Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jeongin had left his house shortly after Seungmin had told them he was going to go up to the cliffs and swim around a bit, the youngest Mer heading towards the gardens and swimming around a bit, his mother had used to love it there and it always made him feel better when he was missing her. She had been speared in front of him, he could still remember how the harpoon had pierced through her chest, how her blood furled out around both of them, how her last transmission to him had been "Get out of here!" her voice laced with pain and panic, how he had swum as fast as he could home, the taste of his own mother's blood in his mouth, how he told his friends what happened, sobbing, and then, the report that they couldn't even retrieve her body because the fucking sharks had gotten there first. 

He could feel the lump slowly building in his throat, he wasn't going to cry, not here, not again. Jeongin decided to go find Seungmin before he did, swimming toward the cliffs and swallowing his tears. He saw Seungmin and Chan, locked in a tight embrace, Chan about to kiss Seungmin, again. He hurled straight into them, feeling sort of bad when Chan gasped in surprise and swallowed the seawater, Seungmin, quick to recover, came after him quickly, Jeongin letting him catch him eventually and allowing himself to be dragged back to Chan. 

"So, Innie," Seungmin started, watching the youngest fiddle with Chan's rings, who seemed to be very interested in the boy's hands, "Yes?" Jeongin looked up expectantly, "Why did you come to find me?" Min asked and Jeongin shrugged, "Just bored," He responded, going back to playing with the sparkly rings, Chan smiled at him, the boy was too cute for his own good, "Well I'm happy to see you again!" He said and Jeongin blushed, something that didn't go unnoticed by the other two. 

Jeongin avoided eye contact with either of the older boys after that, too afraid that he was still red, Chan, and Seungmin meeting each other's eyes and the two of them cooed internally when they saw the baby's ears tinged pink, Chan eventually tired of the youngest avoiding their eyes and gripped his chin gently, forcing Jeongin to look up, making the poor boy blush even more and let out a shy giggle, Seungmin looked between the two, laughing at the youngest as he turned steadily more red "You okay there, Innie?" He teased the boy gently, transmitting the words so Chan didn't hear him, the prince looking confused when Jeongin reached out and hit Seungmin in the shoulder. "Why does it feel like you two are talking?" Chan asked, feeling slightly dumb when Seungmin snickered while he answered "Merfolk can transmit thoughts since you can't talk underwater." He explained, Chan nodding in awe "Woah, that's so cool," He gasped, looking between the two as he let go of Jeongin's face, Seungmin beamed "Thank you!" Jeongin smiled softly at the prince, half wishing he would hold him again. 

Eventually, the two Mers' tired of sitting out of the water and slid back in, holding onto the ledge and looking up at Chan, who was waiting to dry off a bit more so he could go back to the palace. Seungmin got bored pretty quickly of just sitting still and pushed off the rock, playing around in the water, Jeongin joining him after a while of watching the older boy dive and retrieve rocks, Chan throwing them back in for the Mer, reminding the prince of the games he would play with his fathers hunting dogs. 

They kept playing like that for a bit, Chan laughing when Seungmin and Jeongin fought to get down to the rock first, Jeongin once hitting the other in the face with his tailfin to push him out of the way. The prince soon realized how long he had been gone for, worrying that someone at the palace would miss him, especially since he was supposed to be speaking with the princesses the entire day, which he had not been doing, obviously. "I must get home, otherwise someone may worry." He said apologetically, the Mers' both pouting up at him, "Okay, if you must..." Jeongin spoke first "but we will see you again soon." he said firmly and Chan chuckled and nodded "Of course." the younger boys' accepted that answer, soon speeding off, leaving Chan to recollect his things and begin to leave. 

Seungmin stopped abruptly, patting his side, where a small bag sat on his hip, eyes wide "I left the necklace I found! I must've not put it into my bag after I showed Chan!" He looked to Jeongin, "I'm going to go back and find it-wait here!" He sped off, not hearing Jeongin's hesitated "Okay..." before he left, the older Mer got back to the ledge quickly, seeing Chan still there, "Chan!" He called put, the prince looking startled "Seungmin? why are you-" Seungmin cut him off, "Do you see my necklace?" He asked and Chan looked around, to where they had been sitting "It's here," He knelt to pass the Mer his jewelry back, Seungmin placing it carefully back into his bag "Thank you, so much." He breathed out, relieved that it was still there. 

Seungmin hesitated for a second before taking Chan's face in his hand, the same way the prince had done to Jeongin earlier, the older blushed, "What are you-" Seungmin kissed him, the prince melted into the kiss, Seungmin breaking away from him after a few seconds, smiling, the prince still looking cutely shocked, ears tinged pink, "I'll see you later!" Seungmin grinned wider before flipping over in the water, speeding back to Jeongin, buzzing with happiness. 

The prince stayed there for a second, watching the Mer speed away, he giggled in shock, the blue scales finally disappearing after a few moments. He finally stood back up, brushing off his knees and hands, and started his walk back to the palace.