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Before Kappa met Siren, he didn’t have a favorite color.
In fact, he hadn’t seemed to notice colors. He never noticed how sometimes you could spot patterns that looked like faces in the coral, because they came in so many different shades. He never noticed the rich hues that elegantly portrayed each culture and castle he visited, or how octopi released their camouflage and turned rosy pink whenever he was nearby.
For so long, his world had been colorless. Everything would slowly pass him by as he went from castle to castle, bending to every whim of those he came across. What’s the point, he remembered thinking. If I exist solely to serve others, should I waste time on wondering what my favorite color is? The more he longed to answer this question, the more that everything seemed to blend together. Reds muddled with green, and blues with oranges, until the ocean was nothing but dull grey.
Then, he met Siren. Siren, who was peacefully sleeping curled up beside him, was nearly entirely blue from head to tail fin. Looking at him now, he was sure there wasn’t a more perfect color to exist in the ocean. Despite first coming to know his boyfriend between prison bars, the days he had spent locked up in the Sharks' castle had changed his worldview. The color blue had come to mean safety. The color blue meant happiness. The color blue felt like home and family and freedom. Kappa never knew he wanted to live so badly until he was facing certain death at the sharp end of a spear.
Kappa inspected his boyfriend some more, smiling when Siren let out a little snore. He caressed his cheek, and brushed a blue lock of hair behind the boy’s pointed ear. The shark murmured something incoherent. Then, he examined his hands, absentmindedly running his own fingers over the ridge of his knuckles and admiring their soft blue color. At this, Siren roused from his sleep, blinking wearily before he caught sight of his boyfriend.
“Good morning, Kappa,” he said, voice rough.
“Mornin’ hot stuff,” he replied. Siren laughed, and Kappa took pleasure in the gleam it brought to his icy eyes.
“Siren, did you know blue’s my favorite color?” he asked, playfully twirling a finger in circles on the shark’s chest.
“Oh, r-really?” Siren stammered, his cheeks tinged pink. This might be his second favorite color. Kappa could feel the shark’s heart begin to pound beneath his fingertips. “I didn’t know.”
“Yes,” he teased. “Specifically this shade right here,” he continued, slowly dragging his hand down his boyfriend’s ribs.
Siren yelped, and a million little bubbles flew up between them. “Kappa! Don’t tease me! I only just woke up!” he exclaimed, blushing furiously.
Kappa exploded into a fit of giggles. Yes, blue was his favorite color. There was no doubt about it.