Bargaining with Mermen

Chapter 2

     A loud thud erupted through the house and had woken up almost everyone. " Yah! C'mon you could've woken them up. If we want their help we have to at least learn this again don't embarrass me!" Yeonjun then helped Hueningkai - the loud thud- up. "I'm sorry I'm sorry it's harder than I remember alright!" Hueningkai dusted himself off. At least he could stand. Walking was a little harder. "You can walk Yeonjun?" Beomgyu asked from the doorway looking surprised. Did he seriously make him carry his heavy ass inside, when he could already walk!? "Now I can, we've been practicing! I didn't lie last night!" Yeonjun walked towards him to reassure. Beomgyu believed him since his footing still didn't look like he had walked in a while. "If you could shift legs why did you stay in the sea? Or was I hallucinating? You're still mermen right?" Yeonjun nodded to his question and smiled. "I'm glad you don't think we're terrifying, we couldn't come on land because...well die after 2 days without sea water..." Beomgyu brushed away his worry. "You aren't scary to me, like Taehyun said, you help us we help you. You are in a tight spot- it happens to be a very, VERY weird tight spot, but you're still people who need help." Beomgyu stated without a hint of fear in his voice. They were all interupted. "H-hyung...please he-help." Yeonjun turned to Hueningkai, who was being stripped by Taehyun. "WOAH WOAH TAEHYUN WAIT WAIT-" Beomgyu stopped him. "He's human right now and usually you don't go STRIPPING A GUY YOU JUST MET DOWN TO LOOK AT HIM." Taehyun frowned. "right, sorry I just wanted to see if every part resembled a humans.." a cup shattered. Soobins cup. "Ah- then it wasn't a dream- wahhh." Soobin covered his eyes still stumbling over the mermen finding event.
     "I'm glad it wasn't a dream do you know how great of a discovery this could be? We could be worldwide scientists!! And they can be human again when we find a cure of sorts." At least Taehyun seemed to have fun with the whole thing.
     "First, tell us things we should know." Taehyun had sat everyone down on two couches to begin what he called 'the interrogation of fish people's.  "We can't stay out of sea water for more than two days or we die." Hueningkai said flatly. Taehyun wrote it down. "The longer were like this the more predatory- animal-like we get." Taehyun wrote it down again.  "I think we died ..." Yeonjun said a bit solemnly. "I THINK!!the last thing I remember is falling in the water when I was a human, Hueningkai was with me on a boat. That's all we remember." Yeonjun had to clarify that to calm the shocked looks of the human boys.
    "You can walk now?" Soobin asked.
"I can pretty well Hueningkai is almost there it's not too hard to learn." Yeonjun answered him firmly. Soobin felt a bit more relaxed. They seemed like just ordinary boys now.
      Hueningkai looked to the humans eagerly. "Is it safe here?" He asked. "What do you mean?" Taehyun. "I mean, is it safe for people like us to stay.. here?" There was a pause. Taehyun thought back. His parents should be gone for a while, but when they came back, his father could pose a threat, he would probably take Hueningkai and Soobin away. He wouldn't see them as anything other than fish to study. His father was a great dad and scientist, but he doubted he would seem that way to them. "Yes. This is my house and my parents are away for a while, if they come back sooner than planned, we'll fill one of the marine tanks with salt water for you to hide in." Taehyun made sure to not waver his words. They need to trust each other for both of their sakes. The two Mermen looked relieved.
      Taehyun then looked at beomgyu and Soobin. A long look. A questioning one. "If you're staring at me to make sure i won't spill the fish story then I swear I wont. In fact I want in." Beomgyu said matter-of-factly. Taehyun smiled. Soobin finished the sandwich he had been eating and sighed. "I'll help but if we get in trouble then Im spilling everything." Soobin said. Taehyun and Beomgyu hugged him and smiled.
"ALRIGHT LETS GET TO FISH FORENSICS!!" everyone gave Taehyun a look that said 'were not calling it that' and followed him outside anyway. 
     Hueningkai was leaning on soobin because he wasn't so stable walking and on SAND ....no no. Soobin was no longer scared of Hueningkai at least. The merman seemed eager to learn what seemed so simple for soobin. Soobin felt like a responsible hyung.
Yeonjun on the other hand was already in the water, flaunting his tail to Taehyun and Beomgyu. Taehyun was measuring it and taking more notes. Beomgyu was suffering through a line of fish jokes from yeonjun.
     Soobin gently helped Hueningkai into the water and watched the tail reappear. It looked scary before but now that he takes another look, it was actually beautiful. Shining gold scales, an orange sunset draping fin. And his skin looked like it was gleaming. Taehyun went to examine hueningkais tail after yeonjuns. Soobin watched as Hueningkai relaxed in the water, yeonjun seemed better too. The water must feel nice to them.
      "What are you doing?" Yeonjun asked. Beomgyu was underwater tugging his tail lightly. He came up for air and yeonjun was mesmerized by seeing a human swimming with him, and not away. "C'mon, I want to swim with a merman. Are you able to make me breath underwater?" Beomgyu seemed more excited about swimming with the Mermen rather than studying and helping them. Yeonjun pulled himself deeper in the water and swam under beomgyu. Beomgyu took that as a 'yes I can' and he went under, excited. Yeonjun swam around him in circles. To be honest, he didn't hate being stuck as a merman, he hated how lonely it was. Sure he had Hueningkai but they couldn't talk underwater, no conversations, no playing. The whole time they had been desperate to find help and food. Hueningkai was much younger when they became Mermen so yeonjun would always hunt for them, protect them. Thats when he found out that the longer they stay like this, the more predator like he becomes. He attacked harmless fish sometimes and couldn't control himself.
     He smiled when he saw beomgyu, with his eyes closed because of the salt water, feeling around for him. Yeonjun remembered he asked if he could make him breathe underwater. He was probably waiting for that. Yeonjun grabbed his hands and pulled him through the water. Beomgyu wasn't scared of him, pulling him, underwater, with his eyes closed, completely helpless.
     Hueningkai watched soobin from the water. Taehyun had been asking him to do a lot of things with his tail and breathing underwater changes. He knew that it was necessary to get their help, but it was so tedious. Soobin was under an umbrella blowing up floaties. "Can he swim?" He asked Taehyun, who stopped examining his scales to answer. "No, I bet he could learn but hes tall and he refused to go into deep water." Taehyun said , and went to the end of huneingkais tail to examine the texture of his fins. Hueningkai was intrigued. He can't imagine not being in the water. He's been in it so long, he only has the memory of being on the boat as a human, with yeonjun, so he must've swam as a human too.
     "I wish I could remember." he accidentally said out loud. "Remember what?"Taehyun had finished examining their tails now.. "Remember when I didn't know how to swim." Hueningkai sighed and watched soobin get on the floaty and go to them.  "I can teach you to swim if you want, who better than a merman right? Even if you sank down, i could bring you up so fast." Hueningkai tried to convince soobin.
"We're here so Taehyun can get information- I think it's not such a good time for me to learn to swim, but thank you." He seemed content on his floaty. "He's just chicken." Taehyun teased him by shaking his floaty. "YAH YAH YAH!!!NO PLEASE!! TAEHYUN YOU KNOW I CANT SWIM!! PLEASE!" Soobin pleaded, a bit angry. "alright alright." Taehyun left him alone.
     Beomgyu was wiping water from his eyes. Yeonjun had swam up with him so he could breathe. He got some water in his eye when he tried to open them and it burned a little if he was being honest. "You alright now?" Yeonjun asked a puffy-eyed beomgyu. "I should've brought my goggles." He laughed. Yeonjun kept his hold on beomgyus waist, he was so warm. The ocean was cold, so cold. Hueningkai was barely giving off heat in the ocean and he never let him touch him anyway. "Can you make me breathe there now? Can you make bubbles?" Yeonjun felt cocky seeing beomgyu looking so impressed with his merman abilities. "Sorry, I can only give you air through mouth to mouth down there." He smiled when beomgyu splashed him. "Yah! Just say you can't then jeez."
      "Guys! Come get some food, I still have a lot of things I want to test don't get tired!" Taehyun called them in on the shore and handed them sandwiches. He looked over his notes as beomgyu and Soobin hauled the Mermen out of the ocean.

    "Honey, we should go confront him!" His wife urged. "Not yet, I think our son has made quite the discovery, if we let this go on, I could make a breakthrough honey. Imagine, you, me, and Taehyun all in the news as the biggest scientific discovery of the century!" Taehyuns father did in fact come home earlier than expected. He and his wife were in the car, watching from a distance.
        "Sir, if not your house where would you like me to take you?" The driver asked. "Just take us to the nearest hotel please."he said, staring down at his son. Taehyun was young, he knew nothing of studying things, but he knew that Taehyun would try to hide any of his discoveries from his old man.What Taehyun discovered was also very- dangerous. He shouldn't let his son stay with such creatures for long. He had to get on a cruise for work in the next hour anyway, he could wait until he came home to properly study his sons new discovery.