Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Seventeen

Hyunjin and Jisung had sped the entire way back to the docks, the other five Mers' trailing behind them. They noticed Chan wasn't there right away but figured he was just running a bit late, they swam around the docks for a bit, Seungmin collecting a couple of stray fishing lures and removing the hooks so he could keep them, "Do you think he's coming?" Jeongin asked quietly after at least half an hour of waiting, "if course he is," Minho said comfortingly, wrapping the youngest in a hug "He's probably just running late, you know, prince stuff..." he watched Felix and Changbin attempt to skip stones like they had seen humans do, just each time it resulted in a disappointing splash and Jisungs laughter, it was soon apparent that the prince wasn't going to come to meet them, "Is he mad at us...?" Hyunjin whispered; they were all leaning up against the docks now, the youngest boys' taking it much harder than Minho and Changbin, who were trying to internalize their feelings for the sake of the babies. "I guess we should head home, then..." Changbin said sadly, the others nodding slowly, Hyunjin cuddling Jisung into his chest, the younger boy worried that Chan was mad at them, a couple of stray tears rolling down his cheeks. 

They turned around, Minho caught a glance of a silhouette of someone in Chan's room, hoping he would come down, but to no use. the figure seemed to struggle with the door down for a second, but if Minho squinted he could see many things stacked in front of the door so it couldn't open. He felt his heart sink, if that was Chan, someone had blocked him from coming outside. He assumed that his mother had found out that Chan's mother had figured out that he had been talking to someone not inside the palace. He took Felix's hand to lead him home, Jeongin clinging onto his other arm the entire way back to the city. the seven Mers' started swimming home, still upset that Chan hadn't come. 

The decision had been made to go back to Jeongin's house, as it was closest, and crash there. they opened the door, all immediately heading for the bedroom to sleep in one giant pile as their usual. Seungmin, who had been buzzing with excitement that morning at the thought of sailing with the prince, was now very quiet, Changbin tugging him along gently, each of them stripping off their shirts that they had worn as to avoid sunburns and untying hair (Hyunjin), Jeongin was the first to flop onto his bed, followed by Felix, who latched onto the baby quickly and cuddled closer in, then the rest of them joined those two, Jeongin was the first to break, "Ch-chan doesn't like us, d-does he?" his voice cracked, his friends all peppered him with kisses, brushing his hair back "No, no, baby," Seungmin reassured the youngest "he likes you, okay? it's me, I fucked it up." all the others turned their attention to Seungmin "He likes you too, Minnie." Felix said softly, "I'm sure something just came up. we'll go up to the docks again tomorrow and see if he comes down. sound good?" the others agreed weakly, Jeongin's cheeks wet from tears and Seungmin trying not to cry. they fell asleep soon, it was early, but none of them had the energy to stay awake. 

Minho woke up first, Jisung and Hyunjin crushing him while they layed on top of him, Jisung was half on him and the other half on Changbin, snoring softly. He tried to gently move them so that the feeling could return to his tail but Hyunjin moaned a soft "No..." and looped his arms around Minho's neck, forcing the oldest out of them to flop back into the soft pillows, Jisung shifted into the space in between Minho and Changbin, arms still draped over Changbins chest, the other three were all tangled together, Felix trapped between Seungmin and Jeongin. Minho watched his friends slowly wake up in all their morning glory, bedhead, and raspy voices, Hyunjin still latched on to him, making all the others coo softly at him, to which he groaned and swatted a tired hand at whoever was closest. 

They stayed close when they moved into the kitchen to find food, everyone still upset over Chan not showing up. especially Seungmin who thought that Chan was mad at him, and Jeongin who really liked the prince. they ate in silence, Hyunjin still half asleep so Minho ended up feeding him off of his own spoon, had the younger been fully awake he would have probably blushed and pushed Minho away but in his sleepy state he accepted his Hyung's spoon each time he pressed it against his lips, leaning into Minho's neck and letting Felix brush out his hair, the boys' had never understood what Felix's fascination with doing hair, but they all loved the way the boy would swim up behind them and start playing with it, loving the braids and ponytails he always left them with, so eventually they started seeking him out to tie their hair and the way the small boy's eyes would light up made them all so happy it was worth the judgemental stares they would get from the elder Mers'. 

Seungmin glanced around the room, his friends all playing cards together. he was losing, badly, because every time he had the shot to make someone draw the card would land on either Jeongin or Felix and no one could stand the pouts the two would give when either had to draw more, so they mostly just let the two win, which Jisung complained loudly about each time they did, "You guys never let me win! I'm cute!" He groaned loudly, throwing his entire weight onto Hyunjin, who didn't even try to catch him and fell onto Changbin, who pushed Hyunjin back up, muscules straining when both Hyunjin and Jisung started pushing back against his arm, while they were distracted Jeongin snuck in with a win, yelling happily while the other three accused him of cheating, no real bite to their words while they watched Jeongin dance around the room victoriously, the thought of Chan slipping their minds for the time being.