Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Fifteen

The Mers reached the dock with minimal injuries (Changbin had chased Felix straight into the wall of one of the houses in the city), Chan was sitting on the end of the dock already, he had a bowl of salad next to him and he ate mindlessly as he flipped through a book. Jeongin swam up to the dock and pushed up on his arms, water pouring off of him and onto the dock, Chan scrambling backward in surprise while trying to keep himself dry, Jeongin giggling as he watched his Hyung attempt to protect his book from the water he had sprayed up towards the dock before he sat on the edge, the other Mers joining him soon, forcing Chan to sit further away as to not get in the water that the Mers had brought up with them. "Hello," Chan greeted them, shaking the few droplets of water off of his book before he put it down "How was your-" he motioned around him for a moment "Dinner?" he finally found the word, 'that was adorable,' Minho thought to himself "It was good! how was your-" He mimicked the way Chan had waved his hands "Dinner?" Chan pouted, "That's mean," he pointed at his bowl of salad "That was my dinner. now it's all wet from you guys," Jeongin apologized quickly, stumbling over his words "Sorry! I didn't see it!" he groaned and slumped into Felix, who laughed at the youngest's dramatics. 

Chan watched the Mers, so comfortable together, he wished he could join them, in the sea, anyway, the sea was more of his home then the palace ever was. He looked back up at the palace, he could see a few lights lit inside, probably the kitchens and his mother's room. He noticed the Mers eyes on him, looking back towards them and Seungmin smiled faintly "So...I had an idea," The others all looked towards the boy curiously and he took that as a sign to continue, "How about we go sailing one day? then we can all do it but it's something Chan Hyung can do too," Chan nodded, "I haven't been sailing in a long time, that could be fun!" He said happily, Seungmin grinning at the enthusiastic response from the prince, his friends agreed one at a time, Hyunjin still skeptical about boats but agreeing when Jisung had. 

The eight of them soon split into separate conversations, Felix crawling on his hands toward Chan asking excitedly if he could do his hair now, to which the prince grinned and agreed readily, he hadn't had his hair done, besides getting gelled occasionally, since he was little. So now when Felix started his braid, he had decided to do one loose one tucked right over Chan's ear, he couldn't help but melt into the younger boy's hands, grimacing when he pulled too hard, which Felix apologized for quickly when it happened. Felix purposely taking a long time to do the braid, he didn't really want to move away from the prince. he finished it eventually, tying off the braid with a ribbon and sitting back on his tail proudly, "There you go!" he smiled at the older, who smiled back, "Thank you, Lixie!" He patted the Mer's head and Felix blushed shyly. Chan hesitated, then shuffled closer to Felix and wrapped an arm around him. The others took that as a sign they were dry enough to move closer to the prince, so soon the entire maknae line was cuddled up to him. "So Chris," Minho was leaned up against Changbin as he spoke, "What's it like up on land?" He asked curiously, making Chan tilt his head, wondering about how to answer. "It's the only thing I've ever known, so I don't have anything to compare it to..." He trailed off, still considering his words carefully "I guess it's probably a lot brighter than living underwater," Minho nodded "Yeah, It gets really dark when the lights go out in the cities." He agreed, Chan smiling "The only times it gets really dark are the cloudy nights when everyone puts out their lights, but the bakers' lights are almost always lit. they stay up all night to make bread for the whole kingdom, and for trading and gifts and such." Hyunjin cocked his head "this may be a dumb question but...what is bread?" he asked, ears going red when Chan looked at him like he was insane "Do you not have that underwater?!" he shook his head in embarrassment, "I guess it would get soggy underwater, I'll bring you some next time I see you, I think you'll like it!" Hyunjin nodded, glad Chan hadn't pressed more on how he didn't know what bread was. 

"And Hyunjin is one of our top racers!" Jeongin was telling the prince about the sleek-tailed Mer's success in the races, Chan listening eagerly as the youngest told how Hyunjin had won his first race, how they had all celebrated, and how the Mer had risen so quickly to one of the favorite racers in their pod. Hyunjin embarrassedly burying his face into Seungmins chest as the baby described in great detail how much he had drunk as soon as he had become of age, the same day as he had won one of the biggest races to Merfolk, Chan laughing softly when Jeongin fondly teased his Hyung for the dumb things he had said that day, Hyunjin groaning loudly when Jeongin reminded everyone of the way he had attempted to speak to one of the statues in the middle of the city, Felix jumping into the story sometimes to add small details that made it all the worse for Hyunjin, who had never wanted Chan to find out about the weird things he had done while drunk. "Well, I think everyone had embarrassing stories about the first time they got drunk,"  Chan said, placing a hand on Hyunjins back in an attempt to comfort the poor boy, who looked up at him "What? what did you do?" his words came out muffled since his cheek was still pressed against Seungmin, Chan's eyes widened "oh look at the time! I gotta go!" He attempted to stand, Felix, dragging him back down "No!! you have to tell us now!" the others all agreed and Chan sighed, beginning to tell the story of how he had run into the village, his mother having to drag him home, the way he had acted that day had scarred his image for two or three years, the villagers having to regain their respect for him after he had apologized several times over time. the Mers all laughed along with the prince, who blushed as he told the story but was glad he had in the end when Hyunjin unstuck his face from Seungmin to watch Chan talk.