Salty Skin ☾cake au

10

Calum awkwardly bit his nails and closely examined Luke's reactions as they sat side by side with the laptop in front of them. Luke tilted his head and furrowed his brows, watching the laptop screen intently as it displayed a random x-rated video that Calum picked.

"Isn't that hurting him?" Luke asked, never taking his eyes off of the film.

Calum's cheeks were passed flushed pink. His whole face had been a fiery red since the video started playing. "Uh, no. I mean, I don't think so."

"Then why is he screaming?"

"Because it feels good, I guess?" Calum wanted to bury himself in the ground, he was so embarrassed.

"Are they boyfriends?"

"Probably not," Calum said truthfully. "I think that's enough for today." The dark haired boy laughed nervously and closed the laptop screen before looking at Luke. "Can I take you somewhere?"

"Where?" Luke smiled.

"It's a surprise. I think you'll like it, though."

•••

The widest smile Calum had ever seen spread across Luke's face when the younger lad caught site of the giant swimming pool. It probably took around half a second before Luke dunked himself under the water, not even bothering to take his clothes off first. Calum laughed and sat on one of the benches, watching Luke intently.

The pool was an indoor pool that belonged to a gym where a janitor who Calum had unexpectedly befriended one day when the old man found Calum crying on one of the front steps worked. Since then, the kind man allowed Calum access to the giant, expensive gym after hours and because of it, the pool room was pretty dim, being lit up by only a single emergency light on the very tall ceiling.

In a blur, long, slim legs were exchanged for a slimy floppy tail in a blue that matched Luke's eyes as the younger boy peeled his wet shirt off his body and threw it out of the pool. The gym had a washer and dryer so it wasn't really a problem that Luke's clothes were dripping wet.

The blonde swam back and forth along the floor of the pool and even from his spot on the bench, Calum could see the boy's smile.

A mess of wet, blonde hair popped up from the surface of the water and Luke's eyes were blue, but not his usual baby blue with streaks of silver and faint yellow. They were one solid color of blue and it took up everything from his irises to his pupils and they were nearly glowing. They were the eyes of, well, a fish. A deep sea fish for that matter since the bottom of the pool was relatively dark.

"Having fun?" Calum asked with a smile.

Luke only nodded as he swam closer to the edge of the pool. His smile faltered and Calum held a confused look on his face as he moved to sit at the edge of the pool. The position reminded both of them of when they first met.

"What's wrong, baby?" Calum asked sincerely. It almost physically hurt him to see Luke unhappy.

"I have to go home, Cal."

"Okay. I'll just get your clothes and we can leave."

"No," Luke shook his head, a frown forming. "I mean home. My home."

Calum's eyes began to sting as he looked at Luke in confusion, "Wh- why? You don't want to stay with me anymore?"

"No! No, no, no, It's not that," Luke sighed. "I'm getting weaker... sicker, It's not healthy for me to be here much longer. I've been warned about this before. I could die, Calum."

"Why haven't you told me that?!"

"I didn't want you to worry..."

"Well I'm fucking worried!" Calum dug his face in his hands and cried hard. He felt so selfish, partially for complaining in the first place that Luke couldn't live with him on land and partially because he felt like such a baby for crying in front of Luke when the blonde had so many more serious problems.