Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Twenty-One

Chan had crashed hard after a full day of 'adventuring' with Violetta, only taking one break for a snack and then returning to running about the castle. He had finally shaken her when her father came to collect the girl for bed, silently thanking the man, as much as he liked Violetta it was exhausting to be with children for a long period of time. He had headed up to his own room to write more in his notebook, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw his balcony doors were no longer boarded, he supposed his mother had figured he would be to busy with the ball and the princesses to sneak out again, and she was right, for the most part. he had no energy to go down to the beach after the long day of running around after Violetta, but he decided to at least go outside, the fresh air would do him some good. 

Seungmin hadn't stopped thinking about Chan on the dock, none of them had discussed it out loud but he knew everyone was concerned for the prince. He had looked so uncomfortable, constantly pulling his sleeves down and hiding his arm as much as he could. Seungmin was worried about the older boy, especially when Felix had told them how longing he had looked when he watched the waves crashing and how his face seemed to lighten when he had seen the red scales in the water. He had heard about the ball happening in the palace, as well as the rumors about Chan's mother trying to find a wife for the prince, which made all the Mers' blood boil with silent anger. He thought back to Chan crying on the dock, wondering if the boy had found anyone to talk to on land, he doubted it, especially since the two reef-dwellers had seen him on the dock. 

Minho, Seungmin, and Hyunjin decided to swim out to see if they could see anyone in the palace, the others figuring they were just going to swim around the gardens or visit one of their parents, however, the two boys were by the royal dock, every light out in the palace aside from Chan's room and the kitchens. Hyunjin had rested his head on his arms, crossing them over the dock. the three of them could see the figure on Chan's balcony, hoping it was the prince, Minho slapped his tailfin against the water loudly and ducking under quickly just in case it wasn't the prince while the other two slipped under after him as the person turned their head towards the sea. 

Chan heard the slap against the water, turning towards the water and squinting to see in the sift moonlight. He crossed his fingers that it was the Mers' and closed his notebook, heading down the stairs and reaching the beach, making his way down the dock carefully. Minho surfacing first, breaking into a grin when he saw the prince, who looked exhausted and totally drained. "Chan!" Hyunjin all but squeaked in excitement, pushing up on the dock and shaking his hair as dry as he could, Chan smiled tiredly when Seungmin surfaced alongside his Hyungs' and pulled up next to Seungmin, the two younger Mers' helping Minho up after them to sit next to Chan's feet, who quickly sat down next to them.

The four of them sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Seungmin spoke up "Why didn't you come to the dock when you said you would?" Chan froze, opening his mouth to speak and shutting it several times, Minho quickly placing a hand on his back when he noticed the boy start shaking, pulling him into a tight hug which the prince melted into, not caring that his shirt was getting soaked and just caring how close he was to Minho, Seungmin apologized and took Chan's hand gently, Chan shook his head "You-you don't need to b-be sorry," he sniffled, Hyunjin took his other hand in an attempt at comforting the boy, he smiled tightly back at the Mer "It-it's my mother...she doesn't want me to ever leave the palace or-or see anyone outside of the staff who work there...she-she," his voice broke, Minho rubbing small circles into his back. 

Chan's breath evened out again, "She blocked my door. I couldn't get down to see you," The Mers' nodded slowly, Hyunjin wrapping an arm around him, pulling him away from Minho, who whined softly when the prince shifted away from him. Seungmin watching them, unsure if he should join the hug or not, he still felt bad about kissing him out of the blue, still thinking that Chan was mad at him, even though the other Mers' had assured him that he wasn't, Chan even saying so himself the last time they had seen each other. 

"Hey-are those three still out?" Felix asked, the others all looking up from their various projects and books, frowning, Jisung nodded, "Yeah, I thought they would be back by now," He pursed his lips, glancing outside. "I wonder if they're okay," Jeongin plunked his head back into Changbin's lap, who re-threaded his fingers in the youngest's hair, "Should we go see if we can find them? I bet they went up to the royal beach to see if they could see Chris." Felix suggested and the others agreed quickly, half worried for their friends and half wanting to see Chan. 

The four Mers' swam towards the beach, getting sidetracked briefly when Jisung and Changbin paused to pick up what Jeongin knew to be a human instrument, Seungmin was going to go insane when he saw it, the youngest smiled at the thought of his friends face breaking out into a smile at the human object, his fascination with humans had never made sense to his friends, but they saw how happy it made the boy so they continued to go with him on his hunts through the sand. 

"Look! Chan is with them!" Jeongin's happy voice rang out over them, surfacing to wave at the four boys sitting on the dock, Chan smiling widely and waving back at the youngest, reaching out a hand to pull him and the others up to sit with them.