Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Five

Minho was spinning, he was holding Seungmins hand not even a minute ago, he could see the rain pelting the surface before he hit a rock hard, and rolled. he saw a wood pole in the ground and realized where he was- the royal private beach. another massive wave sent him towards the beach and then; he was stuck, he couldn't move, what was on him? He soon realized it was a fishing net and panicked more, fighting the restraint that had his arms pinned next to him, he wriggled in the hopes that he could get out, he felt the pulling of another wave and attempted to get under the dock but no such luck, the wave sent him onto the beach, bound and...bleeding? he soon realized the fishing hook stuck in the fin and partly embedded in his actual tail, "Shit." He muttered to himself, unable to get back in the water, he spat out some sand and realized, someone was going to see him. 

Chan watched the storm, he hated storms. his father had died in one and now, there was a tree near the lighthouse that was on fire. He hoped the people in the village were okay, most hid out in the city hall for the bad storms like this one. he saw a glint of red out the corner of his eye but when he grabbed his binoculars there was nothing, he had wondered, for a moment, if it was the merboy, if it was, he was gone by now. he turned his attention back to the royal private beach and watched the waves crash. he had been watching for a couple of minutes before..."What is that...?" He whispered, once again grabbing his binoculars and he gasped as soon as he saw what it was, he grabbed a jacket and knife, just in case, and ran down the stairs by his balcony and threw the gate open before tripping over himself and tumbling down the hill by the beach, he stood up again and dashed towards the Mer laying trapped in a net on the sand, he kneeled next to the boy "Holy shit are you okay?" He recognized the other as one of the Mers who had saved him, "I'm stuck and bleeding." Minho deadpanned, a brief look of hurt crossed Chans features before he grabbed his knife and Minho flinched and looked away "I'm sorry! please don't hurt me!" "hey-no no, I'm just cutting you out!" Minho relaxed and Chan cut through the nets and pulled them off him before examining the hook in the Mers tail "I'm going to have to cut this out, too. it's barbed at the end and I don't want to rip your tail, it would take longer to heal." He looked apologetically at Minho, who looked at him for a moment before saying "Very well if you have too. just please...do it quickly," Chan nodded and held his tail down as to not make a worse wound before he placed the knife above the hook and made two precise, clean cuts on either side of the hook before pulling it out and placing his own jacket over the bleeding wound and applying pressure, Minho sucked in as soon as the knife touched his skin and clenched his fists in the sand to stop from making noise. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...!" Chan pulled a roll of bandages out of the bag that had his knife in it and wrapped the tail tightly, "Better?" Minho nodded slowly "yes...thank you..." He said sincerely, "I mean you saved my life..." Chan responded, "I just returned the favor," The prince looked over the Mer to make sure he had no other injuries, "But I don't think you should swim back out in that storm..." Minho nodded "But I don't know what to do otherwise..." "you can wait out the storm here if you'd like...I could probably carry you to my room...how long can you survive out of water?" Chan suggested slowly, "I can be out of the water, it's just uncomfortable, but I think that might be the best option..." Minho said, "I apologize for the inconvenience I have caused." "Don't." Chan silenced him "You have caused me no trouble," He reassured the younger boy "I'm going to pick you up to take you to my room." and so he did, picking up the Mer with ease, making the boy in his arms flush a little bit, glad for the cove of the storm. the prince carried him up the stairs and set him down on a chaise lounge in his room, the two spoke a bit as Chan decided to put stitches in the cut in Minho's tail, just in case.  

"Do you think he's okay?" Changbin asked, they had decided to wait out the storm in the air caver closest to the beach and they were all worried sick about their oldest Hyung. Seungmin, who had just lost his Gran and was the one closest to Minho when he got separated was once again close to tears, Felix was by the entrance, watching the waves from underneath and waiting for it to be safe enough to go to find him, "He's fine, Right Hyung?" Jeongin spoke to Hyunjin, leaning on his shoulder and looking up at him, his eyes searching Hyunjins face as he waited for the answer, Hyunjin hesitated before answering, "Minho Hyung is strong, okay?" He finally said, "He'll be okay." He wished he knew his words were true and he wasn't giving the others false hope. 

Back with the Prince and Minho, Chan had discovered that Minho did not have high pain tolerance, the poor Mer was crushing one of Chan's pillows in pain as the prince stitched up the cut in his tail, Chan finally finished after what felt like an eternity to Minho and he rewrapped the bandages, "You should be ready to go back in the water as soon as you can." He smiled warmly at the Mer and Minho felt his heart skip a beat, he hoped his cheeks weren't turning red, but Chans smile was so...perfect, the dimples and his pink lips...Minho shook his head of those thoughts, he barely knew this man, they had only really met twice. a knock sounded at the door and Chan panicked, "Shit," He hissed before calling back "Who is it?" he breathed a sigh of relief as it was just Jinyoung, "Sire? Who are you speaking to?" "uh...no one! myself?!" Chans' voice came out an octave higher than usual "Okay..." Jinyoungs voice sounded unsure before his footsteps sounded down the hall and his own bedroom door opened and closed, Chan breathed a sigh of relief "Sorry..." He apologized to the Mer, still fearing that his advisor knew of the other boy inside the room, Minho shook his head quickly to deflect the concern "Don't be, however, I believe the storm will be passing soon." and he was right, as awful as the storm had been, it was short-lived. the weak rays of sunlight peaked through the heavy cloud cover and the rain slowly came down to a light drizzle. Chan couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed at the thought of the Mer having to leave so quickly, his friends must be worried, "Yes," He agreed, "Shall I bring you back down to the sea? Your friends may be searching for you."