Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Twelve

The eight of them sat together, Chan occasionally sniffing, his breathing still ragged from crying. Changbin was still holding him to his chest and rubbing tiny circles into his back, this seemed all too familiar to the Mers, having done the exact same to Seungmin only a week or two prior.  Felix watched Chan, the older boy finally calmed down enough to breath somewhat regularly, inhaling deeply and moving away from Changbin slightly, much to the younger boy's disappointment, "I'm sorry," Chan apologized, eyes still red and cheeks flushed "I shouldn't have, I-i have to be stronger than this...I'm the p-prince, I should be better..." to which Minho clasped his hands in his own "Don't be," he cupped the prince's jaw in his hand, holding his head so they were looking at each other "You don't have to always be strong, you know," he continued "You are so entitled to feel these emotions, okay? you are strong, and I'm sure you're a wonderful prince." Chan stayed silent, no one had ever actually comforted him before, his parents had tried when he was younger, but they never had the patience to sit through the tears, generally opting out and calling Jinyoung to sit in the room and wait for Chan to stop crying. Jeongin joined Minho and Changbin at Chan's side, crushing the former by laying his full weight on his lap and starting to fiddle with the prince's hair, "You shouldn't have to hide your feelings anymore," The youngest said, very focused on a small tangle in the oldest curls, "B-but I-" Chan started, but Hyunjin was having none of it, pressing his hand over Chris's lips "No. you need to feel your emotions, not bottle them up, or else you're going to explode one day." He murmured, Seungmin and Felix nodding with his words.  Jisung joined Jeongin in playing with the prince's hair, making Chan blush again, very easily flustered in his emotional state. 

Minho watched the prince, he was very conflicted right now, he had only just been untangling the mess that had been his own emotions, his crushes on his best friends, and now, this human. this boy they had only met a few weeks ago was here, and Minho couldn't help but think about how perfect the human prince would be for their group. the way his friends had been acting recently made him think that they also thought of their friends as more than that and the way they had so readily become Chan's friends, so willingly trusted a human, even after every story they had been told about humankind, he was almost completely sure that the other Mers would love to be in a relationship, it was Chan he wasn't sure about. the day the prince had saved him the older had seemed so caring towards him, but he didn't know if humans could love more than one person at a time, much less seven, even less then that seven Mers. He turned his attention away from those thoughts, he couldn't worry about such a thing while the prince was still so vulnerable.  

The other three Mers, Felix, Seungmin, and Hyunjin, who were currently just observing the other boys so close together, tails tapping against the wooden floor of the boat, shifted to join the others in cuddling into Chan, the boat rocked dangerously, the wood creaking loudly and Hyunjin grabbed the side of the boat "ugh, I hate boats," he said as the wind picked up, the boat rocking again making Hyunjin fall directly into Chan's lap, making both boys flush and giggle shyly, "I'm sorry, It's an old boat, the balance is pretty bad, my-my dad and I used to flip it over while we were trying to learn how to sail in such a small boat," The prince's voice cracked when he spoke about his father, clearing his throat quickly to try to pass it off, Hyunjin, still in his lap, reached up and wrapped his arms around the human's neck so that it was now him, Minho and Changbin with the human locked between the three of them and the other four Mers leaning against Chan's legs and the wooden bench they were sitting on. 

The wind continued to blow strongly, spraying the salty water up into the boys' faces, Chan shivering since humans weren't as used to the cold as Mers were, and even with the Mers combined body heat, the rapidly dropping temperature was enough to make his teeth chatter and he nuzzled deeper into Changbins arms, not really noticing what he was doing until Felix cooed softly, him and Jisung looking up at him with adoring eyes. Seungmin hit Felix on the head gently and crawled up onto the bench, wrapping the prince in his embrace as well, "You should head back up to the palace soon before you get...f-" he hesitated on the word "Frostbite?" He finished, the Mers agreed quickly, they had heard the stories of the sailors who had lost limbs from the cold, the elders always told them to frighten the youngsters into never straying far from the cities, "It's not cold enough to get frostbite," Chan smiled weakly as the Mer "Just enough to be kind of cold, besides I don't..." He trailed off, becoming interested in fiddling with his fingers, "You don't what Hyung?" Jisung asked and the sudden use of 'Hyung' startled Chan slightly, not expecting Mers to use honorifics, "I don't...want you guys to leave," Chan said the last bit very fast and quiet but the Mers all heard him, Jeongin giggling and joining his four other Hyungs in squishing Chan in a hug, "We don't wanna leave either, but we don't want you to get sick..." He trailed off and Chan finally smiled for real, dimples and all, "I probably won't get sick if I get out of the wind," At that, Felix and Jisung, the only ones still on the ground on the boat tugged Chan down out of the wind and salty sea spray, the others all tumbling down with him.