Chapter Text
Hyunwoo has always loved the ocean. From a young age he would comb the beach looking for treasures, and he would collect sea shells and trinkets that had washed ashore. He would look for little crabs and starfish and study them curiously for hours. Years later, after getting his degree as a marine biologist, he still roams the beaches for treasures and little animals (only now he gets paid to do it).
It’s an early October morning when Hyunwoo makes his usual round over the beach. The sun isn’t completely up yet, painting the sky various hues of pinks and purples, reflected brilliantly on the endless waves. It’s cold, and Hyunwoo curses himself for leaving his gloves at home. He stuffs his hands in his pockets and buries his nose further into his scarf as he keeps his eyes trained on the ground. Every time he exhales his breath leaves little clouds in its wake.
Systematically, he moves along the shore line. He has walked this path so many times, he knows every twist and turn, every nook and cranny. He scribbles a few things down on his notepad, small observations, little notes that only he would understand. He pauses his writing as his eye falls on something strange.
Something odd.
Something off.
A little further along the shoreline, he sees the outline of a man lying in the sand. But the closer he gets, the more he notices something is off. First of all, the man is naked. His skin is paler than coral and his hair is so blond it is almost white.
Is he dead? Is he hurt? Is he dying?
Second of all, his legs appear to be covered in scales.
Upon closer inspection, the man appears to have no legs at all, no, it seems to be… a tail. A real, fishlike tail, scales and everything.
This must be a mistake. A joke. Or maybe just a really good cosplay?
Third of all, the man appears to be unresponsive and bleeding out from the large gash across his stomach. Hyunwoo’s mind races. Should he bring the man (merman?) to the hospital? What would people think? It would be bad if the media caught wind of this, they would probably put him in the limelight, parade him around like a circus freak. No, no, that would be bad.
Unsure of what to do, but knowing he can’t leave the man out here to die, Hyunwoo takes him in his arms. He is surprisingly light. If he wasn’t holding a half-dead mermaid man in his arms, he might have taken the time to marvel at the sensation of feeling the texture of the scales against his skin. He rushes to his car and carefully puts the man down on the backseat. He finds a towel in the trunk and ties it around the wound as tightly as possible, hoping it will hold out until he gets home.
Hyunwoo races back to his apartment. Luckily, his place is only a ten minute drive from the beach. He carries the unconscious man inside and lays him down on his couch while he scrambles around looking for his med kit. Thankfully, he took a First Aid class in college (which in no way prepared him to treat large, life-threatening wounds, but he takes what he can get).
When he gets back with the med kit, the towel is already soaked in blood. Hyunwoo wonders how he got hurt so bad. He hasn’t really had the chance to take a moment to realize that a) mermaids/mermen are real and b) there is one lying on his couch and c) holy shit mermaids are real, this is easily the biggest discovery of his career, and if the merman wasn’t dying he would be really freaking excited about that right now.
He cleans out the wound with a cloth and warm water, making sure to get rid of all the sand and dirt and salt. Once cleaned, the wound appears to be a little more manageably, and with all of his medical expertise (a couple of afternoon classes of first aid basics) he judges the wound can do without stitching so he bandages it up instead (which is good, because he does not know how to stitch a wound).
To his surprise, the man doesn’t feel cold, though his skin is starting to look a little ashy, at which Hyunwoo starts to panic. Shit. Shit. Of course. Because he’s a merman he must have gills. He needs water.
Hyunwoo runs upstairs. The apartment did come with a bath tub, though it is hardly large enough to accommodate one small human (It certainly is not large enough for Hyunwoo to fit in, so he has been using the tub as a laundry basket), let alone a merman, but it is the largest space he can store water in without immediately flooding his entire apartment. He throws out the laundry and fills the tub. When he deems it full enough he carries the merman upstairs.
Hyunwoo is worried about the bandages getting loose in the water but they seem to hold up as he lowers him into the water.
Unresponsive, the merman sinks deeper into the water. His white blonde hair pools around his face, with his eyes tightly shut. For what feels like hours, the merman floats underwater, until slowly, very slowly, his lips part. With a loud gasp his eyes flutter open and water enters his mouth. Hyunwoo sees the gills expand, right underneath his jaw, and slowly bubbles rise up to the surface.
Thank god, he’s not dead.
The merman observes him curiously from beneath the water (though only his head is submerged, the rest of his body is awkwardly folded in the tiny bath tub). Now that his eyes are open, he sees that they are a brilliant blue.
The emerald orbs follow him closely as he closes the lid so he can sit on the toilet. He doesn’t want to scare the merman and he figures he might need a little time to recover from his near death experience. After a couple of minutes the merman carefully peeks over the edge of the bath tub.
“…Where…. Where am I?” He asks, his voice soft and wavering.
“Ah.. You are in my apartment. You seemed to be dying so I took you home.” Hyunwoo says, suddenly feeling a little flustered (Hyunwoo generally doesn’t take guys home BEFORE the first date).
The merman cocks his head. “…Home?” He looks at his feet. “Oh my god… you’re human.” He propels backwards, wildly trashing around with his tail in the much-too-tiny bath tub, before realizing he has nowhere to go.
“Please don’t eat me.” The merman whimpers, his body pressed flat against the wall, water sloshing generously all over Hyunwoo’s nice new bathmat.
“..Wah?” Now it’s Hyunwoo’s turn to look confused.
“Aren’t you going to try to eat me?” The merman asks while hiding behind his hands.
“Uh, no.” Hyunwoo deadpans.
“Oh.”