Work Text:
“Oh birthday, oh birthday, it’s my brother’s birthday!” Yugyeom’s voice bounced off the marble walls all around them, twirling and flipping through the water before he reached his brother’s room. Yugyeom hesitated at the pale pink shell doors for a few moments, scared that Seungmin may not be as excited as he is for Seungmin sweet 19 birthday. “Minnie, Minnie, Seungminnie, are you awake?” Yugyeom knocked lightly at the door, waiting just a few moments when he heard some rustling inside and the woosh of water before the door creaked open revealing Seungmin’s tired expression. “Aw, did you just wake up?” Yugyeom cooed loudly, shoving his way through the door and cupping Seungmin’s cheeks to roll them in his palms.
Seungmin just grumbled sleepily. “Fuck off. It’s too early for your false peppiness.” Yugyeom’s electrified happiness and softness drained away only to be replaced by a mischievous Joy. A feeling Seungmin knew all too well. “What do you want? I want to sleep,” Seungmin questioned with a huff, swimming away from the door to level himself down on the cushions layering the inside of a very large shell that can only be found at the bottom of the sea. Yugyeom only laid himself down beside Seungmin’s curled up form. Seungmin grumbled lightly when Yugyeom’s heavy tail draped over his own, elbowing Yugyeom in the ribs.
“Hey now! I was going to take you out for breakfast like the best brother I am, but obviously, you’re gonna be a dick about it so now I won’t,” Yugyeom huffed, punching Seungmin in the shoulder. This only lead to the two roughhousing, but since Yugyeom was a soldier who had to keep in tip-top shape, Yugyeom soon held Seungmin pinned down into the pile of cushions on the bed while the two laughed and grunted to win this rather futile fight. “Submit!”
“No!” Seungmin squealed with laughter, using the brunt of his scaley shoulder to slam into Yugyeom’s chest and throw him off. Seungmin darted out toward his open window, swimming around the coral, marble, and rocky sidings of the tall tower in the middle of town. Yugyeom came barreling behind him trying to catch Seungmin but didn’t make a genuine effort until they reached their mother’s open window and went darting through, Yugyeom’s fingers curling around Seungmin’s fin and causing the younger to yelp before they tumbled to the hard ground. The woman, who was also their mother, in the room didn’t seem bothered by them in the slightest.
“Morning, boys,” She hummed beautifully, brushing through her dark short hair before pinning it back with golden pins and starfish willing to be of use to mermaids. Only if they wished.
“Morning, momma,” They both chimed at the same time, panting heavily while laying on the ground. They both began to punch each other at the sentence uttered at the same time.
“Happy birthday, Minnie baby,” She hummed once more, grinning softly when Seungmin got up to kiss her on the cheek. “You better go out with your brother this morning. You know he’s going back to the dark waters next week so you better spend all the time you can with him.” She scolded, and Seungmin nodded with a gulp, flickering his now sad eyes toward a grim-looking Yugyeom. Of course, the Kim family was very proud of how talented Yugyeom was in combat and how much money he made, but they didn’t enjoy that Yugyeom had to go down to the dark waters where they kept the cruelest of their kind away from everyone else. The deep, dark waters where everyone became translucent after a while, a very stark contrast to the reefs where the Kim Family stayed, and the dark became an entirely new entity to fear.
Just thinking about it sent a shudder down Seungmin’s spine. “Yes, momma.”
“Good. Now you two go get ready and get out of my hair. We’ll have a family dinner tonight to celebrate your sweet 19.”
“Okay, Momma. Have a good day,” Seungmin and Yugyeom chimed at the same time as they had before, being courteous enough to wait to beat on each other until they reached the hallway. It didn’t take long for them both to get ready and head off to wherever Yugyeom decided to take him.
Seungmin didn’t really know what he was expecting, but he surely didn’t expect Yugyeom to take him out into the rocks where just on the very edge it dived down into the deepest parts of the ocean where the whales swam in comfort. “Why are we all the way out here?” Seungmin questioned out of curiosity, sparing his brother a rather weary look. Yugyeom just shrugged.
“I wanted a quiet place and this place is very quiet and very serene.” Seungmin knew what that meant though. Yugyeom didn’t like the hustle and bustle of the reefs anymore. People made him nervous. He was too used to the monsters he dealt with in the depths where his boss stationed him. Seungmin felt bad for him, so he dropped the topic and watched Yugyeom begin to pull shells full of food out of a much larger clam and weighed it down onto the rocks they sat on. “So, you’re an adult now…. What are you going to do first?” Yugyeom questioned out of curiosity.
Seungmin just shrugged.
“Come on! There has to be something. Don’t hold back,” Yugyeom elbowed him harshly, earning a shove from the younger. Yugyeom felt his heart drop into his chest when Seungmin peered up to the surface of the sea, of their home, of their very souls , and looked as if Seungmin hadn’t seen anything before at all. “Seungmin…”
“We’re allowed to go up to the surface now. It’s a perfectly valid wish,” Seungmin snapped back, huffing through his nose before stuffing some of the smoked fish Yugyeom brought into his mouth. “It’s not as if I’m going to live there, I just want to see the human world up close,” Seungmin scoffed once he saw the way Yugyeom looked to him in worry.
“I know… I’m just scared is all.”
“You’re scared of everything nowadays,” Seungmin pointed out, knowing that it was a rather low blow, but perfectly valid all the same. Yugyeom had always been too protective ever since Seungmin was a baby, but it only got worse once Yugyeom was stationed in the depths of the sea. A few moments of silence passed between them, only for a minute or two, but it felt like an eternity. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No… no, you’re right,” Yugyeom sighed. “I’m trying to be better. It’s just hard. Especially since they keep sending me back.” Seungmin felt guiltier by the minute the more he watched Yugyeom run his hands over the scales of Yugyeom’s golden and purple tail with glittery blue specs and a fin as beautiful and large as some of the most famous mermaids in the richer colonies. But Seungmin couldn’t help but notice the pinkish scars lining the tail two times larger than his upper body, head and all. Yugyeom could have been a model, like the ones they see painted on the side of the reef walls, but Yugyeom went into the military instead and now he’s messed up physically and mentally.
Seungmin gets sick to his stomach just thinking about it.
But they couldn’t say anything more after that. Seungmin and Yugyeom jolted in surprise when they heard and saw a speed boat race up above them until it stopped, casting a dark shadow upon them. Yugyeom gasped loudly, knocking the food off of the rocks with his tail as he grabbed for Seungmin’s disfigured, red and orange fin to pull him out of the open and into one of the many caves around. They watched in horror as a human in full scuba diving gear jumped down into the water with a camera and a large flashlight began swimming around. Well, Yugyeom gazed in fear, and Seungmin couldn’t help but float there in anticipation. Could it be?
Seungmin probably would have raced out there on his own if it weren’t for Yugyeom holding him back. Seungmin would have swum out there and greeted the human because some part of him hoped to god it was that little boy he met when Seungmin was 13 and fell in love. Seungmin hoped to god it was Minho in that suit and no one else. Seungmin watched the human move with fascination.
The fear only began to set in after twenty minutes and Seungmin saw the shark packs rising from the depths to sniff out this familiar but rare scent. “Yugyeom…”
“Don’t even think about it-”
“Yugyeom, we have to do something,” Seungmin hissed, leaving absolutely no room for argument when the human was obviously a little panicked about being surrounded by a bunch of sharks.
“Fuck fine-” Yugyeom barely even got his sentence out before Seungmin darted into the open sea, smacking his fin harshly against one of the shark’s noses and watching it flinch back a few feet. Seungmin threw himself in front of the human while hissing at the sharks all around them. The sharks weren’t ready to give up quite yet though.
When two sharks came barreling towards Seungmin at once, the mermaid threw his spiked fists into one nose and his sharp back fins into another, but now Yugyeom began to fight off the other sharks at the same time, the human watching all of it go down in a daze. The mermaids moved in a strategic flurry, too fast for the human to really keep up. But then, when Seungmin’s face appeared in front of the Human’s face and camera, all the human heard through his earpiece was “Chan, that’s him. That’s Seungmin,” and Chan felt like he was going to pass out.
But the thing about sound waves is that mermaids hear all of them, and he heard Minho’s voice. He heard exactly what Minho had to say and he too felt like he was about to pass out. Now, Seungmin’s only priority was taking care of this human, and making sure he survives because of Minho .
Now, the sea was nothing but pink and retreating sharks. So, with one singular shared look and an apologetic one spared in Yugyeom’s direction, both Seungmin and Chan raced up toward the surface. The moment Chan’s head bobbed above sea level, he ripped his mask and head cover off so glimmery blonde hair that shined in the sunlight revealed itself and Seungmin felt the breath get sucked right out of his lungs. “Holy shit…” The human cursed at the sight of Seungmin’s pale gray skin, navy long hair that went past his ribs, and eyes as shiny as onyx stones. “You…”
“Gorgeous…” Seungmin breathed out at the same time Chan did, webbed hands coming above sea level for just a moment as if Seungmin wanted to reach out and touch the human’s face before it retreated back underneath the water completely.
But then there was a yell over the moving water and their panting from a few feet away, and Seungmin felt his heart stop when he saw an all too familiar face gaping at them both in shock. “Seungmin?” Seungmin disappeared back underneath the water only to reappear by the ladder of the boat to gape up at Minho .
A long time ago, when Seungmin had just turned 13, he went through the caves that lead to the islands surrounding them out of pure curiosity and spite. There, he met a boy two years older than him who was all smiles and giggles and fond sarcasm and Seungmin fell in love. They met up every Sunday for two months until Seungmin got caught and Seungmin wasn’t allowed near the surface ever again.
But even after all this time, Seungmin found himself still head over heels for the human who showed him the world. “Minho…” Seungmin whimpered, and Minho frantically climbed down the ladder until he sat on the last step and the lower half of his body floated in the water. Seungmin supported Minho’s body with his tail by curling it underneath the human as Seungmin reached out to graze his webbed fingers along the span of Minho’s neck. “Minho…” Seungmin whispered again, a little more frantic of touches now as if he believed that Minho would be ripped away from him again once more.
“I’m right here, pearl. I’m right here,” Minho promised quietly, placing his hand on top of Seungmin’s and rubbing his thumb comfortingly over the side of Seungmin’s hand. “I’ve searched for so many years for you. But yet here you are, saving my best friend like the amazing soul that you are,” Minho cooed, lifting his hands up to circle both of his thumbs around the apples of Seungmin’s cheeks. Seungmin just giggled cutely, looking far happier than Yugyeom had ever once seen him.
Yugyeom watched from under the water, waited, waited, and waited for a reason to pull Seungmin away but he never received one. It made the brother bitter.
“As nice as this is, I’m getting very tired,” Chan spoke up shyly from behind the two, legs beginning to ache and cramp from having to constantly wave back and forth in the strong current of the water. Seungmin pivoted his head toward the human and smiled gently, sparing the human a head nod before moving out of the way and out of Minho’s grasp so the human could help Chan onto the boat and get his scuba gear off so he didn’t feel so weighed down. Seungmin couldn’t help but admire Chan’s very well built body.
“Are your legs still hurting?” Seungmin called out to the human. When Seungmin heard a very faint and weak ‘yes’ from over the boat side, Seungmin giggled and waved Minho back down so the human could hear him speak. “Race you to the pink sand?”
Minho pulled back to blink at him mischievously. “You’re on.”
The roar of the boat engine and the propellers moving through the water was the only thing Seungmin heard before he dived underneath the water ready to race Minho down to the pink sands. However, he stopped. He stopped at the sight of his older brother swaying there with a look of pure and utter fear. “It’s okay, Yugyeom.”
“Is that him?” Yugyeom swam closer, looking shy, “Is that….”
“Yes.” it was quiet for the briefest of moments.
Yugyeom scoffed once. “Just be careful. I saw the way you looked at the diver as well.” And then Yugyeom was swimming off leaving Seungmin to turn back to the boat that now stopped. No, no, no, Seungmin wouldn’t have any of that.
Minho yelped loudly when he saw a mermaid jump out of the water right in front of the boat. “You better not be trying to help me out or anything, Minho!” Seungmin yelled before Chan and Minho heard a splash when Seungmin escaped back under the water. Minho waited for Seungmin to resurface with a mischievous grin.
“Just making sure you’re still here, pearl,” Minho chimed, starting up the engine again thus starting the race for real. Chan, poor innocent Chan who thought Minho was kidding about mermaids being real, ran side to side on the boat watching Seungmin jump out of the water, twirling and dancing, and singing as if he was simply keeping at pace with Minho rather than actually racing. Minho began laughing cutely when Seungmin threw himself over Minho’s head with an elegant twirl. “Stop showing off!”
“No! Keep showing off!” Chan exclaimed when Seungmin came back up, flashing him a smile full of pearly whites and dimples as deep as the caves Seungmin swam in. “God, I wish I had believed you sooner,” Chan gaped in awe as he turned back to the man driving the boat, a little taken back by how beautiful Minho looked at that moment. For a long, long time Minho looked as if something was lost as if he couldn’t ever really be happy if he didn’t find the thing he was looking for. It made Chan anxious just thinking about it. But now, Minho looked as happy as could be.
And over a mermaid, a once mythical creature, no less. “Do you like that, pretty boy?” Seungmin suddenly appeared over the boat sidewall, leaning over it and resting his chin in his hands. Chan found it so ungodly charming it took a lot in him not to confess some sort of attraction to him. Chan tried his best to convince himself that this newfound attraction to Seungmin and Minho was just a heat of the moment type thing. That it wasn’t real.
“Yeah,” Chan’s voice cracked, sucking in a harsh breath when Seungmin’s clawed fingers came up gently to cup Chan’s cheeks and let his nails dip into Chan’s dimples.
“It’s alright, pretty thing. We’re on the same page. I’m a sucker for dimples,” and then Seungmin was flipping back into the water to race alongside Minho’s boat. Chan turned back to his best friend, a cloudy gleam to his eyes but Chan couldn’t help but stumble up to his friend.
“Minho…” He breathed out, watching Seungmin dip and dive and twirl in the water ahead of them. Minho just watched with a fond smile.
“He’s gorgeous isn’t he?” Minho questioned, earning a shaky head nod from Chan. “I know it’s hard to wrap your head around, but I promise you, Chan… we’ll make it work,” Minho took his hand off of the wheel and blanketed Chan’s much larger hand with his own before twining their fingers. Chan felt the most relaxed when Minho pulled Chan’s shoulder into his chest and coaxed Chan’s fingers around the wheel so they could steer at the same time while watching Seungmin have the time of his life in front of them.
What a strange day indeed.
But as strange as it could be, Chan found himself sitting on a beach full of pink sand with Seungmin resting between his legs as Chan brushed out Seungmin’s waist-long hair and Minho hummed cutely while collecting shells a few feet away. “Even with all the salt your hair drowns in, it’s still incredibly soft,” Chan uttered as he began to do one singular large french brain that went down the back of Seungmin’s head only to curl back up and create a very large, voluminous bun that made Seungmin look somehow more attractive.
“Thanks, Chris.” Chan smiled shyly to himself, taking some of the pointy shells and sticking them through the bun so Seungmin’s hair stayed in place. “Yours is… not as soft.” Chan winced when Seungmin brushed his fingers through Chan’s hair, only to pull back a webbed hand with a slight gleam of disgust.
However, before they could say anything more, Minho came up to them both and kneeled down in the sand by Seungmin’s upper tail with a crown made of seashells, starfish, and rope in his hands. “It’s pearl’s birthday, today, Chan. So, now we have to sing happy birthday.”
The ocean was Seungmin’s home, but soon, these two humans would become his home all the same. So when they both began to sing softly in his ear, it felt as though the ocean was truly singing him happy birthday.