Seabound-SKZ

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chan made it down to the dock with minor difficulty, with his vision still blurry he had bumped into the gate and stumbled on the stairs a few times, but he made it none the less. Walking down the dock, boards creaking underfoot, he hoped that no one in the palace had heard him leave his room, hoped no one was looking out of one of the many windows that faced the sea. The figure on the end of the dock seemed to panic, the footsteps startling them, Chan recognized Hyunjin quickly, the Mer glancing back at him, moonlight reflection off his face and in the soft light he looked unearthly, his panicked expression died when he saw it was Chan, only to be replaced his one of concern, "Channie?" He said quietly, reaching up toward the prince and taking his uninjured hand "What happened?" He tugged the older down to sit next to him and beginning to gently wipe the tears from his cheeks. Chan shook his head slightly "M-my mother..." He started, another wave of tears coming forth and Hyunjin wrapped him in his arms protectively, hushing him softly, "It's okay now, you're safe. you don't have to tell me now if you don't want to." He murmured soothingly, rocking the trembling boy in his arms slightly. 

The prince calmed down eventually, beginning to explain the story to Hyunjin, the Mer listening carefully to him, Chan told him about how his mother had chosen to marry him off, how he had protested, the way the ring had cut into his face, the slur his mother had called him, how he had shattered the bottle and sliced his hand on it, Hyunjin playing with his hair, the Mer never knew how to soothe his friends when they were upset, Minho or Changbin, Felix was a good bet as well, one of them always taking care of it, but he tried his best to comfort the prince. 

Chan finished talking, he was still locked in Hyunjin's arms, the Mer was oddly warm, Chan supposed that would be normal for Merfolk, being in such deep water, but it was a welcomed sensation nonetheless. Hyunjin loosened his hold, "I still don't understand arranged marriages," He paused, gaging Chan's reaction, he only looked up at the Mer, still teary-eyed, "How can you humans decide for each other who you love?" He shook his head, "You don't have to love each other. just have to make a powerful match for your parents," Chan explained, voice shaking slightly, "some royals get lucky and choose their own spouse, like my own parents, but most of the time it is arranged. I just never thought...I never realized..." He trailed off, Hyunjin watching him, "You never thought?" He prompted, the prince flushed slightly, "I never thought...I would ever come to love someone else..." he rushed out the last part, Hyunjin's heart sank slowly, the prince loved someone? that wasn't plural, he loved Seungmin. Seungmin had made the first move, maybe they couldn't be together after all...

"Hyunjin?" Chan clicked his fingers in the Mer's face, Hyunjin shook his head of the thoughts, "Yes, sorry, I spaced out." He flashed Chan a quick smile, the prince now looked worried, he had realized that Hyunjin had probably made the connection and by the look on his face, he didn't return the feelings, "O-okay...I'm sorry if that made you u-uncomfortable, I-i don't expect you to-" Chan stuttered, Hyunjin's eyes widened "Expect me to...?" the prince blushed, face already red from crying, now even redder then he was before. "To...return th-the feeling..." Chan pushed away from Hyunjin, now becoming uncomfortable with the Mer's gaze on his face, "No-!" Hyunjin blurted out, Chan flinching softly "O-oh..." Jin shook his head, "I-I do! I just...I was surprised, I thought you liked Seungmin and-I just-I don't know..." Chan crinkled his nose up, "I do like Seungmin, I l-like all...all of you..." Hyunjin gasped and Chan looked surprised "I-I mean, is that okay? is that normal?" Hyunjin nodded quickly "Yes! yes, I like all of them too! a-and you and I thought I was alone in it and-" The Mer cut himself off, beaming at the prince, who had momentarily forgotten about his interaction with his mother in Hyunjin's blur of words and movement.

They looked at each other for a moment, where did they even go from here? Hyunjin took the next move upon himself, leaning forward and pressing his lips against Chan's, both boys melting into the kiss, Chan tilting his head to deepen it, the kiss was different than the two he had shared with Seungmin, both of those had been rushed for fear of someone seeing them while this one was slow, it ended too quick for Chan's liking when Hyunjin reached up to touch his cheek and grazed the cut on the prince's cheek, the older flinching away suddenly, Hyunjin apologizing and leaning forward to check if he was okay. The prince assured him he was, chuckling softly when Hyunjin pressed a kiss over the cut, making sure not to touch it again. 

Seungmin, who had followed Hyunjin there, was in the water where he had been for quite some time, never wanting to interrupt his friends on the dock, he had heard everything Chan had said, what his mother had done, the confessions, he had watched when they kissed, jealousy boiling up inside him, he wasn't sure of who, or maybe he was just jealous that he wasn't with them. He felt the crushing relief when he heard that Chan liked them all too, as did Hyunjin, but he had suspected that for a while. He wasn't sure if he should reveal he was there, would they be mad he was? or maybe he should just head home and pretend he hadn't even left. no one would realize, would they? Maybe Jeongin would, the youngest often came to sleep with him, something he would never admit to the others, not with the way he rejected Seungmin's affection at any other time of day. The baby simply preferring snuggling up next to one of the older Mers' to sleep, especially when he woke with tears streaming down his face from night terrors, reliving the day his mother died at least once a week in his dreams. Seungmin shook his head of the worry of being missed, his friends would probably just assume that he had gone to his mothers or the garden. 

Hyunjin had by now noticed the boy in the water, he had let himself float a bit too close to the surface to remain unseen and had made a few too many irregular ripples occur when he swam deeper, alerting Hyunjin to his presence fairly quickly. Seungmin soon realized he had been spotted, swimming up to the surface by Hyunjin's dangling tail, smiling sheepishly up at the prince, who looked startled at the boy suddenly surfacing under him, "S-Seungmin!" He smiled at the boy once his heart calmed back down, reaching to help the Mer up onto the dock next to him, Seungmin happily accepting the hand and sat next to the two, "Hi," Seungmin started, glancing between the two, "What's going on?" He asked carefully, Hyunjin narrowed his eyes at him, Seungmin was being weird, he thought, weirder than normal, that is. 

The three of them sat like that for a bit, once Seungmin dried off a bit he snuggled into Chan's shoulder, the prince wrapping an arm around him immediately as if he was protecting the boy. Seungmin giggled softly at the gesture, his heart pounding in his chest. He wondered if Chan could feel it, glad for the dark of night to cover up his red face and ears. Hyunjin watched the two, Seungmin eventually reaching out an arm for him to join the hug since the youngest had sat in between Chan and Hyunjin when he had joined them, therefore breaking up their cuddling. 

"I heard you, you know." Seungmin yawned as he cuddled in closer to Chan, "I know you like all of us." The other two froze, looking at each other, this was where the dream of all of them being together ended wasn't it? Seungmin would say he didn't like them, or only liked Chan, and that would be that. But Seungmin only shut his eyes slowly, voice slurring with tiredness, and said "I like you guys too, all of you." And promptly fell asleep on Chan's shoulder, sandwiched between the two older boys.