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He should have listened. Oh god, he should have listened. But here he is, far away from his baba, and so very alone. A-Yuan is terrified. Worse, he’s also tangled in a fishing net. Now he will never see his baba again.
The scent of iron fades through the water around him. He’s injured, and surely it will begin to attract sharks. Baba said they aren’t all bad. Could they free him from the fishing net? Or would they use their sharp teeth to simply devour him instead? He whimpers. Everything seems hopeless.
Sure enough, a large shadow does begin to approach. A-Yuan quickly panics. He thrashes wildly. The fishing net digs into his tail further. He covers his mouth and tries to hide a high-pitched shriek. That hurt. That really, really hurt.
A light appears above the surface, leaving the young mer-child skeptical. It didn’t look dangerous. Could he trust it? A-Yuan tries to remember what Baba told him about angler fish. All he can remember is that they have a lot of sharp, sharp teeth.
A-Yuan doesn’t notice a pair of strange fins reaching into the water until it’s too late. He’s being pulled towards the surface. The air stings his cheeks. And now, staring back at him, is…..a human.
This is the end. Baba has always warned him about humans. They’re greedy and dangerous, and much more deadly than any spiky anemone or scary fish he might run into on a regular basis. Now, A-Yuan is being cradled by one. He stiffens and expects the worst.
The human simply looks….baffled. He lifts A-Yuan’s little tail up, tentatively looking at his fins. Then he looks at the fishing net. With a deep breath, he holds the tail in place, and pulls out some kind of blade.
A-Yuan begins to cry.
He should have listened to his Baba.
A few quiet snipping noises are heard, and A-Yuan pays little attention to it. He does, however, immediately notice that his tail is no longer snagged. Tentatively he opens his eyes. The human is slowly lowering him back into the water.
The realization of what just happened begins to set in. A human saved him. Moreover, he’s also letting him go. A-Yuan can’t believe what he’s seeing.
“....Are you alright?”
He nods, sniffling. Still, his body shakes and shivers. He finds he can’t swim away. It’s like his tail feels too heavy all of a sudden. His strength fades, and the darkness encroaches. The last thing he remembers is that those strange fins were hoisting him out of the water once more.
In that moment, he almost felt safe.
….
Today’s been weird enough. He’s seen a mermaid, helped free a mermaid, and now he’s taking one home in a bucket of water. Lan Wangji does not know how to look after fish. At least he sort of knows what to do with kids. Though as he looks down at the creature, he wonders if knowing about either would even help him to begin with.
This kid’s a living mythical creature. His tail is white with beautiful patches of reddish orange in front of smaller patches of black. The scales merge perfectly into the human skin of his upper torso. Aside from his lower half, he looks very human.
Lan Wangji parks in front of his condo. Thankfully, no one else seems to be around. He picks up the bucket and carries it gently into the house. The kid stirs a little when he enters the bathroom. He’s hugging his tail again. The sight tugs at Wangji’s heartstrings.
His bathtub isn’t exactly built for mermaids. It’ll have to do, though. He fills up the basin with slightly warm water and then begins to do some frantic googling. None of it seems to be very helpful, except for an article that says adding salt can help a stressed, sickly fish. He really hopes it works on mermaids.
The wound on the mermaid’s tail already seems to be healing up nicely. It’s one less thing for him to worry about. Taking a deep breath, he lifts the kid up and puts him into the water. The mermaid’s distraught expression begins to soften in his sleep.
Now he just had to wait for the kid to wake up.
….
Only when the afternoon light begins to fade into a restless evening does the mermaid wake up; it is with bleary eyes and in an unfamiliar room. A-Yuan sluggishly bats at the water around him. He isn’t sure how he got here.
Where is he anyway? The water is warm and inviting, if not enclosed. So he must be on land. Baba sometimes talks about that. He’s been there before! But Baba can grow legs, and A-Yuan cannot. Not yet, at least. Maybe when he’s a little older he’ll figure it out.
The door opens with a quiet click. A-Yuan darts under the water and tries to hide behind the tall rim of the bathtub. He doesn’t realize the fluffy end of his tailfin is conspicuously sticking out of the water.
Still, A-Yuan tends to veer towards curiosity rather than caution. He peeks over the rim of the tub. Calm, golden eyes meet his own. For some reason, A-Yuan does not find them frightening. In fact, they’re rather…familiar. It’s the stranger from yesterday! His tail swishes happily. He isn’t sure why.
“It’s you!” And, flashing a smile that Baba would be proud of, he adds, “Thank you for rescuing me, land-gege! I’m A-Yuan!”
The stranger looks away; the tips of his ears turning pink. “... Wangji. I’m Lan Wangji.” He then turns back to A-Yuan and scrutinizes his wounds. “Does your tail feel better?”
He gives it a few experimental flicks through the water, then nods. “Sorta...” A-Yuan’s stomach then breaks the silence with a growl. “But now I’m hungry…”
Lan Wangji cannot resist such a lethal pout. He retreats to the kitchen and brings back a plate of offerings: some raw sliced fish, a bit of rice, a few crackers and some boiled vegetables. Unfortunately they’re mostly leftovers. It’ll have to do. He’s not sure what the kid will even eat.
And do mermaids drink water? Probably not, but he grabs a water bottle just in case.
A-Yuan peers at the food curiously. He recognizes the fish and gobbles it down hungrily, tail swishing in delight. The rest is inspected with great care. A saltine cracker, sniffed and then licked, followed by a soft nibble. A-Yuan, finding it strange but pleasant, does end up eating it all.
The boiled vegetables taste like home, for the most part. They’re bland and boring. Apparently not everything on the surface is new and exotic tasting. A-Yuan eats it anyway. It’s what Baba would want, right?
His tail droops a little. Where is his Baba? A-Yuan is lucky to have been rescued, and he finds the surface to be really interesting so far. It’s only the loneliness that eats him up inside whenever he dwells upon what usually is his everyday life.
He idly chews on some of the rice grains. It doesn’t take his mind off of it, and he sinks back into the warm water. The stranger who rescued him takes back the tray. When he returns, he kneels down at the (metaphorical) foot of the bathtub.
A-Yuan looks up at him. “I miss my Baba.”
Lan Wangji nods. Being so far away from family must be terrifying. He’s also out of his element. This kid’s never been on the surface before. Wangji doesn’t need to know anything about mermaids to know that for a fact.
“As soon as your tail heals, I will help you find him.”
The mermaid’s eyes widened, “R-really?” He then leaps out of the water and flings his little body at Lan Wangji’s arm and latches onto it, hugging it close. Water goes everywhere. “Land-gege is the best! Baba might even like you.”
This kid is surely going to be the death of him. Yet Wangji can’t help but grow fond of the little mer-child happily splashing around in his tub, getting water everywhere and making a huge mess. He is truly without a care, and more adorable than annoying at this point.
Now covered in water, Lan Wangji briefly hugs the excited bouncing mermaid before putting him back in the tub. “What is he like?”
“He’s pretty! And, he does not make good decisions!”
“I…see.”
This was the first of many things he would learn about A-Yuan’s dad. Apparently he was well-liked, and charismatic, but known for his impulsive streak. He’d been to the surface a couple times on two-legs. A shifter, A-Yuan had said. A half-mermaid as well. And he had been raised by ….shark mermaids. Whatever that means. Maybe it’s best he doesn’t ask.
….
The next day, they’d go down to the water and try to find him together. But there was no trace of A-Yuan’s mysterious mer-parent anywhere to be seen. Lan Wangji even rented a boat to search the coast more thoroughly. A-Yuan swam beside the boat and scanned the water. Still, neither of them saw anything.
A-Yuan was discouraged and teary-eyed as Lan Wangji pulled him back into the boat.
“We can look for him again tomorrow.” And he wiped away A-Yuan’s tears one by one, wishing there was more he could do for the kid.
Deep down, Lan Wangji was troubled. What if this ‘Baba’ never came back? Had he simply abandoned A-Yuan? Or, worse, had he been slain trying to find him? Lan Wangji wondered, briefly, if the mer-child had anyone else to go back to.
And if there is truly no one …Lan Wangji will be that someone. He’s hardly ready to be a parent, and knows pretty much nothing about mermaids….but he is willing to try his best. For the sake of A-Yuan.
He hopes that A-Yuan’s Baba does return, though. Raising a mermaid in his bathtub is rather…conspicuous. It also isn’t very practical. Eventually, the kid will outgrow the tub. What then? Does he have to get a giant aquarium? What kind of water chemistry do mermaids like? Can it even be replicated?
Something pulls at his cheek. “Land-gege, you’re making a silly face. Did you step on an urchin?”
….
Lan Wangji learns a lot about A-Yuan in the coming week.
Firstly, his name is Wen Yuan. He loves to collect shiny pebbles, and his favorite food is raw tuna. Surprisingly, he can also read a little, though he struggles with the characters. Apparently they ‘look different under the sea’. A different script, Wangji imagines.
He’s been spending more time outside of the bathtub, too. A bucket of water now permanently sits in Wangji’s living room. If anyone sees it, he’s sure they will think he’s losing it. Or that the house is leaking. Neither tends to make a good impression.
The rabbits have also accepted A-Yuan. He isn’t sure how to act around them, but he loves them. Their fur is gentle like ‘sea grass’. Their noses are adorably twitchy, and their eyes are kind and understanding. They keep him company whenever Wangji is working on his laptop.
And, despite being a mermaid, he seems to be a pretty normal kid. He’s a picky eater, likes to take midday naps, and doesn’t like loud noises. He even asks for bedtime stories now.
Tonight was one of those nights. Lan Wangji found himself hunched over the bathtub and telling A-Yuan about Goldilocks. His tail swished happily in the water when hearing about the porridge and the soft beds. The bears confused him a little. He liked the sound of them, though!
“Someone’s been eating my porridge,” said the mama bear, conveniently in Lan Wangji’s reading voice.
“Someone’s been eating my porridge,” says a different bear, also voiced by Lan Wangji, in a higher pitch.
He’s sure that he looks ridiculous right now, but A-Yuan is beaming, smiling and really getting into the story. It’s enough to distract both of them, temporarily, from the strange noise now coming from outside the house.
It’s A-Yuan who brings it up first, though. “Land-gege! Are those the bears? I bet they’re coming to visit us!”
To a small child currently wrapped up in a fairy tale, it would only make sense. Lan Wangji, however, freezes. He listens. And sure enough, something seems to be banging at the front door. Aggressively.
“Stay here.”
He opens the bathroom door slowly, immediately shutting it behind him as he walks into his living room. The noise grows louder as the door begins to shake on its hinges. Whatever’s out there, it sounds angry. Very angry.
Lan Wangji has no experience with fighting off wild animals, break-ins, or how to handle whatever weird variation of the two happens to be right outside his door. Still, he can’t ignore it. The door is going to break any second now…
With a final swipe it falls to the ground, missing Lan Wangji by only a few centimeters. He then looks at the culprit, currently growling. At first glance, they almost look….human? Yet their eyes glow with a strange red hue. And their teeth are far too sharp.
He takes a deep breath, then decides to stand as still as possible. What else is he going to do?
A sharp voice interrupts him before he can even speak up. The creature moves forward, limping and hissing, with claws poised, ready to attack Lan Wangji. His words seem to sting in the air around him.
“What did you do with my son?”
From behind them, the bathroom door clicks open. “Baba!”
It is followed by the sound of frantic running. A-Yuan, on shaky legs ( not fins, Lan Wangji notices) attaches himself to the creature’s legs. The creature’s expression remains fierce, but melts a little with undeniable fondness.
“I rescued him from a fishing net a few days ago. He was injured.”
“And we looked for you everywhere!” A-Yuan joyfully says, clinging to his newfound baba. “We even took a boat. But we couldn’t find you anywhere…”
‘Baba’ pauses. “A-Yuan, you know what I’ve told you about humans. They are dangerous and only wish to hurt you.” He stops to glare at Lan Wangji, before adding, “What if he tried to sell you?”
The mer-child smiles confidently. “I would have bit him and ran!”
To which his guardian pats him on the head, happy with this response. “That’s my little sea radish. But when did you grow legs, hmm?” He tickles A-Yuan, who squeals happily until Baba coughs. A small puddle of blood trickles to the floor beside him. “Ah. Shit.”
Baba sinks to his knees, mumbling quietly, “A-Yuan, Baba needs to take a bit of a nap now.” He then crumples up into a heap, eyes fluttering closed; pale and unconscious.
Lan Wangji once again finds himself with an injured mermaid.
He still has no idea what to do.
A-Yuan, however, does.
….
It felt more than a bit inappropriate to drag a grown man into his bathtub, especially one so pretty. But mermaids healed better in the water, A-Yuan had said. Unfortunately, ‘Baba’ did not fit in the tub as easily. He was a full grown mermaid, not a little fish.
The man sighs as Lan Wangji puts him in the water. He rolls onto his side, winces, and with a splash his tail appears. It is a beautiful black with red patches. Unlike A-Yuan’s tail, it does not have any white patches.
“Aah, Baba got out his tail for you! He must be feeling comfortable.”
Lan Wangji certainly does not want to think about how that phrase could be interpreted. He instead tries to access the larger mermaid for any injuries. Despite the blood in the water, none can be found.
He does, however, find what appears to be some sort of…brand mark. Singed into the mermaid’s chest is the shape of a sun. Lan Wangji looks back at A-Yuan, who just nods sadly. It seems better not to ask any more about it. They dim the lights so he can sleep a little easier.
They close the door behind them.
A-Yuan then looks up at Lan Wangji, asking, “Do you have any spicy food?”
No. God, no. If there’s one thing Lan Wangji has known for his entire life, it’s that he has no spice tolerance whatsoever. He’s tried to be a good sport about it, but he cannot help but find it unpleasant. Only the subtlest of spices does he consider cooking with.
“I do not.”
“Cool! Then we should make some! Baba really likes spicy food. If he smelled some, he’d perk right up! And he might be a little less grumpy too….”
The two end up cuddling together on the couch, with A-Yuan in his lap as they look at recipes online. They decide on a spicy fish soup. Lan Wangji would probably perish if he even attempted to taste it, so it should work to revive A-Yuan’s baba. Or so he hopes.
…
He doesn’t bring A-Yuan to the grocery store, although the mermaid pleads. Time is of the essence. Lan Wangji rushes through the spice aisles and gingerly checks his list every five seconds. He usually avoids all of these ingredients. Now he has to make sure to get all of them.
A foreboding sense of distress hits his heart when he puts in yet another bottle of chili flakes into the cart. This dish could probably wake the dead….and kill Wangji in the process. He will try not to taste it unless he has to. His life might depend on it.
The cashier fortunately does not look at him like he’s crazy.
….
When he gets home, it’s time to get to work. A-Yuan is eager to help out, though he seems more interested in eating discarded fish scraps than actually helping. Kind of like a weird, aquatic cat. Lan Wangji doesn’t mind until it’s the head of the fish. He gently scolds the mer-child and puts it into the soup where it belongs.
Speaking of which, it’s starting to look a little….frightening. It gets worse when he has to add in all the dried chili peppers, peppercorns, oil, and the numerous other ingredients he desperately does not want to use, but does.
The dish is alarmingly red when he’s finished; the color matches the deep red hues on the older mermaid’s tail. The dish can also be smelled from at least a mile away. A-Yuan does a taste-test for him. He winces, cringes, and gives a thumbs up.
“Baba will like this. It tastes…”
“It tastes like….?”
“It tastes like pain.”
Lan Wangji pours the spicy fish soup into a bowl and walks to the bathroom with earnest. The mermaid in his bathtub stirs a little bit. He does not open his eyes. Sitting the bowl down on the countertop, Wangji picks out a piece of fish with chopsticks. He then holds it up to the mermaid.
Sharp teeth immediately snatch the fish up. There is no hesitation in his movements. He was asleep just seconds ago. Now he is completely awake: precise, dangerous, and very hungry. Baba does open his eyes, though, and yawns cutely before looking for more food.
The sight is doing…strange things to Lan Wangji’s heart. He lifts up the bowl and sets it on the edge of the bathtub. The mermaid quickly picks it up and begins to eat. Wangji winces when he hears the crunch of an entire peppercorn (clearly not left uneaten). It seems this mermaid isn’t picky.
“How was it, Baba?”
Baba’s tail swishes happily in the water.
“It was so delicious! So delicious I’m even tempted to court this human over there, even if he’s a human , just so I could eat it again.” He then reaches out and places a kiss on the back of Lan Wangji’s hand. “You have my thanks. Now can I have seconds?”
The tips of Lan Wangji’s ears begin to turn scarlet, visibly burning in a hue not dissimilar to the color of that fish stew he had just made. He wasn’t sure if the mermaid would like it. And now the mermaid in his bathtub liked it so much, he claims he’d court him.
“I’ll….go get another bowl.” Wangji excuses himself and flees the bathroom.
He’s not into……is he? It’s true that he’s never seen a person so beautiful before. And Wangj already knows he does not have a thing for women. He just hadn’t expected that his first crush would turn out to be a mermaid. I mean, how could he have seen that coming? He didn’t even think mermaids were real until last week!
Lan Wangji starts to think about living a domestic life with a mermaid boyfriend and a mermaid son. And somehow, the thoughts don’t scare him. He’s usually so reclusive when it comes to meeting new people. Yet he feels an odd, comforting fondness around these two.
As he walks back toward the bathroom with another bowl of hot fish stew, he overhears the two mermaids chatting with one another. He pauses. They seem to be discussing something important. Should he interrupt them? And is it really okay to listen in? He finds himself frozen.
“Do you think he’s cute?” A-Yuan says, “Land-gege is a good human. He could give us food and everything.”
“I mean, yeah! Have you seen him? My little radish, that man’s gorgeous! An absolute catch! But so am I. Because I’m a mermaid. And we can’t go anywhere else right now anyway. Not until you learn how to transform back.”
“Hmmm…we could ask him!”
“We can’t just ask him. There’s no way he’d say yes. So I’m going to have to seduce him.”
“Don’t.” Lan Wangji said, from outside the door, and it barely masks his embarrassment.
He’s already been seduced. And he really doesn’t know how to feel about that. Maybe someday he’ll be able to confront those feelings, perhaps with a mermaid or two at his side.
Today, though, he’ll keep things simple. Lan Wangji walks into the bathroom with newfound courage, and simply tells the mermaids what they want to hear.
“You can stay.”
But he really is going to have to fix that door.