began to pop out. Lance growled with pleasure every time one popped out and then again as they attached to Keith and the omega orgasmed again. The tightening forced another out and they stayed stuck together spasming with pleasure over and over until they laid against the cave floor, breathing heavily and sleepily.
Lance slept.
For three days Lance mostly slept. He was aware of Keith leaving the cavern to go to another only to come back to ride off what was left of his heat and Lance was fine with helping his needy greedy body. When he had finally rested long enough to be aware of his surroundings, Keith was standing over him wearing a hooded cloak made from fibers and holding out a shell with a small pearl that glowed blue.
Lance grinned at him. “You back for more?”
“I’ve had enough of your alpha dick. Put this in your mouth, don’t swallow.”
Lance frowned, but took the pearl and placed it on his tongue. It was sweet.
Keith swam out of the cavern and Lance followed him further down to another larger chamber filled with sunken land dweller treasures. In the middle was a cauldron bubbling away with a spout of hot water heating it from below. Lance stayed away from it. The druid moved over the cauldron and swirled its contents around with a bone utensil before placing a cover on it then moved to a shelf where strange rocks lined it. Keith flipped through glowing pages.
“They’re called books. The water ruins the surface dweller’s records. It’s probably why the sea dwellers lost the knowledge of magic so long ago,” Keith said then put the ‘book’ back on the shelf and moved over to Lance. Heheld his hand out.
“Spit it out,” Keith said.
Lance raised a brow, but spit the pearl out into Keith’s hand.
Keith held it then moved over to the cauldron. “You can no longer speak.”
Lance’s eyes widened and he tried to call out Keith’s name, but only bubbles escaped.
“You see, in order to gain something, you must lose it. This is your price for my magic. Love does not need to be expressed with words. If you love them and they love you, words will be unnecessary. That is what I learned from my mother.”
Mother? Lance tried to ask the question.
“When I went to rescue Shiro, I met her. She was upset when she found out my father had been captured years ago. She said she would look for him, but she wanted to teach me her magic. Much like you are going to land, she came to the sea after finding a sea dweller she fancied. War called her back.”
Keith lifted the lid of the cauldron and it now glowed blue. “You will have legs and you will breath air. However, you cannot return to life below the waves, not unless someone loves you the way you say you love these mates of yours. It will be suicide, Lance. Nod if you understand.”
He couldn’t come back? No, he could as long as Allura and Lotor loved him and they certainly would, they were full of love. He nodded.
Keith sighed. “Foolish as always, Lance.”
Then, Keith dropped the pearl into the cauldron.
Lance gasped. He couldn’t breath. His tail felt like it was being scraped and torn in half. A wave appeared from the cauldron and pushed Lance out of the cavern, out of the cave, up and up to the surface.
Air.
Air hurt.
Lance woke up to the sky pearl glowing down upon a goddess. White hair glowing likes starlight. A gentle smile.
Allura.
♆
War had always been a myth to Lance. There were few water dweller kingdoms close enough to fight over land and most non residents that came through came in small family pods looking for mates. The land dwellers, humans, had many wars. A dirty emotional exchange of steel and blood. If Lance had never known war, he would be blessed, but he would have never known love. Lance was not sure the exchange was equivalent. War had taken his love.
Allura was kind and patient. She taught Lance to walk and read their human words. Lance showed her affection and earned pleasant laughs. But, she was also stern. Lotor was cold but civil with Lance when he took up much of the foreign prince’s fiance’s time. He softened up as Lance’s affections moved to him. He did not share their wedding bed on the first night, but most days Lance spent in their chambers laying around. His loves did not take to his mating bites as they did not bite back and Lance supposed it was because they were human. He wished he could have asked Keith. But, it was fine.
The courts called him a pet.
It was fine.
They called him a slut
He learned the word. It was fine.
They whispered ill words to his loves.
It was fine. They loved him still.
All was not fine, not outside the prince and princess’ bedroom. Lotor was a runaway prince come to seek refuge and help through marriage to Allura. His father came for him soon after, a cruel man laying waste to island kingdoms destroying sea dweller homes along the way by the looks of his ships. Lotor ended him and Lanced aided. Lotor taught Lance to fight and thus taught Lance how to win.
Lotor called them mermaids. He kept his test subjects in a facility hidden on a nearby island. He was using Allura’s magic to turn them into underwater assassins that had caused major damage to Zarkon’s armata. They were sea dwellers, Lance kind, those missing. It was Lotor’s work that had taken Shiro, his work that Keith had destroyed. Lance tried to convince Lotor to stop such ventures, but his words were silent if his love refused to read them.
Allura was not pleased. Her heart was kind, but far too noble. Her kingdom’s magic had hurt creatures, had hurt people like Lance. So, she used her kingdom’s magic to create a weapon. Over and over, she worked, until she had perfected it. Forged from her body, tempered in her blood, she left the armor and sword in Lance’s care so that he could fight for her. No, Lance knew he needed to fight for his people who were oblivious and happy beneath the waves where they knew not of war.
The war was short, he was told. Lance felt there was no end. Dead bodies lay all around him. On a cliff in view of a burning castle, he was the only one standing. He held Allura’s sword to his love’s neck. The raging blue tempest of his eyes glared into Lotor’s violet, soft and saddened. Lotor ran a hand along the blade.
“Oh, Lance, my pet. If only I had known they could learn like you. I thought them just a creature of burden. Allura was right, I am as cruel as my father.”
Lance’s hand shook as he held the blade. Lotor loved him, but he didn’t respect him. He wasn’t human. Allura had not been his mate, fewer and fewer times she coupled with him. But she adored him, enjoyed his company. Like a pet, their nickname for him. He had not known the meaning of that word then. This was not the love Lance sought.
Lotor let out a choked laugh. “You still refuse to hate me?. I commend you for that. Allura was certainly quick to turn her back, my own wife. She always did love to help those who needed it.”
Like me , Lance thought. As helpless as an infant he had been when she’d found him. And Lotor, a prince asking for her aid with intelligence to match her own.
“Lance, you will never understand the pleasures of war. That’s all it is, a pleasure. There is no peace in conquest. I know that now, but the pleasure, that is addicting. And you know pleasure.”
Lance huffed and pressed the sword against Lotor’s neck harder. He had known pleasure without leaving the sea.
Lotor sighed and let his hand slide from the sword. “Go ahead, end this. I know I should have listened to you. Your eyes have always spoken louder than your words. Ha ha ugh…”
Lance slid his sword down Lotor’s neck then pushed it through his chest. He closed his eyes and waited until he could no longer hear any breathe but his own. Quietly, Lance straightened and removed his armor. He dressed Lotor in it and tied the sword to Lotor’s hand then picked up his body. Lance took careful steps to the cliff of the battle zone. Behind him, Allura’s castle burned, the kingdom wiped out, but Lance only felt cold. He let Lotor’s body fall to the waves below. At least his loves could be together again in a place they wouldn’t have to war over him.
Crying in the ocean was different to crying on land. Air didn’t wipe away tears like waves did. The tears stung, but Lance’s cries were silent as he screamed into the setting sun across the large expanse of the endless ocean. Somewhere out there was the kingdom Lotor had reclaimed being overtaken by a rebel force, but here, everything was gone. Just Lance sanding victorious and broken. He was more alone now than he had ever been in the ocean.
God, did he miss the ocean.
Keith had said Lance could only come back to the waves as long as his loves loved him as conditionally as he loved them. Lance never attempted to return, he was happy. It felt as if it would be like turning his back on his mates, but now he knew he would have been lost to the waves just as much as he would have now.
Lance welcomed the sting of saltwater through is lungs. He didn’t try to swim, never learned how with his human legs. He fell and fell. Yet, he still reached up towards the day’s glow, the sun, even as his lids grew heavy and darkness took him.
He still wished he could have been loved.
♆
Breath.
It came to Lance in a sudden gasp. He reached up to his neck and felt gills as familiar to him as the steady beat of his heart. Gills. He looked down at his feet. A tail. Lance swam in circles. Swimming. But, why? Was this his after life? Was he destined to swim for eternity?
Lance paused and looked around. He was in a cavern. A shell bed had been made for him and its softness was familiar. In the far corner of the cavern was a swing made of sea flora. Curled up asleep inside was the druid, not smelling of heat yet the air was still sweet around him.
“Keith?”
His voice. His voice! It croaked as he called out the Druid’s name.
“Keith,” he called again.
“Lance? You’ve woken up,” Keith said turning to blink at Lance and pull the fiber cloak he wore tighter around his body.
“I...what am I doing here? I should be dead, right? I killed so many. I killed my loves. Why am I alive, Keith?”
Keith suddenly jumped from the swing and held his hand out to Lance’s shoulders. “What happened?”
Lance crumbled into Keith’s hold. “I….Lotor, he was the reason your father was taken. He took others so he could win against his father. His wife, she became a weapon and I killed him with her. I killed my loves!”
“Oh, Lance, such a foolish alpha,” Keith sighed and stroked his fingers through Lance’s short hair. “Of all the people you have fawned over, you chose them.”
“I know I’m foolish, Keith. I’ve known that for so long, but I didn’t want to believe it. I should have asked you. You would have known their names.”
“I knew of the prince, the princess not so much. I shouldn’t have given you the spell without asking. I know you too well, Lance.”
“You were heat addled,” Lance corrected. “It is all my fault because I am foolish. But, I loved them. I did.”
“I believe you,” Keith assured. “You love with all your heart, your foolish, foolish heart.”
“I should have died, Keith, why did I not? They didn’t love me the way I loved them. Why am I here? I’m so alone, Keith, I don’t want to be here.”
“You’re here because someone loves you.”
“Who, and don’t say my family. I know your spell’s words.”
“Someone who is also lonely, someone who is foolish to love you as foolishly as you love. They’re a much bigger fool than you, Lance.”
Lance chuckled and held his arms tight around Keith’s waist. He laid his head on Keith’s chest. He felt so soft, so inviting. It had been too long since he’d felt another’s hold. He hadn’t slept in a lover’s bed in many pearl rises. “They must be a true fool. I wonder who. They can’t be within my kingdom.”
“It was a failsafe, Lance. I may have not been able to keep you from the horrors of war, but I am not stupid enough to let you go following your heart unbridled. There has always been someone here who loved you and for so long. You could have always come home.”
Lance looked up at Keith curiously. “Who could have ever loved me for so long that I never knew?”
Keith smiled down at Lance, but his eyes held sadness. “Does it truly matter who? Lance, I…”
Keith’s words were cut off by a high pitched cry that ran through the cave. Lance pulled away from Keith and watched as the druid rushed out of the room. He followed him a second later afraid the other may be in danger. Farther down the cave, past the chamber where Keith did his spells now covered by a heavy rock, was another cavern. In the middle of it was a shell bed half the size of the one Lance had woken up from. The crying came from here. Keith swam about it fussing for a moment before picking up a small bundle.
“Shh, shh, you’ll wake up your brother,” he whispered to the bundle. The crying settled down, but did not completely stop. “I see, you’re hungry. You are the smaller one.”
Lance’s eyes widened as Keith removed his cloak. The omega was still as well groomed as Lance remembered him, still marred with small scars, still beautiful and dangerous, but his chest, though nothing like a female’s, had grown full. Lance understood the softness now. Keith brought the bundle to a nipple and it suckled as Keith hummed to it. Lance watched from the doorway.
Lance would be a liar to say he had never imagined Keith like this, soft faced and lovingly feeding a guppie. Lance had just never considered it to be possible. Keith had not presented when he left and Lance had been sure he would be an Alpha. But, here Keith was cradling his child, placing them carefully back into their shell next to a sibling.
“Keith,” Lance called softly moving into the cave.
Keith’s fins lit up, but settled down seeing it was just Lance and continued to watch over his guppies. “Don’t be too loud, they’re sleeping.”
“Are...are they yours?” Lance asked swimming up beside the druid.
“Considering I pushed them out, I certainly hope so,” Keith chuckled.
“Oh, I…” Lance trailed off and glanced at Keith’s neck. There were no marks on his mating glands. “Where’s your mate? I shouldn’t be here if he’s around.”
“No mate, Lance,” Keith answered.
“What happened to him?”
Keith sighed. “We didn’t mate.”
“But you had babies.”
“I’m also half air breather. I didn’t think that meant I was fertile every heat, but apparently that’s exactly what it means. Usually, there aren’t any eggs in the womb until after a mating happens, that’s why the spheres are planted so they can stay there until an egg does fall. Being half changed that.”
“Does he come visit you?” Lance asked. There was a tightness in his chest, familiar, but nothing as strong. He had felt overprotective with previous omegas he had coupled with, but he had never felt a deep ache like this. He had no right to.
Keith didn’t answer. Instead he moved closer to the shell. “They’re beautiful. Beautiful gifts he left me with, don’t you think?”
Lance felt fear as he moved closer to the shell. He didn’t know why, but something told him he shouldn’t look. Inside were two guppies. The larger had a blue tail, but looked exactly like Keith. The smaller had a red tail with black like Keith’s, but their skin was tanner and it blinked blue eyes up at them as it softly fell back asleep.
Blue.
Lance swam back towards the entrance. Keith watched him slowly, tail flicking in a warning.
“They’re...how?”
Keith moved over to him. “How could they not be? You coupled with me. It’s barely been over a year. You can deny it if you want, but even your friends thought it was obvious.”
“My friends?” Lance asked.
“They come over now and then. They help support them. They found out after they came looking for you. I denied them at first, but they are your friends. Shiro helps, too. You don’t have to. I was prepared to raise them myself.”
“Keith,” Lance whined. “You can breathe air, why didn’t you come tell me? Why didn’t you come get me?”
Keith turned away from Lance and looked back at the shell. He crossed his arms over his chest, his fins going blue. “I didn’t tell you because I love you.”
“Love? You’re…”
“I’m the fool, Lance,” Keith said turning back to look at him. “I am the fool. If no one above could love you, you could have returned home, you could always return home, but I wanted you to find happiness. I always knew I could never make you happy.”
“How could you not make me happy, Keith?”
The druid looked away, head lowered, and for once Lance thought he looked so incredibly small. “We never got along. I didn’t know how to act around you and I made you hate me. Leaving wasn’t just for Shiro.”
Lance reached out and placed a hand on Keith’s shoulder. Keith gasped and turned back to look at him. “Keith, look at my eyes and tell me if anything I say is a lie.”
“Lance, you…”
Lance squeezed Keith’s shoulder tighter to stop him and shook his head. “Listen. I was in love with you. I admitted that to myself years ago after you left, but I thought you would never love me back. I moved on, as much as I could. I thought I matured, but I was just foolish. I’m still foolish, I’ll always be a fool, but if you loved me then, if you still love me now, would you allow me to foolishly accept your feelings?”
Keith bit his bottom lip and frowned. “Lance, you don’t have to. You can live your life however you want. I won’t make you responsible for anything I did. I wouldn’t have let just any alpha couple with me. You were my first. You were serious and I thought it was my last chance. I took advantage of the situation.”
“No, not completely at least,” Lance said and moved his hand up along Keith’s neck and stroked against his gills. “The alpha you wanted was in your space during heat. You’re allowed to be selfish. The ocean knows I have no problems with that.”
Keith grinned and shook his head. “You’re not selfish, Lance. You fought a whole war to protect us.”
“You knew?” Lance asked.
“I put two and two together. My mother is the right hand to the leader of the rebellion.”
Oh. Lance really should have told Keith the names of his loves.
“How long have I been out?” Lance asked.
“A few rises. You were delirious for most of them and then you slept.”
So time had passed. He was still healing.
Lance glanced back into the room where the guppies slept. His guppies. His family. The alpha in him needed to claim Keith, to mate him, to have him rounded once more with their children. The more human part of Lance he had still not shaken told him he couldn’t push this.
Lance moved back and took Keith’s hands in his. “It would be an honor to be your mate, Keith. I always knew I wouldn’t find my mate in the kingdom. This isn’t the kingdom. You’re strong, beautiful, and you already have my children. I enjoyed fighting with you when we were younger, but we’ve grown up. If you’ll have me, I’d be happy to wear your mark.”
Even in the dim light in the cave, Lance could see the flush on Keith’s cheeks. “Lance, it hasn’t been that long since you lost your loves. You can’t ask this now.”
A smile pulled on Lance’s lips. He felt the hollow hole in his chest he’d carried since the war began fill up. “I have a heart that can love more than one, Keith, but it’s always loved you. It will heal, but I can’t heal alone.”
Keith squeezed Lance’s hands. Lance could almost see the wheels in his head turning. He pulled closer to Lance and let go of one hand to trace small lines that decorated Lance’s skin. The armor Allura made had not completely kept his safe, and the fall down to the sea floor couldn’t have been gentle if Lance had been out for so long. Keith’s hand moved up to his neck and touched his gills.
“I will never feel worthy of your love, but my heart has only ever been yours, Lance. Whatever was left now belongs to our guppies. They deserve to have a family.” He leaned up and kissed Lance softly.
Lance hummed against Keith’s lips then moved his free arm around Keith’s hips and pulled him flush against his body. “You deserve a family, Keith. If that’s all you want then that’s what I’ll provide.”
They kissed again, long pulls, fingers gently caressing skin, tongues not desperate, but wanting. Lance moved his kisses against the scales decorating the corners of Keith’s eyes and framing his pale face receiving a soft hum and then a thrill of excitement as his lips touched Keith’s gills. The bubbles that escaped him tickled his nose and he moved lower pushing the cloak off Keith’s shoulders. Keith leaned back against the cave wall to anchor himself, dark eyes staring down at Lance through thick lashes. Lance met them as he lightly prodded the small mounds on Keith’s firm chest.
“Alpha,” Keith moaned.
A low rumble vibrated in Lance’s chest. He circled his thumb against the nipple he had seen Keith feed their guppie with. A small pearl escaped. He moved to the other and kissed the full flesh before licking its peak. A full scale shiver wracked Keith’s body. He smelled so sweet. He could tell Keith would not have milk much longer, but often an omega or female mate would feed their mate as well as their guppies. Lance twisted the nipple between his teeth gently until it leaked then wrapped his tongue around it and began to feed.
“Lance,” Keith sighed and moved his hand to stroke through his hair.
It was a comforting touch and Lance felt himself growing lax though not any less turned on. Keith tasted good here. He knew their guppies were being well nourished. When no more came out, Lance unlatched himself and caressed the tender flesh with soft kisses before moving down Keith’s stomach. His muscles flexed beneath Lance’s touch and Lance could see new scars from the stretch of holding their guppies had brought and he licked them. Keith’s dick was already peaking out when Lance reached Keith’s hips and there was slick dribbling out.
“Not even in heat and you’re already wet,” Lance said softly and leaned in.
Keith’s back arched off the cave wall as Lance pressed his tongue into his slit. It caressed against his dick and Lance licked at it before delving deeper having to suck up the juices that gushed out.
“Lance! L-lance, Lance, Lance,” Keith chanted.
A small sound from the cavern behind them had the omega pushing Lance away. He peeked in then turned back and reached out for Lance’s hand.
“Come, not here.”
Lance let himself be pulled back to the room he’d woken up in. Keith pushed him towards the large shell until Lance was laid half on it then Keith pulled himself against Lance, face against his slit. Keith licked at it, looking up at Lance with large begging eyes. The first set of his tentacles pushed out and Keith licked at their tips careful of the hooks. His attention moved from them as Lance’s second set emerged. He eagerly sucked on them and they wiggled in Keith’s mouth before moving out to caress his face and make room for his true dick. Keith sucked on it then relaxed as the first set of tentacles wrapped around his head and pushed Keith’s mouth down so Lance could buck into his warmth freely. Lance had to fight himself to keep from hooking into Keith and laying spheres in his mouth.
Keith reached up and pulled the tentacles from his head. He leaned up and twisted his tail with Lance’s and caught the alpha’s eyes. He smirked and directed Lance’s attention downward. Keith stroked his own dick with one hand. Lance growled softly watching. Keith let go of his dick and pushed his own fingers into his slit and spread it open before moving his hips flushed against Lance’s. The base of Lance’s dick was already swelling just from the first initial heat. His longer tentacles hooked onto Keith’s hips and held him in place. The second set wriggled between them. First, they stroked Keith’s dick then began to ease his slit open further and joined Lance’s dick as he began to rut upwards. Keith met each movement with a desperate whine, fangs showing when he moaned.
“Keith, bite me,” Lance instructed and pulled Keith’s face to his gills.
Keith buried his face in Lance’s neck, but did not bite.
Lance moved a hand to the cleft on the back of Keith’s tail and stroked a finger against it then up and down a few fins. “Come on, omega, bite me and I’ll breed you so good, better than before.”
Keith keened and then there was the sharp pain of teeth in Lance’s neck. The omega’s mouth blocked the flow of water from Lance’s gills on that side and for a few seconds it was hard to breathe. It made the feeling of knotting Keith twice as good as the first time and his first sphere started out of his shaft. Keith melted against Lance as he was filled and his teeth came loose. Lance leaned up and bit into Keith’s neck, a free hand moving to stroke his dick as he came from the mating bite. Without the omega being in heat, Lance only laid a few spheres into him. He pulled out of his mate in a gooey mess and they both curled up in the shell.
The druid’s fins vibrated with soft colors. Lance stroked them and watched the flush on Keith’s face disappear in the dim light. Keith kept his eyes closed, but roamed his hands along Lance’s body as if committing it to memory. Lance frowned.
“Keith, open your eyes.”
“No,” Keith said. “I don’t want to wake up.”
“You’re not asleep, Keith.”
“This is a dream. You’re my mate.”
Lance stroked Keith’s cheek and leaned in to kiss each of his eyelids. Slowly, his lashes parted and those dark eyes met Lance’s. “It’s not a dream.”
“You’re my mate, Lance.”
“Yeah. Is it really that amazing? You gave birth, that’s pretty amazing,” Lance said. He regretted he hadn’t gotten to be there for that, but he came from a big family and he planned to give Keith that. He wanted to give Keith all the love in the world. He’d had little of it growing up.
“I love you, Lance,” Keith said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I could have saved you so much heartbreak.”
Lance shook his head. “I would have still gone. I loved them. I...I never got to tell them that, not in real words.”
Keith’s face fell. “I’m sorry.”
“No, no, it’s fine. I regret it, but I think it would have hurt more.”
Lance stared off at the far wall of the cavern with furrowed brows. It would have hurt so much more. The human word for love meant so many things. They loved him, but they weren’t in love with him. His love would have sounded the same to them. Yet, it was a regret and he didn’t want to regret that again. Lance touched Keith’s cheek and looked into his mate’s eyes.
“I love you Keith.”
The omega’s eyes lit up like the day’s glow across the sky. He gasped softly and curled in closer to Lance. A soft rumbling vibrated the water against Lance’s chest and he smiled knowing his omega was happy.
“When we wake up, I want to hold them, the guppies,” Lance said.
“Of course,” Keith agreed muttering into Lance’s chest.
“What are their names?”
Keith froze in Lance’s arms.
“Keith?”
The druid looked up with a guilty expression on his face. “I...uh…”
Lance frowned. “You didn’t name them, did you?”
Keith shook his head.
Lance sighed. Right, this was the person he chose as his mate, the bearer of his children. “Correction, when we wake up in the morning, I want to hold our guppies and then we’re giving them names.”