Chapter Text
~~A month later~~
Kwangmin was exhausted. Jonghyun and Dongho were fed up. The three of them watched as Mingi slowly became something not of himself. Jonghyun covered for him at work when he zoned out but the other was heartbroken and depressed and they were sure at this rate even total strangers could tell with how he’d sigh heavily looking out at sea before continuing with his speeches for the tour. After two weeks, his lively speech took on a monotone drawl and Dongho ended up taking over for the land trapped mer. It even got to the point, Mingi no longer showed up when Jonghyun called him to come visit with Minhyun. Mingi telling him that he was trying to get over Aron and if he saw him again it would just be too difficult. Jonghyun signed and told Minhyun sorry. Aron had frowned and squeezed his friends shoulder hoping Mingi would come around to see his brother again soon. Even if he knew seeing Mingi would hurt him. He had come to accept his feelings and Minhyun repeatedly told him he was an idiot for not telling Mingi so that he would stay. Aron telling him flat out that Mingi had already made up his mind. Being confessed to would have made him feel bad.
Returning home from work, Mingi grabs some food from the fridge and warms it up as he gazes out the window towards the water. His dad shouting his name to get his attention from the water with a sigh. Mingi looking over surprised.
“What? Why are you yelling at me?!” Kwangmin comes over to him and takes the food from Mingi before grabbing his shoulders.
“Mingi… You’ve been a mess for the last few weeks. I’ll be okay here; your friends will check on me. Minhyun will even stop in, he’s done it a few times already. I keep finding him snooping in the fridge. Maybe you two should switch places.” Mingi looks at him in shock as he steps back and rubs his chin with a nod.
“You should offer it to him. Once he’s able to get away of course. He can move things along with Jonghyun and you’ll know I’m watched over.” Mingi shakes his head and looks panicked.
“Dad, I can’t leave you here. You already lost mom, what kind of son would I be if I left too?” Kwangmin laughs and hugs him tightly.
“You’d be a miserable one. Just go to him before I throw you in the water myself. Your room and everything will stay the same and wait for you if things don’t work out, but I feel that things will.” Mingi cries as he hugs his dad. Burying his face against his shoulder. His voice muffled as he asks if he’s really okay with him leaving. His dad nods and kisses his forehead pushing him to arms length.
“Mingi, your mom would have wanted you to go too. She would probably come back to haunt me if I kept you here.” Mingi laughs and wipes at his face with a nod.
“I can’t get over him.”
“You shouldn’t have to. Leave in the morning, call Dongho and Jonghyun to say bye for now. You should also probably call your job to quit too.” Mingi laughs and nods, texting his friends before grabbing the food he warmed and smiling at his dad.
“Thank you. Let’s just hope he feels the same.” Kwangmin laughs and pats Mingi’s shoulder as the halfling moves to the table to eat. Calling his work to quit, apologizing to his boss for how flakey he’s been lately and asking if he can give his final check to Jonghyun to bring over since he’ll be out of town for a while. His boss agrees and Mingi thanks him before hanging up. Finishing his food as his dad lets his friends in, he clings to them as he tells them he’s leaving again. The two of them sighing with relief.
“Finally! You’ve been miserable as hell for the last few weeks, Mingi!”
“Jonghyun said he was going to have Minhyun kidnap you.” Mingi looks at Jonghyun who’s glaring at Dongho before smiling innocently at Mingi.
“I didn’t think you’d come to your senses.” Kwangmin pipes up from the living room saying he didn’t. He had to push him to go. The two boys groaning out Mingi’s name in irritation. Mingi throws his arms up in frustration and apologizes for being dense. Dongho laughs and pats his shoulder saying he’s not dense.
“You were just thinking of the rest of us. Be selfish for once, Mingi. Please.” Mingi looks ready to cry again before nodding and hugging Dongho tightly and saying he’ll come back to visit. Jonghyun hugs him too and makes him promise to visit with Minhyun and Mingi agrees. His dad and him having agreed to keep it a surprise from Jonghyun about the possibility of Minhyun living here in a few months. As the night draws on, Mingi cleans up his room with the help of Dongho and Jonghyun who then climb into his bed exhausted. Mingi climbing over them to sleep.
“What do I do if he doesn’t want me to stay with him? Like he flat out rejects me?” He feels one of them squeeze his arm and he stares at the ceiling.
“He won’t do that. If he does, I’m sure even Minhyun would be pissed and go off on him for hurting his baby brother.” Dongho says softly, partially asleep as Mingi chuckles and shakes his head.
“I don’t know about that.” Jonghyun speaks up this time as Dongho begins to softly snore beside them. The two of them sighing.
“Just go there and see. Worse case, you return here and have to get over him. Best case, he kisses you stupid and you live with him in the ocean forever. It’s a risk you should take.” Mingi thanks him and despite his nerves, finds it easy to sleep as Jonghyun rhythmically pats his hand.
In the morning, Mingi says bye to everyone again and gives them all tight hugs while wearing a robe. Promising to visit as much as he can, having explained to them the risks of changing too often and too much. They all hug him tightly and wish him luck. Kwangmin kissing his forehead and telling him he’ll always have a home here if things go badly or he simply wants to come back. Mingi thanks him and turns back to the water, his friends covering their eyes as he goes to shrug off the robe to head in, pausing, he pulls it closed again and rushes to hug them all once more.
“I’ll miss you guys.” They all squeeze him and Jonghyun nudges him towards the water, the halfling shrugging off the robe this time and rushing into the water, diving under to change before coming up and waving. They all wave back and Mingi smiles before turning and diving down to head back to the temporary home he had. Swimming along the ocean floor and running his fingers through the seagrass before remembering what they told him about swimming fast. Pushing himself, he swims faster towards the kingdom, can he call it that anymore? Doesn’t matter to him really. He just hopes he can find Aron somewhere. Finally coming upon the city, he slows and begins to wonder if this was a bad idea or not. He stopped speaking to him. He didn’t even go say hello once. Aron probably hates him. He pushes on though, trying to remember exactly where the shop was that Aron said his family owned. Finding it, he notices that it’s closed and sulks. He guesses he could still be at the palace with Minhyun. Worrying at his lip he turns and heads that way when he hears his named called from behind him in an overly sleepy tone. Spinning, he sees Aron looking at him confused before he quickly lunges at the older mer, hugging him tightly and apologizing profusely. Aron letting the other continue to hug him before he pushes him away and rubs the sleepiness from his eyes. Mingi looking him over before laughing softly.
“I haven’t seen you half asleep before. Sleep is a good look on you.” Aron chuckles and motions for him to follow him. Heading away from the shop and to a normal home; heading inside, Aron goes into the kitchen, digging through the bag he had as Mingi looks around and asks if its his house or his families house.
“Mine. I got it when we were still planning things out after the arrest. I figured I should get a place near the shop.” Mingi hums and looks around more, peeking into one of the rooms he assumes is Aron’s bedroom before he hears his name called. Looking at him he raises both eyebrows in question.
“Yeah?”
“What are you doing here? You kind of made it clear you didn’t want to see us anymore” He asks as he hands Mingi some breakfast and settles on the couch, Mingi taking the breakfast and sitting with him. Hesitating a bit before staring at his breakfast and explaining.
“I wanted to see you guys, but I thought it would be too hard to move on if I had to see you every time.” Aron pauses in eating and looks at Mingi then.
“Wait, what?” Mingi worries his lip again before he speaks.
“I… didn’t want to leave. I wanted to stay and confess to you. I have doubts I read things wrong and you don’t like me and I’m just making a fool of myself, but I had to go home. I had to see my dad, make sure he was safe and okay. He’s the one that pushed me back. I was miserable.” Mingi laughs softly and rubs the back of his neck glancing at Aron who’s staring at him in disbelief, his eyes wide as he takes in what Mingi’s saying. “Apparently, I was sighing dramatically and zoning out looking at the water too often. Jonghyun and Dongho were about to have Minhyun kidnap me because they were so fed up with it.” Mingi looks at him after some time has passed and the other stays quiet.
“Aron? I… did I read things wrong?” Aron’s just sitting there watching him before he looks away and looks as though he doesn’t know what to tell Mingi. How to reject him. Mingi decides to do it for him, forcing a smile, he sets the breakfast down before he gets up off the couch. Trying to keep his voice from shaking as he speaks.
“Tha… Thank you for taking care of me so well when I was here. I appreciate it a lot. Can you tell Minhyun I said sorry too?” He nods once and moves to leave when Aron grabs his wrist. The halfling looking down at him confused when Aron pulls him into his lap and kisses him, cupping his face to keep him there. Mingi moving to sit in his lap easier, curling his tail towards him as he kisses back. Mingi pulls away and looks him over before smiling. Aron doing the same and resting their foreheads together.
“You’re really staying? Your life on the surface is okay with that?” Mingi nods and kisses him again. Knowing he won’t be able to get enough of being able to do that and smiles widely.
“Dad pushed me here remember. Said if he didn’t let me go, mom would come and haunt him. She probably would have come to haunt me too if I hadn’t been nudged here.” Aron laughs and Mingi's smile is interrupted with a yawn. Aron sets Mingi down on the couch beside him and hands him the rest of his breakfast.
“Eat some, then we can go to bed. I was just getting back when I saw you.” Mingi eats and looks at him confused.
“What were you doing?”
“Training some people at the palace. New bodyguards. They kind of suck; but they’re new. They’ll learn.” Mingi nods and motions for Aron to finish his breakfast as well. The two of them eating in silence for the most part, Mingi occasionally chatting about what he had been up to on the surface. When they’re done, they move to the kitchen to clean up and Mingi helps, pausing to kiss Aron again who chuckles and sets the knife he used down, taking Mingi’s hands in his to dance around with him. Mingi laughing as they spin around the kitchen.
“Thank you for coming back, Mingi.” Mingi smiles and pulls his hands away to wrap them around his shoulders, hugging him as they sway there in the currents. Aron wrapping his arms around Mingi’s waist as the younger speaks.
“If you’ll have me, I’ll stay.” Aron scoffs and pulls him closer, kissing him softly and tipping their foreheads together as he whispers.
“Always. And if I could, I'd have you in our next life too.”