Purple wings, aqua springs [Descendants: Uma x Mal]

half in the shadows, half burned in flames.

"So, you've never been kayaking before this?"

"Gee, was it that obvious?"

Mal pulls a sarcastic face toward Uma, bringing up a strawberry to her lips. She holds eye contact with Uma, her eyes narrowing like a challenge, and takes a slow bite. The look in her eyes does something to Uma's stomach, and as much as she hates to lose, this one goes to Mal. She looks down at the sand, clearing her throat and willing her heart to please, just slow the fuck down, there are children around.

Uma looks up at the ocean's horizon, her hands feeling the hot sand beneath her. It was comforting being by the sea, for it was her safe place, the only place where everything else just seemed to go away. She was so stoked when it was the stingrays turn for the week of water sports and activities. Dizzy had been named stingray captain this year, and so when they'd stopped for lunch, the younger girl had organised the young campers into a neat huddle along the coast to eat, leaving Mal and Uma the freedom to be able to sit a little ways away from the kids. Dizzy had clearly thought they needed it, Mal may be super-hot in Uma's eyes, but she looked nothing short of ridiculous trying to teach kids to kayak, flailing around trying not to tip her own kayak. Uma had been surprised that Mal had even been able to swim after that night, but maybe this was asking too much. They didn't have lakes in big cities, after all.

It had been a few weeks since that night, and while Uma and Mal were nowhere near close to putting a label on what they were, there had definitely been a shift in their dynamic. They did things just the two of them, snuck out past hours, went back to the pool (many, many times). Uma swears that she catches Mal watching her sometimes, but as soon as she looks back at those purple eyes (which, to her amusement, she had found out were cheap contacts from the same store as Mal's hair dye), Mal just snapped her head away, almost as if it was an admission of weakness to keep eye contact when she wasn't in control. Uma had noticed a few quirks of Mal's like this, and it makes Uma wonder if she has her own shit, her own Audrey (if you wanted to put it like that). The thought that she'd shared such a private part of herself with the other girl while Mal had kept secrets of her own makes Uma squirm, but she knows better than to pry. Uma, out of everyone, knows what it's like for your dirty laundry to be aired out for everyone to see, without your permission. (She had Chad asshole Charming to thank for that.)

It was almost like Mal read her mind.

"How's Harry holding up?" she asks, her tone light, licking a drop of strawberry juice that was dripping down her wrist. Uma feels her throat dry up; she doesn't even know if Mal is trying at this point.

A counsellor from the sharks had been injured two weeks ago, which meant that Chad was on his own with the oldest group of kids, so Ursula had made the executive decision to put Harry with the Sharks, so that one of the lesser experienced counsellors could take up guppies with Gil. Uma had stayed clear of Harry that day, to say you could feel his rage from across the camp was an understatement.

            "It's safe to say he's not. He hasn't stopped going on about how annoying Chad is, or how infuriating he is, or how selfish, or how arrogant, or how-"

Mal cuts Uma off, laughing and touching her arm lightly. It makes Uma shiver. Harry had been stand-offish with Mal since they'd walked back in at the pool, and everyone had noticed. Mal had even already asked about it.

            "Did I like, do something to Harry? All of a sudden, it's like I killed his pet dog or something."

Uma had laughed and shook her head; they were sitting on the rock where they'd had their first conversation after they'd sent their campers to sleep. Uma looked down at Mal, into the weird shade of purple that seemed to change every couple of days and smiled.