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Xiao Chiye wants to have a chat with whoever first claimed that dying by drowning is a peaceful way to go, because they’re a big fat fucking liar.
He’s drowning right now and it hurts. There’s only murky grey-blue around him, bubbles billowing from his throat as he tries to twist free, but the damn Qudu bastards had chained a broken stone anchor to his feet before tossing him over the side of his own ship.
Live by the sea, die by the sea. Xiao Chiye supposes, all things considered, it’s really not a bad way to go. He could be hanging in the gallows, or shot, or set on fire, or stabbed… or any of those million other ways a good-for-nothing pirate could potentially kick the bucket.
Just before he blacks out—and it’s sort of peaceful now—he wishes he could’ve at least had his first kiss before he meets Davy Jones at the bottom of the ocean. He can’t believe he’s dying a virgin.
Even the anchor at his feet feels weightless now—it feels like it’s not even there, actually—and he’s not really sinking anymore but soaring up, up, up, as if ascending to heaven…
Huh.
Ascending to heaven.
That’s not quite right—
Xiao Chiye’s head breaks the surface of the water and he is gasping, flailing, harsh sunlight scorching, sees the endless blue sky and the clouds and his face is numb but he still can’t breathe because his chest—
He retches, chokes, and then feels water being pulled from his lungs and he’s spraying seawater from his mouth and nose, eyes and throat burning with salt fire and he’s in the middle of the ocean being held up by a pair of cold arms—
One clear lungful of air, then another, and it has truly never tasted sweeter, richer.
Treading his legs so that his body bobs weakly in the waves, Xiao Chiye feels the arms release him, and he turns and rasps, “Who…”
His words falter when he comes face to face, with certainty, the most breathtaking man he has ever seen. Xiao Chiye just barely registers the too-black eyes, the pearls encrusted in his long inky hair, the three slits on either side of his neck, before the stranger gives him an odd look that is almost condescending.
“You were dying,” the man—merman—says matter of factly, because Xiao Chiye can very much see the shimmering silver tail flashing under the water. At the gaping silence, he adds, just to make sure Xiao Chiye knows, “I saved you.”
“You’re beautiful,” Xiao Chiye responds intelligently. Then, “You’re a merman.” Forgive him if he’s not in his right state of mind at the moment. A large wave swells, washing over the pair, and Xiao Chiye unattractively burbles seawater.
The merman frowns slightly. “I thought I got all the water out of your lungs,” he murmurs. Under the water, he touches a webbed finger to Xiao Chiye’s chest, and Xiao Chiye again has that peculiar feeling of liquid being dragged from inside his body, but this time only a few drops make it past his lips.
“Bleughh,” Xiao Chiye spits. The merman’s face wrinkles.
“Perhaps just shock, then,” the merman finishes his diagnosis.
“I thought your lot don’t, you know, save humans. Isn’t it normally the opposite?”
The merman doesn’t answer. A mild cramp is forming in Xiao Chiye’s left foot and his movements are beginning to slow. The merman’s eyes track all of this and he grabs hold of Xiao Chiye’s upper arm again.
“This may be asking a lot, since you’ve already saved me and all, but do you think you can take me to shore?” Xiao Chiye asks, voice bright as can be for someone who had just suffered a near-drowning experience.
The merman regards him unblinkingly.
“Alright,” the merman says finally, “but please keep in mind that you owe me one favour.”
The sun is dipping below the horizon by the time the merman deposits Xiao Chiye along a deserted beach. In the distance, warm globs of lantern light begin to appear as the nearby town prepares for dusk and the incoming night.
Xiao Chiye has never been happier for his feet to hit solid land. Crawling out of the breaking waves, he stumbles onto the beach and collapses there, exhausted, and thinks about how wonderful it is to be alive. Patting his pockets, he does a mental count of his possessions and is overjoyed to find that his trusty pistol and the keys to the captain’s quarters are still in his pockets. Those bastards that were his ex-crew would need to break down his fancy oak door if they wanted his stuff.
Turning onto his back like a pancake, Xiao Chiye realises that the merman is still sitting in the shallows, looking unsure.
“Do you want to cash in your favour now?” Xiao Chiye says wearily. It takes him a whole long, aching ten seconds to sit up. He’s casual when he asks, but he’s still a child of the sea and has grown up with tales of so-and-so uncle and this-and-that brother being dragged off of ships and piers by merpeople, so he’s hoping it’s nothing crazy.
It’s not ideal for a human to owe a favour to a supernatural being. Like the faefolk of the woods, merpeople are, more often than not, malevolent towards humans. But Xiao Chiye is half-drowned, his crew had just committed mutiny against him, and he’s been saved by a really gorgeous man–merman!–who’s looking at him with big, dark, very pretty eyes, so he’s actually not as worried as he really should be.
“Yes,” the merman says. The sunset at his back turns him golden, casts his eyes into shadows of a fathomless deep. It is here, on this beach, that Xiao Chiye finally gets a good look at his saviour.
The merman looks young, at least in human years, visually perhaps Xiao Chiye’s age or so. Three pink gills sit on either side of his long ivory neck, and his graceful fingers are webbed between each digit. A crown of pale pearls encircles his head, pulling back his hair to reveal a pair of blue fin-ears. A toned, milky chest and stomach gives way to a strong silver tail that thrashes under the water, with huge fins dragging from its side like the betta fish that Xiao Chiye often sees being sold in the markets.
“Alright then,” Xiao Chiye says, breezier than he feels. The merman hesitates, then half turns his torso so that he exposes his back to Xiao Chiye, who sucks in a startled breath.
The merman’s back is mottled with angry red streaks that radiate from a wound on his left shoulder blade. Where the rest of his skin is flawless, almost iridescent, the wound is bruised purple and leaks clear pus. The merman’s left arm hangs weakly to his side and every time he moves the skin tears in protest.
“I need your… assistance," the merman says.
Stiffly, Xiao Chiye struggles to his feet and waddles back into the water.
“May I?” Xiao Chiye asks, hand hovering. At the merman’s nod, he gently presses against the skin and watches as red blood wells immediately. “What happened?”
“Bullet,” the merman says, face scrunched in pain. “I need your help to get it out.”
“I’m not a doctor,” Xiao Chiye says. The waves lap at his calves and spin in tiny whirlpools around the merman. “I can take you to one, though.”
“No,” the merman says instantly. “No other humans.”
Grimacing, Xiao Chiye says, “What about your mermaid friends.”
“I’m… not popular at the moment. Besides, the bullet is made of iron. Other merpeople can’t touch me to get it out.”
“Okay… Well, can you turn into a human?” Xiao Chiye asks.
Casting his eyes to the sky in an unfairly long-suffering look, the merman sighs, as if it is the most obvious thing in the world, “Yes, but I have an iron bullet on me.”
“Alright, sorry I asked,” Xiao Chiye sniffs. His eyes dart to the merman’s slender neck and, unbidden, thinks how pretty he would look with a red agate stone swinging from his earlobe.
What the fuck.
Xiao Chiye mentally slaps himself. Focus!
“I don’t want to go into town, if that’s what you’re thinking,” the merman says. His tail flips, sending a spray of water into Xiao Chiye’s face, and Xiao Chiye chooses to think that it was unintentional. “I feel more… I’d rather stay in the sea.”
“Okay,” Xiao Chiye says and finally his legs give up. He slumps into the shallows of the beach and lets the waves wash over his legs. The merman turns back towards him and raises an eyebrow. Xiao Chiye drags a wet hand down his face and says, “What should I call you, by the way.”
The merman hums as he thinks, and it’s lovely and melodic and soothing. Xiao Chiye can feel his muscles relaxing as he listens, eyelids growing heavier. It sounds just like a half-forgotten memory of a lullaby his mother used to sing. His head tips forward into the water—
“Ah.”
Abruptly, the humming stops and Xiao Chiye’s eyes snap open again.
“I’m sorry,” the merman says, and he does look genuine.
“Did you just enchant me?” Xiao Chiye says incredulously.
“I forgot.”
“You forgot—”
“I don’t lure humans,” the merman snaps, his fin-ears twitching indignantly. “None have ever caught my interest anyway.”
“Except me,” Xiao Chiye says smugly, and his outrage is immediately forgotten at the first opportunity to tease.
“No—just,” the merman sighs irritably, “get the bullet out. I’ll be fine once it’s gone.”
“Okay, okay,” Xiao Chiye says, raising his arms in surrender. The tide is receding and the waterline is moving further down the beach, leaving the pair stranded on flat, wet sand. One by one, twinkling stars begin to appear in the night sky. “Turn around then.”
The merman presents his back to Xiao Chiye again. And again, Xiao Chiye’s thoughts betray him and his eyes trail downwards, following the lines of the merman’s back, as pale-smooth as moonlight, and sees how the supple skin gives way to shimmering, flashing silver scales. The merman should stink, realistically, like a fish or a dried up beach on a hot summer’s day. But he smells like a mix of saltwater and sea wood, and it’s somehow intoxicating. Do merpeople have aphrodisia in their scents?
“Lanzhou.”
“Hm?” Xiao Chiye blinks.
Shifting uncertainly, the merman repeats, voice almost lost in the waves, “Call me Lanzhou.”
Xiao Chiye can’t see the merman’s face, but the wound leaks more blood in protest at the way his shoulders have tensed. Xiao Chiye instinctively places a hand on the small of his back. “Relax, you’re agitating yourself.”
The merman doesn’t say another word and Xiao Chiye lets the silence hang for a spell.
“Lanzhou,” Xiao Chiye says. “I like it. My name is Xiao Chiye.”
He begins to inspect the wound, pressing lightly against the edges to gauge the depth. He can see the glint of the bullet when he gently moves the flesh, even as Lanzhou lets out a pained click of his teeth.
“I think it’ll be easier on you if you down a good mouthful of rum,” Xiao Chiye says. “It’ll dull—”
“No.”
“You sure love saying no,” Xiao Chiye mutters under his breath. He can’t tell, but he’s betting ten gold coins that Lanzhou is rolling his eyes.
It’s fast, when Xiao Chiye tears the bullet from Lanzhou’s shoulder. He gives a quiet warning and before the merman can respond, his fingers are dug into skin and muscle and sinew, scrabbling to grab hold, and when his fingers curl around the cold cylinder, he yanks it out lightning-quick, blood and pus following the gap it leaves behind.
Xiao Chiye’s got Lanzhou crushed into his chest immediately, careful not to touch his shoulder, and murmurs hushed nonsense into the merman’s fin-ear as Lanzhou coils in agony, tail splattering an arc of wet sand. But Lanzhou does not make a sound, just grips Xiao Chiye’s tattered shirt as the rocking pain begins to die down. When the final roll of agony passes, Lanzhou lies limp in Xiao Chiye’s chest, breath rattling in his lungs, his gills gaping uselessly. Whether it’s minutes or hours, Xiao Chiye does not know, but the moon is halfway risen by the time Lanzhou begins to wriggle again in his arms like a little sardine.
“I’m fine,” Lanzhou whispers. “You’re too warm.”
“I’m hot-blooded,” Xiao Chiye chuckles, allowing the merman to escape his arms and trying not to think about how perfectly Lanzhou fits against his body.
“And I’m cold-blooded,” Lanzhou counters. The shoreline has receded into the distance and, without even so much as a goodbye, Lanzhou begins squirming his way determinedly down the sand, hauling himself with just one arm.
“Whoa.” Xiao Chiye scrambles to his feet. It only takes two steps for him to reach the struggling merman. “Let me just carry you.”
“You’ve done enough and you’re exhausted,” Lanzhou says simply. His pearl crown sits slightly askew on his head and it wobbles dangerously when Xiao Chiye effortlessly scoops him into his arms, carrying him princess-style. “Hey!”
“You’re still hurt,” Xiao Chiye tells him gently.
“The healing process will begin once I’m back in the ocean,” Lanzhou says, snippy, batting at Xiao Chiye’s chest though there is no real force behind it.
Despite the situation, Xiao Chiye lets out a bright bark of laughter. “But isn’t it so much easier if someone helps you?”
To this, Lanzhou has nothing to say. After a moment of begrudging silence, Lanzhou rests his head into the crook of Xiao Chiye’s neck, and Xiao Chiye needs to calm down immediately because he wants to instinctively press a kiss atop his head.
When Xiao Chiye wades back into the sea for the thousandth time that day, sea foam curdling around his thighs, he and Lanzhou share a quiet moment where neither of them move, both gazing at the dark horizon, lost between sky and land.
“Thank you,” Lanzhou says finally. He looks up at Xiao Chiye, whose heart definitely skips maybe three beats. Their faces so close together, Xiao Chiye can see the subtle, supernatural glow behind Lanzhou’s black, languid eyes.
“You’re welcome,” Xiao Chiye replies. He gives the merman a rakish grin but his gaze remains soft. Lanzhou turns his face away and Xiao Chiye can see his neck turning pink, though he isn’t completely sure what that means.
Xiao Chiye releases Lanzhou gently into the water and is relieved to see that his wound has already stopped bleeding. Lanzhou submerges himself and resurfaces a moment later, and there is a noticeable surge in his strength when he playfully splashes Xiao Chiye with his tail. A large wave almost knocks Xiao Chiye off his feet, and when Lanzhou huffs a tiny laugh, Xiao Chiye thinks he has never heard a more delightful sound.
“You’re beautiful,” Xiao Chiye blurts out, for the second time. A wind picks up, turning the waves choppy and ragged and tousling his long hair.
Xiao Chiye knows that these words appear empty, like a lustful man chasing after a maiden down the street, but he is only a pirate and he cannot read, can only clumsily repeat what he hears between lovers like a child learning how to recite a poem.
Lanzhou just stares at him, bobbing up and down with the waves, illuminated only by the stars and the moon.
“Get yourself a ship,” Lanzhou says suddenly. “And a crew.”
“Wha—”
“The Great Whale Migration.”
A glint of a smile spreads across Lanzhou’s face, inhuman and breathtakingly so.
“I will be here, same time tomorrow,” Lanzhou says. He floats back towards Xiao Chiye and uses the pirate’s shoulders to pull himself up and halfway out of the water, leaning close. He is warmer now, and smells again of that intoxicating scent of sea salt and sand and liquid moonlight.
“I will swim with the Great Whale Migration to the south into summer waters,” Lanzhou says, his gaze inexplicably alluring, “so follow me closely, Xiao Chiye.”
And of course, it's insane. Who in their right mind would say yes?
But Xiao Chiye turns his head towards Lanzhou, their lips barely a breath apart, and there is an edge of a challenge in his voice. “Swim as fast as you can, Lanzhou. I'll catch you.”