Archive of Our Own

your perfection is like a dream

i’m afraid you’ll disappear

there are waves in your brown eyes

i’m falling into them

ღ

 “For the love of god, Chenle, no I won’t ask Renjun if he prefers the red over the blue ribbon! Can’t I just pick my seashells in peace?” Sicheng groaned over the phone, currently bent over picking up a yellow, shiny clamshell from the blazing sand.

 “But Sicheng,” The younger boy whined over the phone loudly, Sicheng scrunched his nose and pulled the phone from his ear avoiding his cousin’s high-pitched whining, “I don’t wanna give my boyfriend a fedora with the wrong colored ribbon!”

 “Well boohoo, you can ask him yourself. Or buy both, I don’t care. I’m busy adding to my collection. Now goodbye.” Sicheng said, promptly pressing the ‘end’ button on his phone before shoving it down his back pocket. He sighed, pushing back his chestnut locks and wiping his sweaty forehead from the blistering heat called the sun. 

 Currently, Sicheng was visiting his grandparent’s beach house along the shores of Putuo Island in China for a small getaway from his overbearing studies back in Seoul for the summer. His friends begged to come along but the Chinese man barked at them that he was trying to get a break from them and his studies. They just cooed at him in response and he promptly flipped them off.

 He developed a liking for the various mollusk scattered around the shore since he was younger, sometimes the shells ranging from iridescent black to completely blinding white seashells. He’d used to do it before when he was younger, visiting his grandparent’s beach house before he left to study abroad. His grandparents suggested, before going off to their own vacation, that he should collect shells again and make jewelry or decorations out of them. 

 Sicheng opted for decorations to take back home and place around the house to make it look more homey. Maybe even give some to his buddy Ten. He took a deep breath, standing under the sun with his sunhat covering most of his sunscreen-ridden face, basking in the summer sea breeze. He preferred the summer season where he was able to just sit back, relax and do minuscule things like slurping on ice cream and picking up seashells. Or taking long naps on the sand, listening to the caws of seagulls and the ocean’s waves splashing against the shore. 

 He continued his journey of picking up even the tiniest bits of shells, broken or not, into his bucket, taking whatever the sea washed up for him. Ignoring the itchy, superstitious feeling in his spine that something big was about to happen. 

 But he laughed it off to himself, grabbing a lavender conch then gently placing it back on the ground when he realized a hermit was trying to shake itself out of his grip inside the shell. He just pushed his sunhat further into his burning scalp and went along to take a nice, refreshing nap under the rainbow umbrella digging into the sand beneath him. 

 Sicheng had said he would take anything the shore would wash up, but he hadn’t really meant it now that he thought about it. Because what the ocean would hand over to him was a bit more than just the pretty conch with a red crab hidden inside trying to support it’s 50,000 zoea. 

 He was having a nice nap, really, to the point that the towel had left little indents on his cheek when he fallen asleep on his stomach. It was a good nap, he dreamt about ice cream and the pretty boy that lived next to his grandparent’s house that works at the smoothie shop nearby named Kun. He even married Kun in this dream. It almost felt real up until he woke up feeling something wet on his lips.

 His eyes were still closed when he had felt said wetness. He was almost afraid to open them and find out some eel had landed on the beach and stuck to his lips. It turned out, he was dead wrong. And he screamed, of course, because who wouldn’t scream over some stranger locking lips with yours. He’d rather the eel electrocute him than this.

 That wasn’t even the worst part, actually. No, no, no. The said creep had screamed back, but his was a thousand times more ear piercing and annoying than Sicheng’s own cousin’s was. And oh, he had a tail. A glimmering, scaly, long, golden tail connecting to his very well defined abdomen. Not that Sicheng was looking. He wasn’t a creep like this water breather.

 So here Sicheng was, still screaming, and repeatedly hitting said half-man-half-fish with his Princess Peach themed towel and getting sand inside his tattered sneakers as he kicked his legs back, trying to get away from the thing in front of him. 

 “Wait, wait– Holy shit!” The thing, maybe more of some kind of mermaid—merman— exclaimed, putting his hands up in defense as Sicheng kept whipping his towel at him. The boy stopped momentarily, huffing, catching his breath then proceeding to try and whip him again but the merman grabbed the towel before he could.

 “Give me my towel back! It was expensive!” Sicheng hissed, putting his foot up and threateningly tried to kick the pretty merman’s face. The merman grabbed his foot, sliding the human down under him and Sicheng swore he could feel mounds of sand card through his hair. He glared up at the merman, scrunching his nose up in annoyance, “The sand is going to be a bitch to clean out of my hair you know. I don’t even care that you’re some kind of creature that isn’t even supposed to exist. I’ll turn you into fish sticks myself if you don’t get your meaty claws off me you fucking dolphin breath–“

 “Woah, how can someone who looks like a seal pup have such colorful language? Is that any way to thank your savior?” The merman huffed, mimicking Sicheng’s expression, his long nose scrunching back at him. The boy mentally cursed, feeling his cheeks turn red because holy shit why is this fish guy kinda cute. 

 Now being honest, no one would be prettier than his neighbor Kun, an absolute angel, but this merman was kind of smoking hot in Sicheng’s opinion. He had wet sandy blond hair with aqua highlights hanging over his almond eyes as he looked down at Sicheng’s flustered face— now that Sicheng thought about it, he was kind of wet too. What was he doing checking out the mermaid?

 “Why am I wet?” He deadpanned, pushing the merman’s face away from him, not being able to hold eye contact for more than a few seconds in the span of one minute of meeting this guy. Damn mermaids really were beautiful. 

 “You aren’t even going to ask why I have a tail? Not gonna run away screaming around the island that there’s a merman in the ocean? Because if so, I have to sort of kill you.” 

 “Were my assumptions wrong? Are you a siren? You haven’t answered my question yet fish brain.”

 “Nope, I’m a mermaid. You were pulled into the shore by the waves while you were taking your precious nap,” The mermaid pointed out, “You could have almost drowned if it weren’t for me noticing the waves almost swallowing you whole while I sunbathed on the rocks. Your snoring woke me up from my beauty sleep.”

 “I should have bitten you when you had your dolphin breath on me.” Sicheng spat, his cheeks turning red before he looked away nonchalantly, “Thank you for saving me. Now leave before I tell the government and wipe out your whole existence. Shoo. I’ll forget about you merman.”

 “I expected you to be freaking out a bit more.” The merman hummed, grinning before sticking his hand out, “I’m Yuta. My pod came originally from the Yamato Basin near Japan. What about you, cutie?”

 “Hi Yuta, I’m Sicheng, I’m going to pass out now and hope that I’m dreaming. You think you can handle me passed out one more time? Refrain from kissing me again unless you want to be shark bait, thanks.”

 Before the merman could even answer, Sicheng did indeed pass out, hoping he was having some kind of lucid dream and that there was actually no merman that had come to rescue him. 

✿

 The last thing Sicheng could remember was having a fever dream about a mermaid coming to save him from almost drowning in the middle of his nap inside his nap. Glitter, small gems and mini pink sea-stars clinging to the merman’s cheeks is all Sicheng could remember of the dreamy mythical creature’s face. 

 It dawned on Sicheng that maybe he watched too much of the Barbie mermaid movies with Ten back in Seoul. Or maybe watching Aquamarine on repeat on his own could also be an option. Perhaps it caused him to dream about cute mermaid boys to remind him that he was forever single and he couldn’t even manage to keep a fish as a boyfriend in his dreams. 

 He woke up inside of his living room, yawning and stretching after his well-deserved nap. He looked around, squinting, trying to remember if he had actually gone out shell hunting or slept in. It was only 7pm, the green bucket he held to search for shells was filled to the brim. He only remembered it being half full. That was odd. Sicheng shrugged, shimmying out of his uncomfortable clothing and into his pajamas for the night, consisting of his oversized yellow sweater and joggers. 

 He stopped in his tracks, noticing a hot pink post-it note on the island of his kitchen counter. Furrowing his eyebrows, he read the note.

 ‘Sichengie hello ~~ ^___^ ♡ I hope you don’t mind I carried you home, I found you covered in sand sleeping on the beach and couldn’t just leave you there kukuku ;__; Please clean up once you’ve waken up!!!!!! You’re really coated in sand @.@ !! Come visit the smoothie shop sometime while I’m on my shift!!! I’ll give you a discount!!!! Bye bye !!! — Kun Ge ^o^’ 

 Sicheng sighed dreamily, clutching the note against his chest. He recalled that he might have also dreamed within his dream about marrying Kun, as he had a teensy weensy crush on him. It was cliche honestly, Kun is his childhood best friend he’d look up to and played with whenever he’d come visit his grandparent’s beach house. Sicheng’s feelings were more of a one-sided thing so he never took his crush on Kun seriously, rather admiring his friend than having more of a crush on him. Though he wouldn’t mind having Kun as a husband. 

 He stopped. Opening his eyes, blinking in confusion for a split second. He looked at the note, then at his discarded clothes, then ran his hands along his hair as a few grains of sand fell out. He groaned, running over to his clothes and feeling them. They were dry, but not the good kind of dry, the texture almost like cardboard the from the wetness stuck to his skin earlier. He sniffed it, it smelled too much like sea water. 

 All of the memories came flooding back to him. The pretty mermaid that saved him and the pretty smile he had slapped across on his damn face with his Peach towel. Which was gone mind you. He realized that the whole meeting a merman inside his dream wasn’t a figment of his imagination and that there were literal pods of mermaids living in the ocean right in front of him. 

 “Oh that fish brain took my towel,” Sicheng cursed, realizing that he would have to wait to see the mermaid again just to retrieved his towel again. He’d have to sit and scout for the damn fish in the sun without napping out of habit if he wanted his $30 towel back. But first, he needed to shower and wash out the sand between his hair and change clothes yet again. 

✿

 “Did you like the present I gave you Sichengie?” The teasing voice of the merman from Sicheng’s dreams sang from the rocks above, waving his hand around to get said human’s attention. Sicheng whipped his head back in shock, his eyes wide when he saw the familiar golden tail flipping back and forth against the giant rock on the shore leading to the water. The merman had his Peach towel wrapped around his neck and he wore sunglasses. And they were also Sicheng’s red heart-shaped ones. He clenched his teeth. 

 “I hope you get fried into fish sticks up there so I can feed you to my neighbor’s cat.” Sicheng growled, “And what present? You just gave me less work and added more shells into my bucket.” 

 The merman grinned, turning onto his side and pushing down the sunglasses to the tip of his nose to look down at Sicheng properly, 

 “I’m hurt yet again, seal pup,” Yuta pouted, the human could see the glitter on the merman’s cheeks glint in the sunlight, “You should have looked at the shells properly! I gave you special shells humans can’t find!”

 Sicheng grunted, crossing his arms and tapping his sandals against the sand impatiently,

 “Whatever, dolphin breath, just give me back my towel and sunglasses then I’ll leave you alone.” 

 “I rather like your company, small human, but you might wanna come catch it if you truly want it!” Yuta sang, rolling over to the other side of the the rock and Sicheng could only groan in frustration. Sicheng was really dumb, like, really, as he ignored his conscious warnings and started climbing onto the rock towards the giggling merman. He knew it was a stupid idea to approach the merman again, as he didn’t know his true intentions but he was desperate for his towel. 

 He made it on top of the rock, breathless from all that climbing as he almost slipped twice. He flopped down onto his back, his hand lazily trying to reach for the grinning merman. Sicheng’s eyes trailed over to the rock’s edges, he could clearly see his footprints and the whole beach from up here. It was no wonder Yuta liked to fry himself to death up here and nap. No one would bother him nor find him as Sicheng didn’t even notice the merman until he willingly appeared for Sicheng to see him. 

 “How the hell can you stay out here without water?” Sicheng questioned, sitting up as far away as possible from the merman. The latter flipped onto his stomach, his hands resting on either sides of his cheeks as he smiled up sweetly at the curious boy.

 Sicheng noticed that the glitter on the merman’s cheeks were golden today rather than pink when he’d first seen him, the mini starfish were purple and the gems were silver. Pretty. Sicheng shivered at his own thoughts. 

 “Oh I can’t. I only have an hour until I start to choke to death. The crabs are the ones that carry me back and forth. I like the view up here and napping in the water is kind of annoying, you know? What if I float up and some cute fisherman catches me while I’m closing my eyes for a second? Won’t you be jealous?”

 “This is a private area. Just give me my stuff back, dolphin breath.” Sicheng deadpanned, reaching over to snatch the sunglasses from the merman’s face. 

 “Come and get it.”

The smile never left Yuta’s face as his deep brown eyes folded into crescents, tilting his head. Sicheng squinted, copying Yuta’s actions in confusion and he swore he felt his head get clouded as he crawled closer towards the merman, unaware of his actions.

 He heard sudden humming filling his ears when his face was only a few inches away from Yuta’s own and the human blinked rapidly, realizing what was going on. 

 “Are you trying to seduce me?” Sicheng screeched, pulling back when he was already nose to nose with the smirking boy across from him. He just laughed, tossing his head back in the most annoyingly perfect way and Sicheng swore he was going to sell this mermaid’s tail for millions if he didn’t stop messing with him. 

 The only person that ever messed this much with him were his friends back home and the reactions they’d get from Sicheng were not pretty. The boy had a really short temper and it caused him to be very easily annoyed with whomever was the root of his stress. Now, he had an annoyingly handsome merman to deal with every time he’d come outside. 

 “Of course not! I just wanted another kiss was all.” Yuta cackled, puckering his lips and trying to flop over to where Sicheng was. The boy groaned in annoyance, grabbing his towel off of Yuta’s shoulders and wrapping it around his own, 

 “I’m leaving now. I got what I wanted. Now excuse me as I ignore your existence once again, thank you.”

 Once Sicheng returned to the beach house, though flustered and annoyed by the merman flirting with him, he went straight to the bucket filled with seashells. He wasn’t sure if Yuta was lying or not about putting special shells with Sicheng’s rather bland ones. He’d love collecting the shells off the shoreline but most of them were the same save for the iridescent ones. 

 He took a sharp breath when he realized, indeed, there were much more colorful shells placed atop the blander pile in the bucket. Some were practically shining in the dim light of Sicheng’s kitchen. A few were plain white shells that were sleek and glimmered along with a few more iridescent ones that were rather colorful. A few literal rainbow shells from sea snails or clams in the mix. Usually Sicheng collected black, brown, white, or pinkish shells along the beach. But Yuta had left him plenty of colorful mollusk that he couldn’t decipher what creatures it’d came from. 

 Sicheng ran his fingers along the smooth objects, his eyes not believing the beautiful things in front of him are even real and not toys from a Barbie movie that Ten owned. He noticed a string curled up along the side of the bucket. 

 “What’s this..?” He muttered to himself, pulling on the string only to see a small, pink clam shell with orange and purple hues on the tips and edge hanging off of it, pulled into a necklace. It had both of it’s equal shells still in tact but it was separated enough to open like a box. Sicheng carefully opened up the clam, not expecting to see anything until a shiny white pearl fell out, dropping onto the floor, a tiny ‘clack’ following suit. 

 The boy quickly picked up the pearl and gingerly placed it back inside the clam, shutting it tight with a small smile playing on his lips. The merman had gifted him a necklace. Maybe out of guilt from kissing Sicheng without permission or out of gratitude for the boy not ratting out his existence to the fishermen. Either way, Sicheng felt almost grateful to the merman for such an exquisite gift. No one had gifted him such a thing before and this seemed so precious laying against his collarbones. 

 He sighed to himself, maybe he shouldn’t have been so mean to the merman. He seemed to have good intentions from what Sicheng could tell, but Sicheng was a very doubtful person and he still wasn’t confident in a creature he barely knows anything about. And be doubted Yuta would come back after today, Sicheng had gotten what he wanted anyway. 

 He slept with a heavy heart and an oncoming headache thinking about the merman’s pretty smile and his generosity. 

✿

 “Sicheng! You finally came to visit!” Kun greeted the half-asleep Sicheng walking through the double doors of ‘Qian’s Smoothies’, the bell atop the doors jingling when he stepped foot in the cool shop. Sicheng waved with a shy smile adoring his lips as he came up to the counter, 

 “Of course, Kun Ge, I wouldn’t pass up an opportunity for a discount on your strawberry kiwi smoothies.” 

 The elder returned the smile brightly, almost blinding Sicheng’s tired eyes. It was too early to see such a bright smile, but he’d get through it for his Kun Ge. 

 Sicheng was about to order his usual, fishing his money out from his pockets as he was about to speak until—

 “Sichengie~” An oh so familiar teasing of the wretched merman called, the door jingling once more to signal a customer’s arrival. Sicheng froze up in his spot, midway from giving Kun his money. He quickly turned around only to face Yuta, his eyes glimmering with mischief when he caught Sicheng’s eye. Yuta wore a tank top with tight, black skinny jeans hugging his legs, along with a matching shell necklace like Sicheng had around his neck. His aqua highlights were gone. 

 Sicheng rubbed his eyes.

 “Oh! Is this one of your friends, Sichengie?” Kun asked innocently, smiling up at the tall merman with legs, legs, coming up behind Sicheng to wrap his arms around the boy’s neck. Sicheng was about to yell, ‘hell no’ until Yuta answered for him,

 “Yes Sichengie and I are very good friends!” He purred, his cheek against Sicheng’s own and the boy refrained from stomping on his newfound toes. Yuta was almost glaring at Kun from what Sicheng could see. He’d have to question the merman later as to why he suddenly had legs now and why he’s acting like they hadn’t only held a few one-sided hostile conversations acting as if they’re friends now. But not in front of his dear Kun Ge, who just looked at the pair with an amused expression. 

 “Ah, I get it,” Kun mused as if he had gotten the answer to a million dollar question nobody asked, pointing at the two, “You didn’t tell me you had a boyfriend, Sicheng! Nice to meet you! I’m Kun, please take care of my Sichengie for me! Just a few days ago he..”

 “What, no—!” 

 And there was Kun’s rambling, ignoring Sicheng’s protesting. The boy warily looked between the merman listening intensely to Kun, who he had seemed to already eliminate as a rival by the naïve elder naming Yuta Sicheng’s boyfriend. Sicheng felt his head pound in annoyance. The boy simply slammed the money down in front of Kun, making the latter halt his rambling, remembering he had a job to do and quickly placed the money inside the register with an apologetic grin,

 “Sorry for rambling. I’ll go make your order now, Sichengie! Have fun on your date with your boyfriend while you wait!”

 Couldn’t the Earth just swallow him whole already?

 “What are you doing here and how did you get those legs? And are you wearing my oversized clothes?” Sicheng questioned like rapid fire, Yuta catching every single word with a nod and a wide grin etched across his face. He had his chin laying against his palm as he admired the Chinese’s angry pout. 

 “You really do look like a pup—“

 “Answers Yuta!” He hissed in response, ignoring the tinge of heat he felt crawling up his neck, crossing his arms with a bigger pout. Yuta just waved him off,

 “I may seem very scatterbrained but I slept for more than an hour on the rocks—“ Sicheng raised a finger and opened his mouth to agree that he was indeed a scatterbrained fish but Yuta gave him a pointed look before he continued, “And I thought I was fried when I realized I woke up still on the rocks! Then my brother Takuya saw me and was like, Yuta, what the barnacle! And I was like yeah bro? I’m shocked I’m not a human’s fish-stick right now! Then he was like.. Bro check your tail out right now. So I checked my bottom to see my beautiful scales were replaced with these hairy monstrosities!” 

 On cue, Yuta raised his, indeed, hairy leg up in the air beside his exasperated face and Sicheng was about to pass out because how was someone already that flexible after an hour of having legs? Sicheng would break his knees if he tried that. The Chinese rubbed his temples trying to compute what was just now being thrown at him by the easily distracted merman in front of him. 

 Currently, Yuta was playing with straws and repeatedly poking Sicheng’s arm with them. The human noticed his arms were still visibly scaled, glimmering gold even under the shop’s light but not noticeable enough for someone to scream ‘Merman!’. 

 “And how did you manage to walk by yourself and get into my house?” 

 “Pft.” Yuta snorted as he stuck his tongue out to drizzle the salt from the salt shaker onto, Sicheng mentally cursing the gods that it wasn’t the pepper, “It was easy, but I did get pinched by a few hermits. And the sand is hot. Even my tail didn’t ever feel how hot it was. Ouch. But I did find these clothes, they fit me perfectly.” 

 “Oh god, I was supposed to marry Kun Ge you know? Now he thinks you’re my boyfriend.” Sicheng silently cried, he would’ve cried louder if it weren’t for the fact that Kun was a close earshot away from them. 

 “Good thing now you’re marrying me!”

 “No—“

 Kun soon came up to their table with the lone, pink smoothie on a tray and placed the smoothie in front of the pair. Two straws were hanging on either side. 

 “For the happy couple!”

 “Oh dear god.” Sicheng grumbled, covering his face with his hand in embarrassment. Kun had clearly not forgotten, Kun thought Yuta was his boyfriend in only a minute of them meeting. Yuta, on the other hand, was beaming. 

 “Thank you small human!” 

 The elder just furrowed his eyebrows with his confused smile and nodded, walking away and whistling a happy tune with the tray under his arm. Sicheng tore his eyes away from Kun’s back to glower at the merman happily drinking his smoothie in front of him, 

 “This is really good! Maybe humans aren’t so useless after all!” 

 Sicheng sighed, his scowl melting away at Yuta’s innocence, mentally agreeing as he placed the other straw in his mouth and took a sip from it. Maybe it was crazy he was sharing a strawberry-kiwi smoothie with a merman like some kind of couple but he was still too tired to care at this point.

  “What’s that?” Yuta asked, pointing at surfboards displayed in the windows of one of the shops on the pier. Sicheng, being a kind soul he was, didn’t want to leave the merman on his own and basically had to babysit him so he wouldn’t get himself in trouble. He decided to take the merman out further into the pier near his home where Kun’s job was located on. It was later in the morning now, all shops were open but not many people around.   

 How Yuta had even found Sicheng in the first place in Kun’s shop was a mystery to the human but for now, he wouldn’t question it. Yuta was currently pointing at miscellaneous things on the pier as they walked, clinging to Sicheng with their arms interlocked. 

 “Surfboard. People like to ride on them.” He answered, catching sight of a woman manning the cotton candy stand near the surf shop, “Are you hungry? Do you wanna try the candy floss?” 

 Yuta nodded excitedly, his eyes glimmering with curiosity at the wispy balls of sugar being blended in the machine front of him. He watched the stick twirl around the machine and miraculously strands of pink started to appear and curl into a fluff. Sicheng watched Yuta’s reactions, smiling a little at how amusing it was to see someone’s reaction to such a small thing for the first time. He somewhat felt lucky that he could be the one to help Yuta experience things he’d never could outside of the waters. 

 The man handed Yuta the pink cotton candy, the merman holding back a squeal when his nose dug into the aroma of sugar for the first time. Sicheng paid for both his and Yuta’s cotton candy, his was blue mind you. They sat down on a bench as Yuta bit into the floss and he seemed pretty excited to taste such a sugary floss for the first time.  The new flavor exploded in his mouth and he felt like he could eat cotton candy forever as he munched on the floss,

 “I can see the look of regret in your eyes, Yuta.” Sicheng cackled, watching Yuta already regret his decision of eating an abundance of cotton candy he made Sicheng pay for with different flavors. Sicheng had warned him that eating too much would probably make him sick but Yuta scoffed with a “nonsense” because he wasn’t human. Now here he was, clenching on his stomach because of too much sugar.

 “Oh god— wait what’s that?” It was like he wasn’t feeling sick at all when he had grabbed Sicheng’s hand once more to drag him towards the ice cream stand to order all the chocolate flavors. Then they’d gone around every shop Yuta was interested in trying on hats and sunglasses along with Sicheng paying for it because why not he looked kind of cute in them. His poor wallet was suffering just to make this curious merman happy. 

 It was almost reaching the evening hours, the day about to end when Yuta started to feel sick after his third chocolate ice cream. Not the kind of sick when he ate too much sugar, but as if he was about to die (Blame Sicheng’s overly worried conscious).

 “Um, Sichengie—“ Yuta gasped, tripping over his legs suddenly. They felt weak, tired even. He couldn’t properly walk anymore, so he gripped onto Sicheng’s arm with a pout.

 “Are you okay?” The boy frantically said, wrapping an arm around the merman’s shoulders and catching the ice cream cone he spent three dollars on and wouldn’t let it go to waste. 

 “I-I dunno,” Yuta huffed, his stomach felt weird. It was as if something was pounding deep in the pits wanting to get out. Sicheng furrowed his eyebrows, watching the elder worriedly as he clutched his stomach, “I think that Rocky Road ice cream made me feel rocky. Or maybe it was the cotton candy and ice cream combined.”

 Sicheng assumed the merman wanted to throw up the contents of what he had eaten, since not even a normal little six year old boy could consume that much dairy and sugar all at once. Then the aqua highlights started to appear at the tips of Yuta’s feathery hair. Sicheng realized with widening eyes as the scales on Yuta’s arms started moving as if gasping for air, or water, that he needed to go now. 

 “Oh shit Yuta you aren’t sick— Your tail is about to come out in the middle of the damn pier.”

 Fuck the ice cream. He thought, throwing it away in the nearby trashcan like the good civilian he was.

 He hurriedly placed Yuta’s arm over his shoulders, wrapping an arm around his waist to get the merman the hell out of there before he exposed himself to a bunch of children either throwing up their bubblegum ice cream or screaming their heads off. He’d started to pull Yuta off the pier and towards his home, trying not to drag the boy’s feet as he ran. He could just see Yuta slowly take his merman form, green glitter shaping atop his cheeks and yellow starfish appearing out of thin air under his weary eyes.

 He had no time to pull him to the beach. He quickly unlocked his front door, slamming it shut behind him to continue taking a groaning Yuta to the bathroom and shoving him into the bathtub. 

 “Take your clothes off now before you turn back. I’ll be outside, just turn on the faucet, you know how.” 

 Sicheng walked out of the bathroom, sighing in relief as he slid down the now closed door. He kept Yuta safe from exposing himself and he had no idea what would have happened if he turned in the middle of a pier without being in water first. He seemed to be in pain as he was turning on the shore. Would he have dried up and died or what?

 He heard a screech coming from the inside and he smacked himself against the forehead, cursing his stupidity. Of course, Yuta didn’t know how to work the heating and cooling of the water. Sicheng stood up, opening the door to the shirtless merman flopping his golden tail and screaming,

 “Sichengie it’s so cold!” 

 The boy shook his head, clicking his tongue and turned on the two knobs, occasionally sticking his hand in until it felt lukewarm. Yuta visibly calmed down, his shoulders sliding down the tub and covering half of his face, almost breathing in the water. 

 “Are you okay?” Sicheng asked, wiping his hands off on a towel. He avoided looking at the merman’s tail, keeping his invasive questions to himself about how he suddenly got his tail back out of nowhere, if it was common for him. But he assumed he didn’t know either as Yuta looked at him in thought, specifically at the necklace he wore. 

 “I’m okay. It’s a little cramped in here. I just noticed.. You put on the necklace I left for you?”

 “Yeah,” He answered awkwardly, his words trailing off, “It was from you.. And I didn’t want to seem rude because you might sick your shark friends on me but.. It was pretty. Thank you again.” 

 He felt his ears heat up, growing redder every second passing by when he heard Yuta’s low chuckle.

 “I think you’re the reason why I received legs. Or else I actually would have fried up after the hour was up. You wore the necklace.”

 “Huh? Elaborate. Are you saying you’re feeding off of me or something?” Sicheng demanded, narrowing his eyes at the merman shaking his head furiously in response.

 “No! That’s not it. Um.. One of my sisters gave the necklaces to me to share with you and I had no idea what would happen if I did. Mermaids make some weird shit, you know? Like if I gave that necklace to— let’s say, a shark, I’d have a shark tail. But it seems like I grow legs at dawn and revert back to having my tail at night because I gave it to you. Rad.”

 “So what you’re saying is .. We’re literally connected through these pieces of shell and pearls?” Sicheng exclaimed, his fingers touching the bottom of his necklace and curling his fingers around it. If Yuta didn’t know any better he was afraid Sicheng would tear off the necklace and say he wanted nothing to do with this. Instead Sicheng’s cheeks turned a pretty red color,

 “Are.. Are you blushing?”

 “Of course I am! I didn’t consent to being connected to you. Like some kind of soulmate.. Can you revert it?”

 “Is your shell colored in any way?”

 “Yea..?”

 “I can’t. It’s already consummated. We’ve bonded. I can’t go back to my pod now. This might have been my sister’s intentions all along that damned Sana.. What a cruel joke she probably expected me to hand this to a seahorse or something.”

 Sicheng pinched the bridge of his nose, huffing in annoyance, weakly muttering,

 “Kun ge please still marry me even if I am bonded with a dumb fish.” 

 “Rude.”

 Yuta ended up overstaying his stay at Sicheng’s beach house. He’d uncomfortably slept in the tub, wishing Sicheng a goodnight before the boy turned off the light behind him. Sicheng felt kind of guilty the merman was stuck inside his bathroom, sleeping in a small tub where his large tail barely fit. So he brought a few blankets next to the tub and a pillow to rest next to Yuta’s snoring body above, along with a spare change of clothes for the merman to change into when he’d woken up. 

 The next morning before Sicheng could offer the now dressed merman in his living room some breakfast, he walked out the patio to run towards the beach. If Sicheng squinted hard enough he can see a few curious heads popping out of the ocean. He slowly followed behind Yuta, placing his yellow duck slippers on. He could hear Yuta cursing the heads with a fist raised up in the air and the heads grinned at his reaction. Sicheng held onto his shoulders to refrain the merman from angrily stomping into the cold morning waters.

 “Takuya I’ll kill you! I know it was you that had Sana make the necklaces!” 

 Said merman raised his head from the waters besides the giggling others, cackling as his shimmering cerulean tail splashed behind him. He was just as handsome as Yuta was with his caramel hair covering his eyes and mole on the bottom left of his chin. Curse these mermen for being born so beautiful. 

 “Now you got yourself the husband you always wanted! Ha! Not even a crab!”

 Sicheng ended up dragging Yuta away from his brother back into the house as he swore he would turn him into seagull scraps the next time he’d see him in the waters. He sat the brooding merman down, his arms crossed whilst Sicheng served them both some Lucky Charms cereal. 

 “Thank you.” Yuta murmured, grabbing the spoon and digging into his first cereal. His eyes widened at the taste of wheat and marshmallow enveloped in milk and he graciously started scarfing down the food.

 “Do you already regret us being bonded? I thought I would be the one complaining first,” Sicheng snickered, shoving the spoon into his mouth and munching on the wet marshmallows like Yuta had. Yuta stopped between his chewing and furrowed his eyebrows, his cheeks stuffed with cereal as he swallowed.

 “Never! It’s just that.. You didn’t agree to this and I feel bad. Because from now on I can’t really leave your side. Mermaids bonds are really strong.”

 “What happens if you leave my side?” Sicheng curiously asked, titling his head in interest. He wasn’t complaining very much about the situation, he’d grown sort of fond towards the merman. Yuta was like some stray kitten he’d taken in and Sicheng had a soft spot for him already. Even if he did put up a front but that was only because Yuta’s flirting was something out of Sicheng’s league and he responds negatively. 

 “I turn into sea foam.” Yuta explained, “Kinda messed up. It’s like a punishment for bonding with someone outside our species since it’s easy to stay with our own.” 

 Sicheng pursed his lips in thought, maybe he somewhat regretted falling asleep on the beach and surviving if it meant being stuck with this merman’s existence. But he didn’t want him to dissolve into sea foam due to something they were both unaware of. He sighed, fuck it, if he’s going to be stuck with a cute merman he might as well just deal with it and drag him into the single mess named Sicheng.

 “In that case, I’ll have to buy a kiddie pool big enough for you to swim in. Are you picky with your water?” 

 Yuta seemed almost surprised that Sicheng was complying unlike their first encounter, but instead he just grinned up at him, the corners of his mouth stained with milk,

 “Nope. Can the kiddie pool be pink?”

 The boy shrugged, returning the smile gently as he leaned over and wiped the milk off Yuta’s lips with a napkin. 

 “Sure Yuta.” 

 Sicheng felt something. He couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was but every time he’d just see the merman smile his pretty smile, his heart twinged and twisted. He even blushed.  Sometimes, unaware of his own actions, he’d lean into Yuta’s touches whenever the merman pet him after teasing him. And he reluctantly let affections grow between them, Yuta sometimes kissing his temple or cheek, sometimes the other way around if either looked like they wanted it. But it was left untouched and unsaid by both of them, fleeting gazes and not so platonic cuddling in the mornings. Sicheng realized when Yuta had kissed him on the nose that maybe, maybe he liked the stupid merman he shared a bond with in front of him. The merman was helping him make shell necklaces of his own and when he finally got the damned string through the shell, Yuta congratulated him with a kiss on the nose. He was definitely sure Yuta felt the same, holding his hand and rubbing his nose against the human’s as a form of affection whenever they walked on the pier or Sicheng was showing him around and sometimes complimenting Sicheng with reddened ears. Even biting Sicheng’s ears much to the latter’s discontent. It was safe to say that they both had grown some sort of romantic feelings towards each other. 

 “I really want to see the pier at night.” Yuta muttered one night, carelessly flipping his tail around as he gazed out the window and looked at the colorful ferris wheel in the distance. Some water dripped onto the carpet but Sicheng didn’t mind, he moved Yuta’s pool towards the window so the merman can look at the lightened neighborhood and the pier in the distance, “And go on that big circle. Maybe I can see Takuya getting eaten by a shark from up there.” 

 “One day.” Sicheng promises besides him, smiling sadly as he knew they had no idea how Yuta would be able to go on the contraption at night. He knew he just wanted to see the colorful lights and stars like he’d seen on the brochure he’d taken from a ticket stand on the pier. He pressed a kiss to Yuta’s temple and he let the wet mermaid lay his head down on his shoulder with a sigh. 

 Yuta let him run his hands along the almost slimy golden scales as they watched fireworks go off in the distance of the pier. Yuta’s wondrous look as he watched the fireworks closer than he had in the ocean. Sometimes he imagined taking Sicheng out instead of the other way around, maybe in the waters sometimes since that’s all he really ever knew. Yet he liked the shores crowded with humans, they were interesting and seemed to have better inventions than his species did. He liked learning new things with Sicheng and the latter being patient much to Yuta’s purposeful attitude of annoying him. 

 He closed his eyes, smiling to himself as he felt Sicheng lean back onto him. His heart raced against his chest at the feeling of Sicheng’s touch and he rather enjoyed the warmth. Much better than the cold waters, he’d rather stay in Sicheng’s safe arms than go back. 

 He felt what his brothers and sisters would for the other pods, how his brother Takuya had bonded with his mate Shin and how affectionate and warm he was with him. He wanted that with Sicheng and he knew the boy was more than willing to now than before. The bond helped him recognize Sicheng’s own feelings, he was sure Sicheng felt the same as he did. He wanted more than they already had, too.

✿

 “Do you ever wonder why so many shells appear on the shore for you?” Yuta wondered, tracing circles in the wet sand under him as Sicheng felt along the scales on Yuta’s arm. His golden tail flopped up and down, like a fish as it splashed in the water. The two decided to go on the beach that day, mess around and interact with Yuta’s siblings he wouldn’t be able to swim with anymore. Even until the end of the afternoon so Yuta could swim around in the waters because he was getting cramped in the kiddie pool. They sat on the edge of the shore, taking in the nighttime ocean breeze. 

 The boy shook his head, peering up at the mermaid already gazing down at him,

 “I’m the one always gathering them and tossing them onto the beach for you, either from the rock,” He pat down the rock under them, “Or from the ocean. I’ve got a pretty good arm if I do say so myself.”

 “W-What?” Sicheng stammered, sitting up quickly with reddening cheeks, “Why? I’m just some human that lives inside beach house near your home. If anything you should be trying to shoo me away.”

 “It’s because I’ve been watching you,” The merman confessed, it was his turn to feel heat creeping up on his neck. He turned his gaze away from Sicheng’s eyes, “For a pretty long time actually, since I was a small fry and migrated to the Chinese waters. My brothers and sisters always warned me never to get too close. It was dangerous just watching you from the rocks until you stopped coming suddenly. I waited for your return.”

 Sicheng had left China to study abroad. Yuta had waited for him all these years?

 “Yuta..”

 Yuta’s amberish eyes were shining in the moonlight and Sicheng could feel himself getting lost in them all on his own. The glitter on his cheeks shimmering. The merman parted his lips, catching Sicheng’s gaze, scooting closer,

 “You were interesting and adorable. I’d leave anything to show you my small crush on you back then. Even now. I wanted to befriend you for a long time but never could up until you almost drowned. I’ve waited years for you to come back and when you did, you almost died.”

 Sicheng could feel his chest well up, he blinked away any oncoming tears appearing at the corners of his eyes. He didn’t know why he felt like crying but the way Yuta had spoken about his life as if it was some precious thing he didn’t want to lose caused his heart to stutter. They’ve become so close since Yuta had grown legs in the day times and chose to follow Sicheng around, despite the human’s indifference.

 He had a crush on him. 

 “What are you saying?” The boy whispered, clutching his knees as his breath hitched when Yuta’s nose touched his. Yuta smiled, that beautiful smile baring his perfect, pearly white teeth. Sicheng loved that smile because Yuta’s eyes folded into crescents when he did, looking at him like he hung the moon and stars in the sky above them. His chest tightened.

 “I’m in love with you, you silly human.” 

 He felt his breath hitch. Shock evident all over his face because no one’s ever been in love with him. Not even anyone as mystic or sweet as Yuta, he almost felt unworthy of receiving such a beautiful feeling from someone like Yuta. But the soft lips tasting of ocean pressing against his own as if it was the first time made him feel like maybe, he did deserve it. 

 The kiss was rather sweet. Yuta’s hand reached up to cup the side of Sicheng’s cheek and the boy willingly leaned into the touch like a kitten would. There was nothing more than the light press of lips feathering against each other. Anything more would give Sicheng a heart attack and he was grateful Yuta didn’t ask for it. The soft sound of lips pulling away was all that was heard over the crashing of waves besides them. 

 They gazed into each other’s eyes as if they were the only two in the world, searching for each other’s emotions, making sure it was okay, this was okay. Sicheng could see the waves reflecting off Yuta’s eyes, the merman was so perfect, he was almost afraid Yuta would disappear at the moment and Sicheng would wake up from another dream.

 It didn’t happen. Instead, Sicheng leaned forward to catch Yuta’s lips again as if making sure this was really happening. Yuta was taken aback as the boy was never very affectionate to begin with yet he was aware he had broken down the many layers of Sicheng’s barriers he’d kept up around him. 

 “I think,” He breathed, his forehead against the merman’s as he kissed him feverishly now (Yuta wasn’t really complaining), “I’m in love with you too, dolphin breath.” 

 Yuta grinned smugly and Sicheng couldn’t find it in himself to be mad about it. Not when all of a sudden Yuta’s tail had suddenly disappeared leaving only his long legs. 

 “Oh.” Yuta clicked his tongue, wiggling his toes, “Well. I didn’t know that could happen. Guess true love wins this time. I got my legs permanently now it seems as it isn’t morning yet..”

 “My true love is still Kun Ge, you gotta try harder than that.” Sicheng snickered, watching the merman pout and whine,

 “Now I understand why you hate being teased so much. It makes me wanna do it more. Come here my baby honey apple cinnamon sugar pie of love.” Yuta cried, locking Sicheng into a tight embrace much to the younger’s protests of ‘Yuta let go, my shorts are getting wet and you’re naked!’ ‘Oh really? Is it because of my nakedness you’re wet?’ And a smack resonating throughout the beach. 

 Sicheng dragged back a red-cheeked newly human boy to the house. Yet he ended up kissing the reddened flesh to soothe Yuta’s whiney tendencies. He watched the elder fall asleep, his fingers weaving through Yuta’s sandy hair while his own eyes felt heavy with sleep. He felt Yuta’s warm hands clutch onto his hips as his nose dug into the side of Sicheng’s neck, trying to steal all the warmth emitting from the boy. Sicheng lazily grinned as he fell asleep.

 Sicheng wouldn’t have chosen to fall in love with anyone else. 

 They cuddled each other into the bed as they slept. Even though Sicheng fronted, the former merman knew how much he liked it and the occasional smooches received on his cheeks and the cuddling. The next few hours when it reaches the early hours of the morning, Yuta wakes up earlier and laid there, watching the boy snuggled up into his chest. Their matching necklaces touched. His breathing was slow and Yuta could feel his heartbeat against his, he yearned to just press his ear against the younger’s chest and listen to the rapid beating in close proximity. He’d have to ask Sicheng about it later. But all Yuta could think about now was the boy’s long lashes and plump lips he could kiss for hours. The sunlight peeked through the windows illuminating Sicheng’s weary brown eyes as he slowly opened them to Yuta already looking down at him lovingly in his arms, 

 “Oh jesus fuck the sun is in my eyes! Yuta close the fucking blinds!”

 Yuta wouldn’t have chosen to fall in love with anyone else