Seabound-SKZ

Thirty-Three

The silence that fell after Chan's confession was deafening, Felix blinking hard and rubbing his ears, Jeongin sucking in a breath and nodding slowly, Chan looked down, "It's okay if you don't feel the same..." he deflated, shoulders slumping. Seungmin reached to place a hand on his arm, forcing a smile while they waited for someone to say something, Jeongin finally being the one to break their silence, "I feel the same way..." He glanced around at the rest of the Mers, who looked shocked at the youngest confession. 

Felix followed soon after, taking pity on how embarrassed the baby looked, "Me, too." he looked around at the rest of them, Changbin opening and closing his mouth in shock, Jisung bright red in the face, and Minho was just quietly watching the scene unfold. 

Changbin and Minho quickly admitted their own feelings after the awkwardness became too much to stay silent, now everyone's eyes were on Jisung, the poor boy melting under the heavy gazes directed at him. 

Jisungs mind was racing, this had gone so much faster then he thought it would, and now Chan didn't even have a place to stay? how could they even help him, they couldn't stay on land and keep him company forever, how would this even work out? there were so many of them, what if someone decided they only wanted to be with one person, what would happen? How had everything happened this fast, this was too much for the boy to keep up with. 

The rest of the boys sitting on the sand watched as the other started to tremble, Chan quickly reaching out to comfort him, allowing Jisung to bury himself into his chest until he got his breath back under control, "it's okay, Sung, you don't have to feel the same," Seungmin placed a hand on the olders back, making Jisung feel worse, even though he knew Seungmin meant well with his words. 

"I-i do...but I just..." He trailed off, the rest of the boys breathing sighs of relief at the confession, Minho furrowing his brow, "you just...?" Jisung shrugged in response, "I don't know...just overthinking things..." He dipped his head back into Chans neck to hide from the stares he was getting from everyone else.

Hyunjin watched the scene unfold, unable to enjoy the feeling of relief and happiness while Jisung was still so distraught looking. He and Seungmin made eye contact over the heads of everyone else, how did they even help this? whenever one of their friends had anxiety attacks or just felt overwhelmed it was always Changbin or Minho, as the oldest's, who came to the rescue and calmed them down, the younger Mer's always just offering physical comfort for whoever was upset. 

"I'm sorry, I'm okay, sorry-" Chan cut Jisungs rambling apology off quickly, "Why are you sorry?" He forced a tiny smile as he watched the younger, who was fiddling with his fingers and avoiding eye contact, "I-i don't know..." he stuttered out "I just got overwhelmed by this, it all happened so fast-I mean, I'm happy, but what do we even do now? what do you even do now? where can you stay?" he rushed through his words now, voice becoming more and more panicked as he thought more, Chan fell silent at his words, looking down at his own lap.

"I..." he started, but he couldn't find any words to make Jisung feel better, the younger was right, after all, Chan had nowhere to go and no one on land to talk to. He had little to no money and he was already nearly out of food, Minho smiled at him, "We'll figure it out, Chan. Don't worry, You're going to be okay." He said softly, he wasn't sure if he was helping Jisung or Chan by this point, this had gotten very confusing very fast. 

Jisung eventually shuffled away from Chan, much to the humans dismay, smiling embarrasedly at the rest of the boys, Hyunjin lunging forward immediately to statch him into his arms, Jisung yelping in surprise as he did, the others soon grew tired of just sitting quietly and observing and joined Hyunjin in tickling poor Jisung, Minho and Chan watching in disaproval while Sung writhed in the sand and tried to escape.

They ended up sitting in a tangled mess while the sun set, Jeongin once again finding himself draped over Chan's lap while Felix played with the oldests hair, Seungmin snuggled close into Hyunjin's chest with Jisung and Minho on either one of his shoulders, and Changbin with his tail flopped over Jeongin with his head on the edge of Felix's tailfin. 

Chan's fire fizzled out after he had tried to rearange it, the structure collapsing in on itself with sparks flying everywhere, making Felix gasp in amazement when they rained down onto the sand, and soon after that the glowing coals faded out, much to everyones dissapointment, the heat had been nice the lay next to, Chan had had to help the Mer's get up closer to the flames so that they wouldn't get cold, but he now realized that they should leave to go home soon, especially sincehe didn't want anyone to stumble upon them just sitting in the open of a random beach. 

The Mer's protested when Chan voiced his concern, but they all did realize he was right in the end, Jeongin pouting and making Minho waver for a moment, it couldn't hurt to stay the night, right? but Chans worried tone finally took over even the youngest, and he agreed reluctantly, only after the promise of his favourite meal for breakfast. 

Chan helped carry the Mer's back down the beach towards the water, kneeling next to them while they made sure everyone was okay and ready to leave, Seungmin laying a quick kiss on Chan's cheek before he turned in the water, Hyunjin following the youngers example, Chan grinning widely at them, he had almost forgotten about everything that had happened just earlier, that was until he watched the glittering scales finally dissapear and realized just how alone he was on this beach, only a horse behind him and a sad, burnt out fire.