Chapter Text
Today was going to be a perfect day, Chan decided as he flung himself out of bed in the early hours of the morning. He wasn’t sleeping before the alarm went off, not really; there was no drowsiness to shake off with the uncontainable amount of excitement thrumming through literally every cell in his body. He thinks that if people could really spontaneously combust, it would happen to him right now without hesitation. A grin was alit on his cheeks as soon as the familiar alarm ringtone had rung through his all too quiet apartment (or maybe he was smiling in his half dream half reality state that made up most of his insomniac-controlled nights) and it stayed there as he took the quickest shower of his life, it stayed there as he slipped on his usual black hoodie and jeans, it stayed there as he threw his two things of luggage into the back of his friend’s jeep and hopped into the passenger side.
Changbin started the car and threw an amused glance as Chan practically vibrated in his seat.
“Somebody’s excited,” the man commented with a fond eye roll as he pulled out of the parking lot.
A giddy chuckle escaped Chan’s lips before he bubbles, “Of course. It’s been so long since I’ve gone back home, you know? I can’t wait: the people, the weather, the culture, the food, and the beach! Gosh, the beach! My pops talked about a new glass-bottom boat rental you can get in Sydney Harbor; have you ever been in one of those? I called and made reservations for it tomorrow; I’m going to go to that little island about twenty miles off the coast, there are supposed to be some rare species of fish that have adapted to the bleached coral dominating the Great Barrier Reef over there. Oh, and the kelp forest, have you ever seen a kelp forest? They are so beautiful and the ecosystems are just magnificent and majestic and- and-”
“Hyung, breathe,” Changbin laughs, shaking his head and unable to even remember all the questions the elder was spitting at him in his eager rambling.
“Right, right… Uh, sorry, Binnie; it’s just been a while since I’ve had a vacation,” Chan giggled awkwardly, his ears flushing a deep pink as he tried to melt into his hoodie.
“No, Hyung, I get it; you deserve this vacation more than anyone I know. You work so hard; I’m glad I get to see you this eager to relax. It’s refreshing,” Changbin assures as he turns onto the freeway leading to the airport. “It’s a ten-hour flight, maybe you could get some much-needed sleep on it?”
Chan frowns in slight embarrassment, “What makes you think I didn’t sleep last night?”
The younger’s brows rose incredulously, “Are you really going to try to deny it?”
He sunk further into the hoodie, grumbling, “No…”
Changbin smiled smugly, flicking on the radio, “Good. Now tell me more about these erm… rare fish.”
“Promise you’ll text us when you land.”
“Yes, yes.”
“And no working or even talking about work; ONLY relaxing.”
“Yes, okay, I get it-”
“And don’t forget to-”
“Binnie, I promise to keep you updated, yeah? Tell Sungie and Minho I’ll call them when I get to the beach house and Innie that I’ll send lots of pictures of the fishes. Now let me go, I need to board,” Chan says in faux exasperation, chocolate eyes soft with fondness and cheeks beginning to ache with the extent of his grin.
“Yup, you got it, Hyung. Enjoy your trip!”
Chan knew he would but he never thought that the reason for his unforgettable trip would come in the form of a near-death encounter with the most majestic fish of them all.
The flight got awfully boring and he was only four hours in. He resorted to reading every single magazine in the backs of the seats but after five editions of Vogue and Fashion Weekly, he decided to plug in his headphones and tune into the news playing on the little screen at the back of the headrest belonging to the person sitting in front of him.
He flipped through the different stations with a disinterested stare before a familiar Australian twang pinged his ears and he hovered over the news reporter’s story a little longer to read the headline.
“New Mystery Creature on the Top of the Food Chain?”
Chan’s brow furrowed, listening intently as he saw the photos of washed-up fish carcasses on the beach and a video of a cage diver filming passing by great whites before they all swam off in an instant.
“One diver accounts that he had never seen so little sharks off the coast of Sydney this time of year. Normally after chumming the waters, smaller species crowd the cage until the presence of the larger great whites is detected and makes them swim away. This time, a presence appeared that scared away even the biggest of the great whites. What could it be? Scientists are speculating that it was perhaps-”
Chan sighed, rolling his eyes as he switched to the next channel. The things people say to get on the news, he thought with a groan.
A dopey grin is on Chan’s face as he adjusts the course of the boat, heading towards his destination with the smell of saltwater tickling his nose and squawking of gulls assailing his ears. It was lovely the way the warm and humid Australian air whipped his face and made his eyes turn into crescents as he squinted at the bright blue sky.
The island was quickly coming into view as the man noticed another ship already anchored by the rocky shoal; perhaps they were seeing the fish too? It looked a lot more expensive and the people bustling about onboard seemed to be doing some kind of research with all the expensive-looking equipment they were carrying. Well if they were here, then he was sure to see something interesting!
A heart-gripping excitement consumed Chan as he dropped the anchor about a mile west of their boat, snatching his camera from the counter as he scrambled down the steps to the glass bottom to witness what he has been waiting nearly a year for.
He slides down into a sitting position, face pressed against the glass like a small child at an aquarium, watching with peeked fascination as the schools of assorted fish darted to and fro. There was a significant amount of the paler phenotype among the bleached coral, but then there were a few species with a reddish hue to their fins and scales, most likely from the odd crimson lava rock dotting the seafloor.
“Oh! Camera!” Chan scolded himself, fiddling with the device to turn off the flash before beginning to snap picture after picture.
As he followed a certain species with a fiery stripe on its belly, a chill passed down his spine.
The man shuddered, suddenly feeling a strange fuzziness flood his mind; he felt compelled to lift his gaze like someone was whispering soft coaxing in his ear.
So he did. The camera slowly panned upwards until a new sight other than small reef fish filled his lens. There were divers, four of them to be exact, swimming in a tight circle around a net they were hauling. Chan zooms in, eyes narrowing to get a better look at what exactly is it that they are carrying. There’s a flash of red as one of the divers swerves slightly in the water and a quick gasp breaks through the man’s silence.
A tail, the color of blood and larger than that of any fish he has ever seen, is coiled like a serpent, glittering as light bounces off the scales and fins floating in the current like they weighed nothing despite belonging to such a large creature. The two pink-hued fins on either side of the magnificent tail were in tatters, making Chan frown. He was sure that they were wide and flowy in the water, he was sure that the fish had to have gone through a struggle to get such a wound. Now that he really considers it, there was some red sluggishly mingling with the crystal clear blue of the sea; did the divers hurt whatever it is that they caught? Is that how they caught it?
Although Chan could understand that people enjoy spearfishing and all, he doesn’t understand how anyone could harm such a unique and otherworldly creature. He thought of himself as pretty educated in aquatic life forms (once upon a time, he wanted to be a marine biologist), but he had never seen a species such as this. Surely it was one of a kind, the first discovered of its kind; to his own horror, he wonders if they killed it.
That odd persuasion to stare at it relents the further away from his boat they swim and there is a nauseous twist to his stomach as he considers what he just witnessed. He was probably not supposed to see them, not supposed to be at this reef and see that fish (can he even call that thing a fish?) and he most certainly wasn’t supposed to take pictures of them and the injured (or dead) creature they were carrying. It had just subconsciously happened; he had just tapped the capture button on his finger out of the habit of holding it in such a way and seeing an oddity. He certainly wasn’t trying to cause trouble, he certainly wasn’t going to have any problems on his vacation.
He was merely at the wrong place at the wrong time: that sort of thing.
And although he knew it would be best to go straight to the beach house and pretend like he saw nothing, he can’t just sit here if that animal is suffering. The small child who gushed about the ocean and all the life within it, the teen that pampered his dog with endless affection and attention whenever Berry wasn’t feeling good, and the young man who rented a glass-bottom boat just so he could observe some new species of fish wasn’t going to be able to just sit here and watch .
As he peers at their retreating forms, he can’t help but imagine all the horrible things he could find on the boat but the desire to sneak on to take a peek at what they’ve discovered grows even stronger: he sees himself letting whatever it is free, he sees himself succeeding despite how idiotic of a plan it is.
He really, really wants to now. He is really frickin curious. His entire mind is consumed by the idea. He breathes the desire, he hears it, he sees it; God, he feels like he’s going a little crazy over it.
It’s late at night when the ship docks at the pier on the island.
“This is stupid, stupid, so very stupid,” Chan is muttering to himself as he drops anchor on the other side of the landform, grabbing his backpack and shoving in his camera, phone, and water bottle. “I was supposed to return the boat already and I’m going to be fined and then I’m going to get on this ship and get in trouble and probably arrested for like trespassing or something. Oh my god, what am I even doing? This is probably the most reckless, idiotic, and- and… exciting thing I have ever done. Oh, flashlight! I need a flashlight! It’s going to be dark and I have to walk around the island first; wait, my phone, my phone has a flashlight. A nice and relaxing vacation they said; ha! Since when can I ever relax? God, I’m even talking to myself now- Christopher Bang, get it together. You can handle this, you just need to chill out! Ya, chill! You can handle the crazy people in the entertainment business all the way in bustling Korea, you can handle some nerds on a boat!"
He smacks his cheeks a few times before releasing a heavy exhale. "Cool as a cucumber," he nervously giggled before hopping down the steps and landing in the white sand with a soft thump.
He wandered along the shoreline, hands gripping the straps of his backpack tightly and hoping that the moonlight will be bright enough to prevent him from accidentally tripping over a rock and falling into the warm oceanic tides. Even if the air was sticky and heated, he still didn't want to be damp and dripping as he sneaks into unknown territory; how embarrassing would that be?
As he sees the familiar mass floating at the wooden pier, a thought struck him: what does he do once he actually gets on the boat? Sure, it was like three in the morning and nobody in their right mind would be awake, but he doesn’t even know where the fish would be. What if they harvested something from it and then threw back in? What if it’s dead and sitting in some bin for further dissection in the morning? What if he and his giant ass feet wake up everyone on board as he scrambles from cabin to cabin in a frantic search for their most certainly illegal research specimen (you can’t just capture and harm an extremely rare and newly discovered species! That has to be breaking at least one law if not many!)?
That feeling, that fuzzy brain feeling, rears its head again and suddenly Chan forgets his worries; he wants to help this thing and he wants to find it on this boat and he is not leaving until he does.
The man climbs the ladder and quietly lowers himself on board, not even sure where to start but there is that gentle coaxing in his ear telling him to go to the bottom of the ship. He finds it funny for a split second, thinking of the old naval ships throwing pirates into their brig at the bottom of the ship but then he swallows roughly at the idea of going down there where members of the crew may be sleeping.
He shakes off the worry quickly, though (he tends to get stuck in his head for a long time if he starts freaking out about every little detail). You can handle it. Just get it over with so you can leave and pretend like nothing ever happened, he tells himself as he takes a deep breath and heads towards the door leading to the interior of the cabin.
He pulls it open silently, peeking only his head inside and listening for any sounds of movement; when nothing but the waves of the sea crashing against the side of the boat is heard, he enters. The hallway is a sterile white inside, doors on either side all the way down to what Chan can only assume is the captain’s quarters by the wooden carvings swirling around the top of the door.
He feels a pull down the hallway and then to the right about halfway; his eyes widen as he opens the door to a staircase leading down into the boat. As soon as he tiptoes down the first few steps, that suffocating desire grew even stronger: his limbs felt tingly with anticipation and his gut churned with butterflies. He has to be getting closer, right? Why else would his body be reacting this way? It’s honestly a bit of a scary thought that he isn’t even sure what he is doing here in the first place or why going this direction just feels so right but he presses forward all the same.
At the bottom of the staircase, he sees another door: this one appeared to be made out of a more sturdy material, slight rust apparent on the iron handle and obviously going to be a lot harder to open quietly. He can imagine the squeaky hinge now and sucks in his bottom lip as he pushes it open with an anxious wince. Surprisingly, it did not make a sound and Chan released the breath he didn’t know he was holding.
It was odd when he entered the room with the questions swimming through his mind: why was this door so different from the others? Why was it so much older and industrialized compared to the new and science-y appearance of the rest of the ship? What was the purpose of this room? Was it to keep others out or… something in?
There’s a thunk sound farther into the room, sounding almost like water sloshing in a tank with each gentle rock of the ship. Since it was pitch black and soundless aside from the tank sounds, Chan carefully shrugged off his bag and felt around for his phone.
There is a pale glow that pierces through the darkness as the screen lights up and the man inhales sharply before swiping down and clicking the flashlight icon. His bag illuminates instantly and Chan lifts the device to scan his surroundings.
The room was more bare than he thought it would be, spotting a table covered in different papers off to the right and a map on the wall above it. He approached the diagrams of fins and teeth and… webbed fingers? His brow furrowed in slight confusion before examining the map, seeing X’s placed over certain areas along the east coast of Australia (as well as one upon this very island) before wrapping around New Zealand and under the southern tip of Africa, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. Were they tracking something? The placement of the spots didn’t seem clustered like a list of sightings, more like a migration pattern. Now that he thinks about it, it almost looked like the migration pattern of a Great White; of course, though, there weren't any signs indicating the time of the year for each X so he couldn’t be sure.
His phone panned along the wall before he caught the reflection of his light shining back at him. He puts the diagram he was holding down before turning towards what he could only assume was a massive fish tank.
He moved towards it like it was beckoning him with glowing neon lights, the flashlight of his phone revealing nothing but ominous water as he scanned across the tank.
Then, in the far corner, red. He sees a flash of crimson and Chan immediately rushes towards the glass to get a better look. The light illuminates upon a massive blood-colored tail with glittering scales and tattered pinkish fins and- Chan freezes, his eyes going as wide as saucers as he sees what this tail has been coiled around.
Tan skin, tan skin and platinum blonde hair is the first to catch his eye; lean arms with pink fins just below the elbow and freckled shoulders are resting upon the coil, hands resembling close to a human’s clasped at the sides to reveal wicked claws and pink-webbed fingers. Light-colored hair that appeared so healthy and shiny that it flowed through the water like silk framed the creature’s face and two red fins pressed against their temples where a human’s ears should be. But the face, their face, was what left Chan completely speechless: a button nose and full, dark eyelashes resting upon pale freckled cheeks, and the sharpest jawline he has ever seen. A few red scales dotted along their cheekbones and plump cupid-bow lips were parted from what appears to be a… gag? The man peers a little closer, forehead pressed completely against the tank now as he notices the creature’s wrists tied together by an old rope and an odd kink at the end of its flicking tail- wait… flicking tail? Chan’s gaze quickly darts up to the face, now seeing ice-blue, cat-like eyes staring back at him with an intensity that could only resemble a prey’s face-to-face confrontation with a mighty predator.
He squeaks, scrambling backwards in surprise and landing roughly on his backside. The creature slowly uncoils, rising up in the water to demonstrate all of its magnificent glory; Chan feels breathless with its ethereal yet daunting appearance, not sure if his heart was beating out of his chest because of fear or embarrassment or perhaps even arousal- No, no, he must banish those thoughts immediately even if this being is definitely more beautiful than any living thing Chan has ever come across, even if their impossibly thin waist and sculpted golden abs were so incredibly a turn on that his knees would probably go weak if he wasn’t already sitting on his ass. Hell, he’d drop down on his knees in a heartbeat if this water angel asked him to and had something to suc-
The creature’s nose wrinkles slightly at him, pupils resembling slits as they watched his every move with an intimidating caution. Chan’s ears flush a deep red as he quickly closes his legs and sits up to hug his knees. He feels his curiosity return slowly, eyes blinking up at them as the bewitched haze fogging his mind relented some and he could feel words returning to him as the initial shock-factor faded.
“W-What are you?” Chan croaks, grimacing at his voice’s betrayal before looking at the creature in fascination.
Their eyes narrow, tail swishing in the water in an almost aggressive manner. Their bound hands raise and fall as they coil around again on the tank floor, significantly closer to the glass this time.
“A mermaid, right? Or- Or maybe you prefer the title of siren… Wait or are you like a merman- or I mean I shouldn’t assume your gender- Um- Um, mer, you’re a mer either way, huh? Geez, I’m sorry, this is awkward.”
They just stare, an almost translucent second eyelid vertically crossing their irises and the fins on the side of their head twitching subtly.
After a moment, something dawns on Chan as a possibility (after all, just because Ariel understood English doesn’t mean that all mer do), “Do you know what I'm saying?”
The mer continues to look at him distrustfully but tilts its head slightly, Adam's apple vibrating shortly in their throat as one would do in a hum of conformation.
Chan’s expression immediately lights up (even if it could have totally been a growl of some sort telling him to fuck off but oh well, he’ll give them the benefit of the doubt). “So you are a mer, do you speak? Like- do you speak English or do mers have their own language or um..?”
Their nostrils flare and face-fins tilt backward, reminding Chan of the ears of a cat with how expressive they are. But that makes him quickly become apprehensive because if their behavior truly is a sign of displeasement, then Chan could have just offended one of the most dangerous creatures in the entire ocean and should really be fearing for his life at the moment. The creature seemed to sense the reason behind the man’s sudden fall of expression, audibly clicking their jaw a few times to demonstrate the gag’s obstruction.
“Oh,” Chan’s face turns sheepish, the flush on his ears and neck traveling up to his cheeks, “Yeah, of course you can’t speak: you’re wearing a gag. I-I feel silly now…”
There’s another strange humming motion but the eyes stayed narrowed and the tip of their tail was flicking back and forth restlessly like they were losing their patience. The mer’s irises swirl suddenly, an otherworldly sight of a stormy gray intermingling with the icy blue and completely leaving Chan mesmerized; but then, there’s a rush of emotions shooting through the man that makes that all-consuming desire return. His head goes fuzzy and breathing quickens.
“I want to free you,” Chan murmurs, mostly to himself before realization slaps him in the face; looking up at the mer, he exclaims, “Oh! I was here to free you!”
The stormy color fades and the gaze the man receives seems almost smug. The mer straightens their back, temporal fins snapping forward in a listening manner.
Chan jumps up to his feet, “So, I was thinking, I could take the lid off and help pull you out and then carry you up the stairs and out of the cabin and um… throw you back into the ocean?”
They completely uncoil again, body fully extended and intimidating as they tower over Chan’s form for the second time in the past ten minutes. But they bend at the torso, bringing their face to be eye-level with Chan and their nose only centimeters away from touching the glass.
He gulps, averting his gaze with the nerves gripping his stomach before looking at their face to question, “Y-You do want to be freed, right?”
Another flare of nostrils, slitted pupils examining every inch of Chan’s face as he squirms in place under the scrutiny.
He wants to help them, he wants to help them so bad . Nothing so beautiful should be an experiment; nothing so beautiful should be shown to the world just for that same world to destroy it. This creature was forcibly taken from their home and had sustained several injuries before being thrown in literally a bare, oversized fish tank. But on the other hand, Chan was kind of terrified that they were going to eat him with the way their eyes were staring at him so skeptically and maliciously. Would they kill him as soon as he took the lid off? Or would they let him carry them to the ocean before yanking him into the depths of the sea to finish him off?
Chan shivers. That surely is the way to go: being dragged to the bottom of the ocean by a gorgeous siren after freeing it from its captors first (as gruesome as it sounds, he wouldn’t be content with dying any other way).
The slits fill out a bit, not quite dilated but enough to resemble more than merely a black crack in a diamond. The mer raises their clawed hands, pressing one particularly long nail to the glass and scratching in a circular motion as a sharp shrieking sound rings from the tank. Chan clamps his hands tightly over his ears as the unpleasurable noise continues as they do with their carving. When they finally lower their hands, the side of the tank reads in wobbly letters ‘OUT.’
A nervous giggle erupts from the back of Chan’s throat as the mer stares at him eagerly. “Yeah, out; I can let you out, sure. But um- you gotta like- promise me something first, yeah?”
They didn’t seem to like this answer, fins pinning to the side of their head as their tail whipped into the word on the tank with a threatening thump. Slits again.
Chan swallows, hands waving through the air frantically as he was quick to assure, “Hey, I’ll let you out; I will, okay? I just… I need to know that you’re not gonna kill me as soon as you’re out of the tank? Can you promise me that? That you won’t eat me or attack me or anything? Just let me help you out and then we can both be on our merry ways, yeah?”
The temporal fins flick forward hesitantly, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“I know these people treated you badly, they hurt you; but I’m not like that, okay? You have my word. A-All I want to do is help you.”
They leaned back a bit, slits widening slightly again. Chan took that as a good sign, following up with, ”So do we have a deal?”
There’s a small whistling sound and it takes the man a moment to realize that it was the mer who made it, seeing their throat vibrating again. Chan has no idea how or why they made it but a timid smile quirks his lips. “This is a lot harder when you can’t speak, huh? How about… two blinks for ‘yes’, one blink for ‘I’m going to drag you to the bottom of the sea’.”
The mer tilted their head, a pinch to their brow.
“Like this,” Chan said, blinking his eyes in a very dramatized manner for demonstration, “Now you do it so I know for sure what your answer is.”
They come closer to the glass, nose actually pressed to it now as they blink their first set of eyelids once; Chan’s face pales but then an odd trill cuts through the air as the creature blinks a second time and then a third and then a fourth. The relief is not as strong as it should be; to be honest, he’s not really sure if they were mocking him or just truly didn’t understand the concept (or perhaps they just didn’t care about promising a measly human such as himself something that they wouldn’t be hesitant to do if the situation so calls for it; which, Chan supposes, was understandable but it still made his hands sweat with the possibility of his first vacation quickly becoming his last ).
“Okay, mer,” Chan reluctantly says, lifting a hand towards one of the clasps on the lid, “I’m going to trust you just- please- don’t make me regret this.”
They didn’t seem to be listening, already hovering near the surface of the water with a jittery swishing of their injured tail.
“Oh and you have to be quiet; you wouldn’t want to wake up the crew, would you?”
They pause, temporal fins and nose twitching before they stare back at the lid.
Chan sighs. I can’t believe I’m doing this. You’re a crazy man, Christopher Bang. This is going to be how you die: watch.
He unclasps the other side and the mer bursts from the water, tied hands quickly pushing open the lid before hanging half of their torso out of the tank, consequently dripping water down upon the floor and Chan. The man frowns down at his attire, so much for not getting his clothes wet . It was a stupid game plan, anyway.
They hold out their clawed hands towards him and Chan just looks at them dumbly. “Y-You want me to untie you?” The mer huffs. The man looks up, apprehensive now that he can see up close how sharp and powerful the nails are. “No clawing me, right? No ripping out my throat?”
The mer gave two overexaggerated blinks in response and Chan relaxes ever so slightly at the silliness of the gesture. He reaches up, picking at the knot until the rope comes undone and the mer quickly shakes it off their wrists.
“Gag too?” Chan asks, reaching for their face but the mer quickly pulls back, ripping the cloth from their mouth with webbed fingers.
“No touching,” they grumble out and dear lord it was uttered as a threat but the deep, husky Australian-accented sound of their voice goes straight to Chan’s head and makes him experience butterflies all over.
He feels like being a little bratty just to hear the mer speak again, asking innocently, “How am I supposed to help you if I can’t touch you? Unless all you needed from me was to open the tank…”
Their nostrils exhale harshly, droplets of water spraying out as they narrow their eyes again (no slits yet, luckily). “Only when I say so,” the mer growls, hauling themselves further out of the water with the sheer strength of their arms (Chan shivers at their might). “Come closer, human.”
The man’s eyes widened curiously, taking a step towards the tank before the mer lowered their upper torso over the side until Chan could see nothing but their icy blue eyes and shark-like teeth inches from his face. They mumble, “When I touch you, don’t pull away.”
“What-” he didn’t get a chance to finish before a pair of pink, plump lips cut him off.
Every instinct in the man’s body told him that this was so hilariously wrong and that he should push the mer away from his mouth but on the other hand, the kiss was so intoxicating and their lips molded to his so perfectly that Chan couldn’t help but hesitantly kiss back. He opened his eyes when his entire being began to tingle, looking at the mer’s body to see it slowly morphing. The scales and fins on their face slowly disappeared into the rest of their freckled tan skin, gills on the sides of their abdomen thinning until nothing more than subtle slits in the skin, claws shrinking and webbing folding down into regular human flesh, fins on their arms pressing down against the skin until they were practically absorbed and a large crimson tail transforming into two fit legs.
Chan’s so shocked and breathless that he feels his body waver before the mer roughly pushes him away and swings down from the ledge of the tank with masterful grace.
They wince as they land, an ankle clearly bruised and swollen while gashes run up the sides of their feet but Chan can only blink in a flustered manner at the fact that this mer is now very much a hot naked man right in front of him. He yelps as his gaze travels to all the places it most certainly shouldn’t before he covers his eyes with a hand and snaps indignantly, “Is this really necessary? You could have at least given me a warning or something!”
Simply, they reply, “I see no problem.”
“You just kissed me without even asking and now you are suddenly a human! And you are not wearing anything !” He hates the whine in his voice at the last part.
“Do not call me human ,” they hiss in disgust, limping over to the map and papers to snatch them all up and throw them right into the tank, “And if appearance bothers your pathetic eyes, then don’t look at me.”
“Pathetic?” Chan squeaks, “Why are my eyes pathetic?”
There’s a scoff from the mer as they throw their head back, another trill vibrating in their throat. “Too expressive; all humans show everything through their eyes.”
“What? What do you mean by that-”
They whip around to face him, piercing blue staring directly into his soul. “I see everything,” they mutter, an upward quirk to their lips in what Chan assumes is their equivalent to a toothy smirk, "All humans have the same primitive desires and are not good at hiding them. Even you, sailor: I knew what you wanted even before your lower extremities betrayed you."
Chan's mouth opens and closes uselessly, his entire face redder than a beet. He can't even look the mer in the eyes with their molded-by-gods body on full display; he pulls off his hoodie and holds it out to them.
"What is that?"
"Wear it; i-it'll cover you up."
There's another amused trill that echoes through the room and Chan shrinks in on himself in even further embarrassment before the mer snatches the hoodie from his hands.
"How do I wear it?" They ask, inspecting the fabric with distaste before looking over the clothing Chan was wearing.
The man stares at the ceiling modestly, saying, "Slide it over your head. Stick your arms through the two holes on the sides-"
There's a forceful chuff of air before the mer questions, "Why?"
Chan's brow furrows in confusion, "Because that's how you wear it?"
"And why must I wear it? I don't want to wear it ."
"Because it m-might get cold outside when you're wet a-and like… like that ."
It is silent too long for Chan's liking, taking a risk to hesitantly look down at the mer's face. "Do you- Do you need help?" he asked, fingers brushing the hoodie before the mer let out a low growl in warning. Chan put both hands up in surrender, taking a step back to put some space between them and show that he meant no harm. “Sorry; no touching, r-right…”
The mer watched him suspiciously but their pupils gradually widened back to a more human-like size, keeping heavy eye contact as they slipped the hoodie over their head and pulled it down to rest at about mid-thigh. Chan had expected it to be big, but the mer was completely swimming in his hoodie; if it wasn’t for the shark fangs and monstrous claws, he might have dared say that they looked kind of endearing like that.
They were covered but not nearly covered enough because he could feel his heart beating a little faster even as they continued to stare at him like he was the very last tim tam in a fifty-mile radius.
“Adequate?” They asked, expression completely serious despite the cheekiness in the tone of the question.
Chan can’t stop the blush rising on his cheeks once again as he realizes that he was caught staring. “Y-Yes! I mean- uh- yeah, sure.”
The mer clicks their tongue, turning towards the iron door with a grumble of, “The infatuation will fade with time; your body will get used to the lure .”
“L-Lure? I don’t understand-”
“Quiet, sailor; if the crew awakens, I will kill you in front of them.”
“Wait what?! Why not just kill them-”
The mer makes an odd sound, something that has to be a cross between a scoff and an amused snort. “You shall serve as a demonstration,” they mutter smugly and Chan can feel his face blanch but he wisely shuts his mouth and follows them up the cabinet stairs (even if they were going very slowly with the slight limp of their injured ankle. He would offer to carry the mer or to at least offer a shoulder for support, but he had a pretty good idea of what the reply would be).
The pair makes it to the deck of the ship without trouble, the mer taking their time to stretch their arms high above their head until their back popped (and only giving Chan a small heart attack as he was reminded that there was nothing on beneath the hoodie when he caught a full sight of a firm yet supple ass that was much too perfect to belong to just an ordinary person).
Chan climbs down the ladder hastily, glad to be finally off the boat and done with this night's adventure, but he hears another figure plop down next to him with a hiss.
He turns to see the mer baring their teeth at their swollen ankle, clearly in pain from the careless activities they have been putting it through.
“Why didn’t you just jump into the water?” Chan asks before he can even consider the question, flinching subtly as the mer looks up with searching eyes.
“If I did, I’d transform back,” they replied plainly, pupils dilating some in adjustment to the moonlight. Their nose twitches in slight annoyance as Chan still appears confused. “Your boat, sailor, will be easier to board without a tail. Unless you want me to kiss you again?”
It dawns on the man all at once, eyes widening as he stutters out, “Wait you’re coming with me?!”
“Yes,” the mer says, face mostly blank despite the obvious distaste in the thin press of their lips, “You gave me your word that you wouldn’t harm me, human: throwing me back into the ocean in my injured state will most certainly be my demise. If not from others of your kind, the sharks instead.”
“B-But the boat isn’t mine! And I’m not a sailor!”
“Then take me to your dwellings unless you no longer want to help me; if so, I will gladly take back my part of the deal as well.”
“No, no, no,” Chan quickly assured with a panicky shake of his head, “I’ll help, I’ll take you back to my beach house; no reason to kill me, don’t be hasty, see? I’m still willing to help, just… surprised is all.”
The aggressive slit to the mer’s eyes relented some, their claws shrinking back to the size possessed by their human form before they gave a grunt. “Good. I give you my word that I will not harm you, human; but I must warn you, betraying a siren is not a pleasant sight no matter the species. We are mainly solitary creatures so trust does not come easy; betray your word and I will feast on your heart, understood?”
Chan gulped in fear, very aware of the organ’s pounding in his ears before giving a quick nod. “U-Understood.”
The mer hums, turning around to begin their trek down the beach to where Chan’s boat was docked.
He bit his bottom lip as he watched them practically drag their right leg behind them, the limp becoming worse and the wounds on the bottoms of their feet leaving a sluggish trail of blood on the light-colored sand.
“Are you going to be able to make it to the boat? Your feet are looking pretty tore up…” he commented in worry, hands twitching with the desire to carry the slender siren before they hurt themselves further.
“Such injuries are none of your concern,” the mer snapped, refusing to look back at him (and honestly not having to to know that the man was pouting), “They are insignificant and will not keep me from getting off this putrid island and as far away from those heathens as possible.”
“But you’re bleeding-”
“I know,” they hiss, stopping to look back with swirling irises, “I don’t need a reminder, sailor. I don’t care how much you want to help out of sheer pity for me. Let me remind you that I do not need your assistance, I am choosing to accept it: very different. ”
Chan sighs heavily, “For the last time, I’m not a sailor .”
“Then what are you?”
“I’m just- just a music producer here on vacation for the summer.”
Their eyes narrow as they just peer at him for a few moments before they release a displeased cross between a scoff and a hum. “You are a human, no? I shall call you human; that title is too long.”
“Or you can just call me by my name-”
“I do not wish to be given your name-”
“It’s Christopher-”
“I did not ask for-”
“-but you can call me Chan.” The man smiles, a nervous twinkle to their eyes but otherwise a little exasperated with the mer’s dismissive and cold behavior.
They actually growl in irritation, a deep and guttural sound coming from the back of their throat as they glare at him. “You should not give your name out so easily, human,” they grumble despite the slight look of defeat in their eyes and Chan takes it as a win nonetheless.
“Why not?” he asks, tilting his head in faux innocence as the mer releases yet another growl much louder this time.
“Because others may use it against you-”
“Well then just give me your name so we can be even,” Chan suggests impishly, his smile growing even wider as the mer seemed to consider it for a moment.
“I do not wish to be familiar with you... but if this will satisfy your pestering enough to not question my every motive…”
“Yes, I promise I’ll trust you better if I know your name,” Chan replies almost immediately in his eagerness as soon as he saw the mer’s expression waver into one of relent.
“You make promises too easily, too…” They point out with a slightly disgusted frown which makes the man snort.
He raises his eyebrows expectantly as they look away from him.
The mer blinks at the ocean, face emotionless. “Felix.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Felix,” Chan says with a warm grin, holding out his hand.
Felix stares at it before narrowing their eyes in an inquisitive manner. “Why?” they question slowly.
“Oh! Um, it’s like- just an expression used when you meet somebody for the first time…”
The mer is still frowning despite the explanation. “And your hand? What do you want?”
Chan immediately pulls his hand back in slight humiliation, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “That? Well, I was going to shake your- you know what? Never mind. Uh, we should probably just head back to the boat, yeah?”
“Yes, that would seem best,” Felix agrees, turning back around and walking on without waiting to see if Chan was following first.
The man sighs and curses himself for being an awkward idiot. If Changbin or Jisung or even Minho was here, he knows that he would never hear the end of it...