the Deep Ocean || Meanie

04

Mingyu was currently following Joshua to his house. It was getting darker and Mingyu wondered if anyone from his diving crew was looking for him. He didn't know how long he had been missing. It felt like a couple hours, maybe.

••Meanwhile at the boat••

"What do you mean you lost him?!?!"

Taeyong was screaming at the diving crew leader. When they came back, Taeyong had felt relieved because it meant that everything had gone well. But it wasn't like that.
When they had come to the surface, everyone from the diving crew had looked panicked and Taeyong sensed that something was wrong. He got closer to the edge of the boat to look at the people in the water and searched for Mingyu.
But, they told him that Mingyu had gone lost..

"I swear, he was just with us, but then we didn't see him anymore!" One of the divers tried to explain. Taeyong pulled his hair anxiously. How could they just leave Mingyu there?

"Well go back! Go and search for him! He could be seriously injured! Why did you even come out of the water?" Taeyong kept yelling. The divers looked hesitant to answer.
"Our.. oxygen tanks were getting empty.."

Taeyong froze. If their oxygen tanks were empty then what about Mingyu's. He's still in the water. If his oxygen tank was also empty, he would drown. Taeyong fell to the ground on his knees.
"It's my fault. He didn't want to go, but I forced him to"
Everything was getting out of control. Taeyong's eyes started getting watery as he tried to think for a solution.

"Do you have more oxygen? I'll go look for him, I'll do anything to find him" Taeyong sobbed. He was going to look for Mingyu as long as he had to.
Mingyu is a survivor. He is still alive.

••Back to where Mingyu is••

They arrived at a small building that looked like it was atleast 1000 years old. The building was almost at the edge of the city and Mingyu could now see better the air bubble that surrounded the city. It looked like it would break if Mingyu poked his finger into it.
"Come in" Joshua said and opened the door for Mingyu, Jeonghan and Seungcheol. The other two males immediately stepped inside, so Mingyu came to the conclusion that they probably spent a lot of time at Joshua's.

"I invited some of our closest friends over, so we'll be having dinner with them" Seungcheol told them and Joshua nodded. Mingyu was a bit nervous about meeting their friends. He was tired from all the new information he had gotten throughout the day. It was not like he found a hidden city from underwater everyday.
Mingyu sat down next to Jeonghan, who was stitting on a fish shaped couch.
"So.. You're from the ground?" Jeonghan asked from Mingyu. "If 'from the ground' means from above the water, then yes" Mingyu answered and watched as Joshua and Seungcheol sat down opposite of them, on a sea horse shaped couch.

"Tell us what's it like over there" Joshua said exitedly and all three males looked at Mingyu closely, waiting for his answer.
"Uhh.. There is a lot of people, way more than over here" Mingyu started, not really knowing what to tell. He tried to think something the others would like to hear about, but nothing came to his mind.
"Do you have a job?" Jeonghan asked, eagerly wanting to know more. Mingyu nodded.
"I work mainly as a rapper" Mingyu answered proudly. He waited for the reaction but nothing came. Mingyu looked at the others.
"What's a rapper?" Seungcheol asked.
"Rapper" Joshua repeated, feeling the unknown word roll out of his mouth.

Mingyu looked at the guys. He was speechless. Something that Mingyu had spent so much time on and building his career, was insignificant now.
"Rapping is a.. musical form o-of vocal delivery where you create rhymes and lyrics, and perform them. Rapper is a person who raps to an audience" Mingyu tried to explain. Just a second ago he was so confident about his job, but now he felt.. stupid. However, his confidence was quickly gathered back by the reaction of the guys.
"Whoooaaahhhh.. That's so cool!" The others said in sync. "Our friend, Jihoon, likes music too and he always asks us to sing his lyrics" Joshua told and looked at Mingyu with bright eyes. "He would be so into this rapping thing!" Jeonghan continued exitedly.

"Do you have Clans at the ground?" Seungcheol wanted to know. Mingyu shook his head as a no. "Then how do you know, who's related to you?" Seungcheol continued to ask.
"We have families, of course" Mingyu aswered, confused about the question. The others nodded in agreement. "Who do you have in your family?" Joshua asked innocently. Mingyu thought about his family. Mom, who uses Mingyu only when she needs money from him and a dad, who he sees once in two years. The only one who he counts as a family member is probably Taeyong. Taeyong always cares about Mingyu and wants Mingyu to be okay.
When he noticed that the three were still waiting for an answer, he shrugged and told that he has a hyung, but he really meant Taeyong by that.

When Mingyu had answered to many questions about his backround, friends and everyday life so that the three were satisfied, they started to make food.
Food was something Mingyu had been interested from the beginning when he came to this city. It was mostly plant-based but they also ate fish and other seafood. Jeonghan was a cook, so Mingyu had his hopes up for the food.
Mingyu wanted to help at making the food, but to be honest he had no idea what he was supposed to do, so he just watched as the others made it.

After an hour or so, someone knocked on the door. "I'll get it" Mingyu told the others and went to open the door. Behind the door he saw a guy with a huge smile on his face, another guy who looked like an adorable puppy, and a smaller guy with a frown. All of the guys had blue hair like everyone in the city, so Mingyu wasn't surprised by it. But what surprised Mingyu, was that all of the guys had a blue moon under their right eye. So they were all from the same Clan, apparently.
"Oh! You're Mingyu, right? Seungcheol said that they had a guest!" The guy with the big smile said, as they stepped inside.
"Hello, I'm Iryaile. Real name's Lee Seokmin. We're from The Lee Clan" The guy said and shook Mingyu's had while speaking. So he was the Seokmin, who could tell Mingyu about Prince Yriailé. Mingyu was waiting to hear more about him.

"This is Wareil, aka Lee Jihoon" Seokmin said and pointed at the small guy. Mingyu was about to shake his hand, but the smaller guy pulled his hand away. Wait, wasn't Jihoon the guy who liked music. Well, it was good to know that they had something in common, if the atmosphere got awkward.
"Hello, I'm Zelan. You can call me Chan or Dino, I'm the youngest from our friend group" The last guy came forward and shook Mingyu's hand. So he was adorable and the youngest. Oh boy, Mingyu wanted to pinch his cheek.

The Lee Clan members greeted Joshua and his boyfriends and they greeted back. Mingyu followed them back into the kitchen.
"Can I help with anything?" Mingyu asked from Jeonghan, because he didn't want to just sit around.
"You can open the door to the others, when they come" Joshua spoke instead of Jeonghan who was too focused on his cooking.
There was still more guys coming? How many friends did these people have.
When Mingyu thought about his friends, he could only name three plus Taeyong. The 97 liners, Eunwoo, Jaehyun and Jungkook. Their friend group was also known as 'the troublemakers'. Mingyu chuckled to himself when he thought about things they had done together.

Mingyu was brought out of his thoughts, when someone knocked on the door again. He walked to the door and saw more guys coming in. There was three more guys standing near the door now. Mingyu was confused but still bowed to them out of habit.

"Hey bro, no need to be so formal" One of the guys said and hugged Mingyu.
"Hello, I'm Demarie, also known as The Great Kwon Soonyoung" The guy said and Mingyu laughed. This guy seemed funny.
Mingyu watched as Soonyoung walked past him and went to Jihoon. The smaller guy wrapped his hands around Soonyoung's waist, as the latter kissed his forehead. Mingyu cooed at the sight.

Mingyu turned to look at the other two guys who had also came. He was surprised to actually see a guy with a black mullet. He thought that everyone here had blue hair. The black haired guy was walking past Mingyu, completely ignoring him.
"Hao, be nice and introduce yourself to the guest" A guy behind the black haired said. Mingyu looked at the black haired and offered a handshake, but like he expected the guy refused to shake hands.
"Hi, I'm Minghao" The black haired mumbled and continued walking. Was Minghao his Shin-name or his real name. It didn't sound like it could be his Shin-name, though.
Mingyu watched as the guy sat down at the fish shaped couch and started talking quietly with Seungcheol.

"His whole name is Xu Minghao. Sorry, he's a little quiet, but when he starts talking he's really nice" The guy from before told Mingyu with a smile on his face. So the black haired guy didn't have a Shin-name?
"Nice to meet you, I'm Gridyel or Wen Junhui, but call me Jun" The guy smiled at Mingyu and Mingyu did the same.
Once the food was ready, everyone gathered around the table.
Even though Mingyu didn't really know the people, he thought that they seemed nice.
Mingyu really wanted to become friends with them..