Chapter Text
By the end of the first month, Shen Qiao's daily life had already started to revolve around Yan Wushi; like a moth that was drawing circles around a lamp all night, helplessly, naturally.
He didn't think it was anything other than scientific wonder, and maybe a bit of the fact that he never truly felt like he belonged with this world as we know it. His roots being buried deep in another realm Yan Wushi was also a part of, his mother tongue only the merfolk shared with him, Shen Qiao felt like a traveler who stumbled upon his people in a far away corner of the Earth after a long, long time.
But not everyone agreed with him- judging by Bai Rong's constant teasing and Yu Ai's disgruntled comments, some people had started getting different ideas.
Shen Qiao didn't mind it that much, he knew his friends were reading into things again as they were a bit over insistent to keep sticking their noses into his private life.
Or complete lack thereof.
That Saturday too, like many Saturdays before it, after his return from visiting his house to make sure everything was in place, he stayed at his dorm room all evening. Typing, drinking tea, eating leftovers while going through his reports, more tea, and more typing. He had kindly rejected Yu Ai's offer for going out drinking earlier, so he was alone once again, with only his keyboard's satisfying click clack noises and his long forgotten mug keeping him company.
Thanks to his conversations with Yan Wushi he had written a paper approximately twenty pages long about the rogue mers, their behavior and the opinions of the merfolk community towards them. He was also overjoyed about finally being able to record his new words for the database, he hardly heard the turn of the key and the creak of the door until Yu Ai stumbled inside: his hair in complete disarray, his jacket hanging from one shoulder, and his cheeks wine red.
"A-Qiao? Are you still working this late?" He asked with a little hiccup in his voice, as his eyes took in the other man's state. Shen Qiao nodded as he sent a soft smile his way, his loose bun bobbing together with his head. Under the dim light of his tabletop lamp, Yu Ai could see the faint dark circles hiding behind a pair of thin-wired gold colored glasses.
"You look like you had fun," Shen Qiao commented, lightheartedly.
"And you look like you are gonna pass out," the other retorted while taking off his shoes. "Why didn't you go to bed?"
"I'm just trying to complete this article, Yan Wushi had a lot of things to share."
"You've been spending too much time with that merman," Yu Ai noted with clear disdain towards the other, "You need to have some time for yourself, you know that, right?"
"It's fine," Shen Qiao knew his friend was only worried about him, but he genuinely didn't mind. "Talking with him has been a great pastime for me too, he is really interesting."
And it was the full truth, Shen Qiao realized, this was not one of those occasions when he would tell white lies to appease his friends- and get them to stop nagging. There wasn't a single boring moment with the merman. Even though Shen Qiao could do without the constant teasing remarks and pranks, he couldn't refute the fact that he liked spending time with Yan Wushi. The older man was an exceptional conversationalist- his adventures kept Shen Qiao on edge every time, and his stories made him laugh. They clicked really well- even though they were fundamentally different, it was like the same fire was burning at their cores.
Shen Qiao had never gotten along this well with anyone else before.
"Right," Yu Ai murmured, as he pulled a piece of seaweed from Shen Qiao's hair. "This is the fifth time this week," he said, showing him the green strand.
Shen Qiao didn't even get surprised at the sight of it.
"Ah- I don't know why he does that," a defeated smile slipped out of him as he reached towards Yu Ai to take it from his hand. Finding seaweed in his hair was a normal occurrence for him now, he didn't even bat an eye when people pointed it out. For some reason, the merman just kept hiding them in his hair. "I wonder if it means anything."
"Aside from the fact that he is a fucking menace? I don't think so," Yu Ai answered, completely deflated- there was no point arguing with Shen Qiao about the mers. "Don't stay up too late," he cautioned his friend and went into his room to crash for the night.
Shen Qiao looked at the seaweed strand in his hand dazedly and sighed.
Yan Wushi probably thought he was annoying him with playful acts like this, as he seemed to like pressing Shen Qiao's buttons. The researcher had been randomly pulled into the tank by his ankles so many times last week, he had just accepted his fate by jumping in the water himself on Friday, to avoid further injuries.
Yan Wushi had also destroyed a brand new weiqi set, having been annoyed that Shen Qiao won every match while he was trying to teach him how to play. The researcher had scolded him telling him he could have gotten injured- and Yan Wushi threw the remaining pieces at the bottom of his tank. They couldn't be retrieved either, so there were now permanent black and white dots scattered in the sand.
Shen Qiao also had lost two arm wrestling challenges against him, although no one was surprised at this; they were surprised at why he would even accept at the first place- did he desire some time off with the excuse of a broken arm? Well, no, they just didn't know Shen Qiao was simply competitive. (He had regretted it a little bit when he made his injury act up, though.)
And of course, there were the mysterious seaweed pieces he kept finding in his hair.
Yan Wushi was really just a menace like Yu Ai said. As for why Shen Qiao was putting up with him, no one really could say, even though the actual reason was pretty simple and in their faces.
Despite everything, Shen Qiao was happy.
And it was the exact opposite of the result Yan Wushi wanted.
It wasn't that the researcher wasn't annoyed with him sometimes, (He gave him the most adorable pout when Yan Wushi broke the weiqi board in half, for instance) but after a whole month the demonic sovereign still hadn't gotten the reactions he expected. The beauty just kept smiling at him, trying to teach him different cultures of humans patiently, being genuinely very interested in Yan Wushi’s life, and tearing his walls down with his soft singing.
Being stuck in a tank wasn’t helping his case either, no matter how big and comfy it is, it considerably limited Yan Wushi’s options at his quest of being an annoyance.
So Yan Wushi had fallen back to his old school ways of teasing Shen Qiao, which was becoming more ineffective every passing day.
Like now, over the past 20 minutes he had slowly and sneakily wrapped his tail around the slimmer body of the other man to pull him closer, of course only to make him angry and nothing else- it wasn’t like he thought the rocks must be uncomfortable to lean on. But somehow the said man still hadn't even realized, too engrossed with the silent movie after being done with the more instructive videos of the day. Shen Qiao was sitting on the soft moss floor of the artificial cave, his knees pulled up to his chest and the digital tablet propped against his thighs, with his back leaning on to the upper part of the tail that wrapped around him like a nest.
For a normal person a cave would probably feel damp, uncomfortable and on the colder side. Maybe they wouldn't even be able to relax like this, but to Shen Qiao it was cozy, reminding him of the days of his early childhood spent with his mer father in their small cave they called home.
Yan Wushi was also getting relaxed despite his best efforts of reminding himself not to trust too deeply no matter how harmless the other party looked. But he couldn't help it, he was feeling comfortable with Shen Qiao around (and safe , if he could dare to admit), for the first time after a lifetime of guarding his back, sleeping with one eye open. His treacherous mind even went so far as realizing he wouldn't mind spending his evenings like this from now on; drifting in and out of sleep with Shen Qiao snuggled close to him, warm and secure, the soft lull of waves hitting the beach playing in the background.
Yan Wushi was only pretending to watch the screen with a barely feigned interest from over the other man's shoulder, the movie wasn't interesting but it provided a good excuse for him to take in the other's reactions to it: his eyebrows rising with confusion, his mouth opening slightly in surprise, his lips curving into the sweetest smiles and rarely, giggles. Yan Wushi oddly didn’t feel the need to tease him at first, settling on just watching the other man and playing with a lock of his hair instead. But when the main male lead started combing through his wife's long hair affectionately, Yan Wushi suddenly remembered he had one more opportunity to annoy Shen Qiao, so he reached out and paused the video.
"A-Qiao, this reminds me. I need some supplies."
Shen Qiao turned his head upwards to the taller man's face with a curious and very cute expression.
"What kind of supplies?" He asked suspiciously, pursing his lips- like he was expecting the worst. "You already have a care package for your needs."
Every mer who came to their facility got a small welcome package like the ones people get at a hotel, so the other man should have had everything he might need. But of course no one had stayed for this long before, so Shen Qiao could see the possibility of Yan Wushi needing something else.
“The miserable and incredibly cheap comb your institute gave me is already broken, and those tiny pins don’t hold my hair. I need new ones.”
Shen Qiao was pleasantly surprised that Yan Wushi didn't demand some ridiculous thing- it was a legitimate need, so he accepted easily. “That's fine. I have a day off this week, I can go shopping."
Yan Wushi nodded wisely. But of course he wasn’t done, and the ridiculous demand Shen Qiao expected followed shortly after.
"This venerable one also needs jewelry," Yan Wushi added, turning a small rock between his fingers like a fed up girlfriend who was subtly hinting the lack of a ring to a partner. "Using the right jewelry is an important sign of status to us mers."
Shen Qiao held himself back from rolling his eyes to the back of his head. So you are royalty now? he refrained from asking.
“You don’t even let anyone visit you, why do you care so much?” He reprimanded the merman, finally noticing the tail that was wrapped around him so comfortably as he tried to make a full body turn towards the other. He was basically using the merman as a pillow to lean on the whole time and it didn't even bother him. Why would it bother him when he was so comfortable! Frustrated with both himself and the other man, he tapped the thicker part of the tail so Yan Wushi would get the memo and release him, but he was wrapped even more snugly instead. Then he got a shit eating grin in response to his question that made him quickly realize he had made a mistake by asking.
“I want to look my best for my A-Qiao, obviously,” the merman sang low with a purr, and Shen Qiao had to remind himself that the things Yan Wushi told him were only mindless teasing as his heart rebelliously skipped a beat.
"You weren’t wearing any jewelry when you came here,” he pointed out, pushing the heavy tail away more firmly with both of his hands. It didn't budge, but this time Yan Wushi yielded, letting it lie down flat next to Shen Qiao. "The institute can't provide you with something so luxurious for no reason at all."
“Why so cruel, A-Qiao, this venerable one has a reason," Yan Wushi pouted and caressed Shen Qiao's cheek with the tip of his tail fin, delighting in the way his fair skin turned rosy under the fluttering touch. "Don't you have any pity towards a defenseless merman who was robbed of everything by your kind?”
“What do you mean?” Shen Qiao asked, furrowing his brows, knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer he was going to hear.
“When I came to myself, I didn’t have any of the jewelry, the gold or silver I had on me before the fight. Maybe it was the fishermen, maybe your doctor friends stole my things, how is this one supposed to know? I was unconscious.”
“No one in this institute would commit such a crime,” Shen Qiao countered heatedly. “They are all here to help us mend the relationship between humans and the merfolk.”
“But you have no proof,” Yan Wushi tilted the researcher’s head up, looking into his eyes with a searing stare and stroking his plush lower lip gently, just to rile him up further. “Do you?”
“This one promises you, it wouldn’t happen, not in a million years.” Shen Qiao challenged back with burning eyes and freed his chin from the other man’s hand- the rare fiery attitude pleasing Yan Wushi immensely.
“I can’t say anything about the fishermen that found you though. I can’t vouch for the trustiness of every single person on Earth.”
It was the first Shen Qiao had heard of this situation. If he knew earlier, he would have called an investigation towards the fishermen, but it was nearly impossible to find out anything after a month. Not because Shen Qiao was angry at those people, he understood they probably needed the money, but it didn't mean they could just take other people's things.
He mostly felt worried if he came off as unsympathetic towards the merman. After getting abandoned by his own kind, people also had taken advantage of his vulnerable situation. Shen Qiao always felt like he wanted to make the wrongdoings of others against merfolk right, so he tried to think of a solution.
“There is nothing we can do about it now, but I will try my best to reimburse you for your things personally,” Shen Qiao settled on promising as resolutely as he could, and gave the merman a reassuring smile.
“A-Qiao, ah, A-Qiao, whatever will I do-” Yan Wushi suddenly lifted him up from his waist and squeezed him in a bone crushing hug, causing the smaller man to let out a tiny squeak against him. “My A-Qiao is so kind, so good to me,” he murmured the melody in his ear, as he watched a maddening blush paint the beauty’s gentle features to a pretty red.
Shen Qiao, on the other hand, could just weakly lift his arms around Yan Wushi in his attempt to hug back and feel his lips squished on Yan Wushi’s huge chest, a foreign sensation taking root inside him.
***
On his first day off, taking Bai Rong with him, Shen Qiao went to the nearest mall to buy some things for the merman- both out of necessity and out of goodness of his heart.
But not everything went according to the plan, of course.
Shen Qiao stood awkwardly inside the ridiculously well lit store, diamonds and golds and other gemstones blinking at him from every corner, causing him to feel like he stood out like a sore thumb in his “nerd clothes”, as Bai Rong kindly informed him.
“What a gorgeous couple you two are!” The store clerk who noticed them commented, after enthusiastically welcoming them. “What brings you in today? Oh, I have just the right collection for the lovely lady, it’s brand new, the delicate peonies in rose gold looks-” He continued to talk and frantically opened some drawers without even waiting for a response.
“Oh thank you,” Bai Rong cut the man’s tirade off with a firm but sickly sweet tone. “It’s not for me, I’m just here to help him choose something for his beloved.”
Shen Qiao choked on his own spit.
“Is that so,” the shop owner didn’t even blink, smiling and asking again as if his lines were memorized. “So what were you looking for?”
“It’s for a friend,” Shen Qiao corrected Bai Rong even though the clerk looked like he couldn’t care less, and then continued, a bit unsure of what to say. “I was looking for something… for a man, actually? Maybe… Maybe a necklace?”
“I have just the thing for you- we have a new unisex collection you will love! If you please wait a minute,” The man cheerfully answered and disappeared through the back door, leaving them with nothing to do other than watch other clerks work.
The man came back with small trays of necklaces laying on silk, seemingly with infinite choices. At the end they settled on one of the layered white gold sets that had an intricate design of moon phases. The store clerk convinced him to buy two pairs of earrings too, and a delicate gold hair piece somehow- Shen Qiao being too meek to refuse and Bai Rong not helping his case at all with “ooh” ing at everything he had shown them.
Shen Qiao left the store with four small boxes, and a huge blow to his personal credit card, as he could not spend the institute’s money for something like this. He tried to convince himself that his father wouldn’t mind it if he was alive- it was for the greater good of a mer and something like this wouldn’t even make a dent at the large sum of inheritance he left him.
“Okay Shen-laoshi, what is the next stop? What did your sugar-mer-baby demand other than jewelry?” Bai Rong skipped alongside him, slurping a milkshake Shen Qiao bought her and looking like she was having the time of her life while making him suffer.
“Bai Rong, please- What does that even mean?” Shen Qiao turned to her, exasperated, but when she looked too smug as she opened her mouth to answer he decided he didn’t want to hear it anymore.
“You know what- I don’t want to know. Let’s just find the next store.”
Shen Qiao usually ordered everything online, but knowing how fussy Yan Wushi is, he wanted to choose the things himself this time to make sure the merman didn’t throw a fit or worse- throw bobby pins at people. After some walking around, they found the store and went in, browsing through the items, taking their time.
Also having unusually long hair, thankfully he knew a thing or two about basic hair care; and it made shopping in this section easy unlike the jewelry store. He had found a nice, soft brush; some hair ties, and bigger hair pins. Now that he knew the merman paid special attention to his hair, he got a bottle of hair oil and leave-in conditioner too, just as a gift. Yes he wanted to cheer him up a little bit after he learned how he was robbed, sue him.
"Do you think he would like glitter eyeshadow? I have a feeling he would like glitter eyeshadow," Bai Rong announced next to him, turning a pretty lilac container in her hands. "It's waterproof."
"I am already spending too much on him, let's just get the essentials," Shen Qiao quickly dismissed the idea as he was trying to choose a sturdy looking comb. He added a mermaid themed hairpin to his purchase too, with Bai Rong's insistence , meaning she begged him until his ears fell off. Shen Qiao made a beeline towards the cashier to pay after that- failing to catch the eyeshadow palette that was added to their small pile at the last second by a certain mischievous young woman.
***
Yan Wushi was bored out of his mind without a pretty researcher to play with.
He knew it was Shen Qiao’s day off, and he knew how hard the man worked so he definitely deserved to rest, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t sulk and drape himself dramatically on the rocks upside down until he showed up.
There was nothing to do in the enclosure. Okay, there was, he could watch one of those silent human movies, play games against himself, chase the fish around, clean his scales, call Shen Qiao with the emergency device and tell him he was about to die from boredom.
But still. Even though there were a lot of enrichment elements built in and the tank was huge even for him, it didn’t change the fact that the merman was like a tiger trapped in a cage.
Oddly enough, despite everything, he didn’t want to leave yet. Even though all his wounds were healed to the point he was even healthier than before. It wasn’t because he didn’t miss his own life, his freedom, and the sea, but he knew he would miss bullying the younger man more. The ocean was vast, but there was only one Shen Qiao. No one was as entertaining as him, Yan Wushi had decided already.
And it wasn’t like there was anyone who would notice his absence back there, either. If anything, everyone was probably glad that the menace finally met his end and disappeared from their lives.
There was no reason for him to go back, no one waiting for him, no one missing him.
But he somehow knew Shen Qiao would.
Also, whether it was hard to admit or not, he knew he would miss Shen Qiao too- even when the thought of it made him want to puke. The fact that if he left he would never see Shen Qiao ever again bothered him; a neglected, hidden deep inside part of him aching with just the thought of it. He knew he wasn’t ready to leave and go on with his life like nothing happened, somehow he thought it would be impossible to act like he had never met the younger man now that he was integrated so deeply into his life.
He wasn’t too worried though, because the researcher also didn’t look like he wanted him gone either, at least not anytime soon, and he told him he was free to stay here until he felt safe enough to go back.
This was why he was surprised when a bunch of men showed up at the door of his enclosure that day around the evening, after the day shift had already ended.
Yan Wushi left his cave to check on the noises, surprised to see anyone would dare to visit him other than Shen Qiao- and at such a strange hour to boot. This can’t be anything good, his instincts told him as he jumped on the rocks to see better.
He recognized one of them as that slimy doctor Yu Ai, but didn’t know the others- they weren’t from the institute staff he had met. They were all serious looking, discussing heatedly among themselves. It looked like they were talking about him- but of course Yan Wushi wouldn’t understand them, nor could he tell them off. So he did his best at trying to warn them not to get close to him by growling and hissing- not because he cared if they got themselves killed by him, but because he knew Shen Qiao would be upset if he harmed humans.
The group of men didn’t step inside the room further, and they left as unprompted as they had come. One of them, the one who had a severely unpleasant aura to him, gave Yan Wushi a sickening smirk before he left- and it felt vaguely familiar.
*