1000 Ships, 1000 oneshots, 1000 followers

*Jelp

If there was one thing Kelp knew for sure, it was that life liked to surprise him. He had always stumbled upon the most life changing moments by accident, and then spent the next few weeks tripping over himself for them. Hell, even the moment he met Joy had come as a surprise to him.

And so, speaking of Joy, when the two of them were sitting in History class, bored out of their minds, the world decided it was the perfect moment for Kelp to glance over at his girlfriend, and come to an Earth shattering realization that honestly he should've known about ages ago.

There was just something about her that hit him, and he couldn't really pinpoint it. Maybe it was the way she was tapping her talons against the desk, or the color of her scales, or how even though she was so bored she wanted to die she was still forcing herself to plaster on a fake expression of interest, for Webs's sake if no one else's. There were no windows in Webs's classroom, and yet sunshine had found its way to Joy.

And so a simple, three worded thought passed into Kelp's brain.

I love her.

And once he had comprehended his own thought, he choked, his heart leaping into his throat as he fell from his seat and onto the floor, every dragon in the room snapping their heads over to stare at him.

Kelp started coughing, his face going red although he wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment, love, or the lack of oxygen.  Joy raised her eyebrows at him, a silent question of if he was okay or if she needed to start performing some sort of CPR. Webs stopped talking and turned to glare at him.

"Are you alright, Kelp?" He asked. Kelp continued coughing, half wondering how to get his heart back to its proper location and have it slow down to a normal speed. He shook his head and pointed out the door, struggling to ask if he could leave the room. Webs waved him out, "Go get some water." and Kelp bolted from the room, tripping over his chair and his feet at least two more times by the time he got to the doorway. He could hear a few students laughing, and even Joy's quiet, restrained chuckle as he stumbled into the hallway.

He found an empty one and flung himself against the wall, slowly sliding down it with wide eyes until he was sitting on the ground. He'd stopped coughing and could breathe again, at least, but still. WHAT THE HELL.

Had he thought right? What was he thinking? Was he insane?

Yes, I don't know, and YES, his heart beat a reply. Kelp clutched at his head and stared at the floor.

He was in love with Joy.

He was IN LOVE with Joy.

He was in love with JOY.

He found it odd how the sentence seemed to change meaning depending on what word he focused on.

It seemed like such a simple thing, some statement that his whole body agreed upon, and he had no idea what the hell to do about it. He- He couldn't be in love with Joy. For about a thousand reasons, at least.

He ran through some of them, trying to convince himself that he was being ridiculous, he wasn't thinking straight, and he needed to snap out of it.

For starters, Joy was a Rainwing Nightwing Princess. Heir to the throne. He couldn't be with her. It was impossible.

Nobody seems to care who Queen Glory and Queen Thorn are with, his mind, heart, and soul replied.

Secondly, they were barely six. He was too young to be in love, and everyone knew that.

But Moon, Qibli, the Dragonets of Destiny, and dozens of other dragons have fallen in love and had lasting relationships by the time they were six, or even younger, everything said.