Chapter Text
Seungmin hugged Jisung closely as the shark boy almost wailed in his ear, his tail thrashing on the sand of the beach underneath them.
"I don't want you to go" Jisung sniffled, sobs and hiccups warbling his words, making it hard to understand him.
"I know baby, I know" Seungmin hushed him gently, caressing his damp hair. "I'm sorry. I don't want to be away from you guys either, but it's the only way that we can do this."
The human lifted his head towards the others, his newly dyed light pink hair falling over his eyes, the bangs being just a little too long for comfort. His gaze roamed over the others. Most of them were still in the water, apart from Felix and Jeongin who were sitting on the beach next to him; and, of course, Jisung who was laying on top of Seungmin's lap like a beached whale, crying all the tears in his body.
"Is it even safe?" Minho asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. "You talk about... a bird made of metal, flying in the sky with hundreds of humans in it, over such a long distance, without taking a break? That must be witchcraft" he mumbled.
"It's not witchcraft," Seungmin chuckled, still petting Jisung's hair "it's just science. And taking a plane will let me arrive in Australia in a matter of hours, ten or eleven at the most! That way, I'll have time to settle down, buy a boat and go over everything with my new job at the university. Then, when you'll arrive, everything will be ready, and we can finally start living together!”
Seungmin tried to infuse his voice with as much excitement as possible, to give his boys something to look forward to despite this harsh but necessary separation. He’d been preparing them for this day for a while now, ever since he’d bought his plane ticket, but it didn’t make it any easier on them.
"Still, it will take us at least half a moon cycle to get to you from here. Anything could happen during that time" Chan frowned, his tail trashing nervously behind him.
"Nothing will happen, I'll be just fine," Seungmin assured them for the nth time. "I might not be as strong or fast as you guys, or have claws and pointy teeth, but I still survived on my own for 22 years. Please, have at least a little faith in me" he chastised them.
Felix hugged him from the side, nuzzling his neck in the mers' typical fashion of a kiss. "We don't doubt you Minnie, we know you can take care of yourself. We're just worried, because you'll be all alone, away from the pod for a long time, and none of us like it when one pod member is absent for too long" he explained, trying to make the human see it from their perspective.
"I know, I understand," Seungmin sighed, kissing the top of Felix's head, right above his coral crown. "Trust me, if there was any other way of doing this, I would..."
"Just... stay safe until we get to you?" Jeongin pleaded from his other side, holding onto Seungmin's arm for dear life.
"I will, I promise. And when you guys finally arrive in Australia, we won't ever have to stay away from each other again" he smiled at them, earning a pleased rumble from all of his boys.
The sound reminded him of purring cats; only it was about a hundred times deeper, louder and made his chest and teeth chatter under the vibrations.
“Then… before you leave, we want to give you something” Hyunjin spoke up, dragging himself on shore. On his hip, right next to his seashell belt, hung a bag made out of woven kelp. “It’s for the trip. It’s a few emergency items, just in case” he explained, untying the bag from around his waist and pushing it towards Seungmin.
Intrigued, the human opened the bag and looked quizzically at what was inside. He pulled out a couple of mussels, showing it to the boys with a silent question on his face.
“That’s a snack, in case you get hungry!” Jeongin spoke up, rubbing his face on Seungmin’s shoulder with a proud grin, happy that they had the opportunity to feed their human for once.
Seungmin wasn’t about to burst their bubble by telling them that he wouldn’t be able to bring them in the plane, but he might as well eat them that night, before going to the airport.
“Thanks, that’s… very thoughtful of you” he smiled awkwardly, quickly going to the next object. He pulled out a little pouch made of leather – probably seal skin, since he knew the boys had a small stash of it – containing a handful of perfectly round, iridescent white pearls. He gasped at the small treasure in his hand, trying to compute how much value it had.
“The pearls are for exchanging, if you ever need a last-minute service, or if you need to find some shelter. They are very valuable in the underwater trade and, seeing how many human divers we’ve encountered that were looking for them, we thought they could also be used on the surface. That way, if anything happens to you, you’ll always have something to fall back on” Changbin gently explained, looking at Seungmin to try and see if they had done it right or if they were completely missing the mark.
“This is… it would be very valuable on land, for sure! I cannot take this much, it’s… it’s too precious” he frowned, trying to hand Hyunjin the pouch back. “Even if you live underwater and it’s less hard for you to collect them, they still take an eternity to form and mature and get to this point of… perfection! I cannot accept” he shook his head.
However, Hyunjin stubbornly refused to take the pouch back, petting Seungmin’s knee soothingly. “No, we want you to have it. It will make us more at ease, to know that you have resources to help you while we’re apart. And you know us, we always love it when we can provide for you in some way” the narwhal winked, making Seungmin blush.
He’d learned by now how intimate the act of providing for a member of the pod was, and he knew the flirting that was implied with it. So, to save the last bits of honor he had, he cleared his throat and blindly fished another item out of the bag. He almost dropped it as soon as his eyes landed on it though, for it was a beautifully made but very dangerous-looking dagger. Its blade, smoothly polished and deadly sharp, was completely black, the light of the sun glinting on its edges. It looked to be made of the same material as Chan’s sword – so probably tachylyte, meaning volcanic glass from an underwater eruption. From the feel of it in Seungmin’s hand, it was incredibly resistant despite being as light as a feather. Contrarily to Chan’s kelp-wrapped hilt however, Seungmin’s blade had been meticulously inserted inside a beautiful pinkish coral handle, allowing for a better grip and less chance of cutting himself inadvertently. The subtle sun and moon design that had been added to the handle didn’t go unnoticed, Seungmin immediately recognizing the tattoo he’d created to complete Chan’s symbol.
The diver looked up at the orca with grateful, tear-filled eyes. Without even asking, he knew the leader was the one who’d probably spent a lot of time making this gift for him, and it warmed his heart and the tips of his ears.
“Chan… That’s so incredible…” Seungmin was not even going to try to refuse the gift, knowing how precious it was.
The orca blushed heavily, the red complimenting his white skin so prettily that Changbin, who was sitting next to his leader, couldn’t help himself but kiss his cheek loudly. Human marks of affection had been one of the few things that Seungmin had been teaching his boys, and they’d all taken to kissing really easily, be it on the lips or on any other parts of the body.
“Channie spent the last few days focused on only doing this. He even declined going hunting with Jinnie and Minho just to finish it in time” Felix revealed with a cheeky grin, still hugging Seungmin’s right side.
Chan squawked at the betrayal, splashing his fin in the water in protest. “I just wanted it to be perfect for Minnie. He deserves the best! Plus, don’t tell me you’re not glad that he finally has something to protect himself” he pouted. “He’s got no claws and no teeth; he at least needs a knife.”
“I definitely agree with this; Seungminnie is way too squishy for his own good” Jeongin nodded, lightly biting the meatier part of Seungmin’s bicep to prove his point.
Unknowingly, the mers were hitting straight into Seungmin’s insecurities; the boy knew he definitely did not have their god-like bodies, the small rolls around his lower back and the swell under his biceps being something he was not confident in. However, he knew their teasing was good natured, and that they did not care for the shape of his body at all. What they were referring too was much more about his whole human state, with no hard scales acting as shields or razor claws to act as weapons. So, he took the joke in stride, snapping back playfully.
“Hey! Put your teeth away, you little gremlin” the biologist scolded. He reverently put the dagger back inside the bag, offering a still-kind-of-watery smile towards the pod. “Thank you again, Chan hyung. I’ll make sure to keep it as close as possible. I’m pretty sure I can’t have it with me in the plane,” he chuckled “but I’ll keep it on me as soon as I get to Sydney!”
Chan nodded, mumbling something about safety once again, which was quickly drowned out by Jisung, who finally sat up from where he was splayed on Seungmin’s lap.
“There’s one last thing! It was my idea to include it, though we did ask Wooyoung about it because we weren’t sure how to make it work.”
Intrigued, Seungmin reached inside the bag one last time, pulling out a white conch small enough to fit in his hand, with a tube sticking out from the top. The biologist hesitantly put it to his lips, blowing into it; a sharp, high note echoed out of the shell, startling him.
“It’s a whistle!” Jisung quickly explained, his hand possessively splayed over Seungmin’s thigh. “Since you can’t sing underwater, and that even above water your voice doesn’t carry that far, I thought we should give you an easier way to call for us. With the whistle, we’ll be able to hear you from miles away and we’ll find you much more easily once we arrive in the new place.”
The shark boy let out a tentative smile, which Seungmin fully returned as he stroked Jisung’s cheek.
“Thank you love, that’s so thoughtful of you! It’s definitely going to make it easier for us all if I can call out to you. You had a great idea” he praised the boy, who flopped back – headfirst – in the human’s lap to hide his blush. “You’re all so thoughtful” Seungmin assured the pod, a little wave of emotions choking him up. He knew that he would see them again in two weeks or less, but he couldn’t help the twinge of sadness and slight anxiety at being separated from them again – even if it was for such a short amount of time. “I promise I’ll stay safe, and you guys better be safe too!” he frowned, trying to guilt-trip them into watching over one another, even though he knew they already did so.
“Of course we will Minnie; we’re ruthless predators, nothing can happen to us!” Minho brushed his concerns easily, although the way Jisung was still faceplanted on the human’s lap was not really helping his argument. Seungmin’s face must’ve revealed what he truly thought, since the mer quickly corrected himself. “Alright, we’re ruthless predators except Jisungie…”
“YAH!” Jisung bolted up, dragging himself to the water at the speed of light, set on trying to drown his elder. It was going to be hard, since mers could breathe underwater, but that small fact was not going to deter the shark…
It did have the benefit of freeing Seungmin though, since the human had to go back to his little apartment pretty soon. Judging by the setting sun, it was nearing 5PM and the biologist still had to do a few more things before he could call it a day, and then wake up early the next morning to catch his flight.
“You have to go” Hyunjin called out gently, seeing how Seungmin’s eyes were fleeting over to his boat, anchored in the little bay.
“Yeah… It’s time” he nodded. Taking a deep breath, the pink-haired boy stood up at once, brushing the sand off of his legs. “I don’t want to say goodbye, because it’ll be too sad and anyways, we’ll see each other again” he said, gritting his teeth to stop the tears that threatened to overcome him. “I’ll just go quickly, and you guys do your best to come as soon as you can, alright?”
He sent the boys a smile, which was only answered with a few teary faces and frowns. He was secretly glad that Minho had made Jisung chase after him, since he knew the shark boy with attachment problems would take this goodbye the hardest.
“Go, little one. Have a safe journey, and we will meet again faster than you think” Chan finally gave his blessing, nodding towards Seungmin.
Those words apparently allowed the others to let go of their human, and they cleared a path so he could reach the water and swim up to his boat. Jeongin stayed glued to him the entire time, supporting the scientist in the water even though Seungmin didn’t really need the help.
Ever since he was shot in the back by Director Park, the boys had been extremely cautious around him, even more than usual. The wound had taken time to heal properly, and the muscles surrounding the new scar were still a bit flimsy, but regular stretches and training exercises helped Seungmin to get back in shape – or at least, to a decent human shape, not the mers’ incredibly toned physique and inhumane strength. Despite him being now able to do everything just as before, his boys were still protective and stayed by his side whenever he needed to do something physical. So, it was all naturally that Jeongin put a hand under Seungmin’s hips to help him float better as he swam and pushed his butt to help him climb onboard his boat.
Turning around, the diver saw that the rest of the pod had already disappeared underwater, probably not wanting to prolong this already hurtful moment. With a small sad smile, Seungmin crouched by the side of the boat, looking down at Jeongin.
“Hey… Are you going to be okay?”
The young mer pouted, his sharp teeth nibbling on his lower lip. Seungmin quickly passed his thumb over Jeongin’s mouth to free the abused flesh, tutting.
“Uh uh, none of that now, love. You gotta take care of yourself while I’m away, alright?”
“I… I’ll try. And I’ll try to take care of the others too. We’re really going to miss you, Minnie” Jeongin sighed, grasping the human’s wrist and kissing the back of his hand reverently. “You just worry about yourself for now. I’ll be looking after the pod for you” the orange-tailed boy smiled as brightly as the sun, putting on a brave face for his favorite human.
“Hmm, I’m counting on you Innie” Seungmin indulged his lover, patting his head. “I know you’ll do a good job! I… I’ll see you soon.”
He hated to have to say those words, but they needed to take this new step in their life, and it would bring a lot of good changes. So, it’s with a newly found resolve that Seungmin kissed Jeongin one last time, before standing up and going to the cockpit, starting the boat’s engines. Strangely, as he exited the bay, he seemed to go faster than usual, his boat easily navigating the traitorous shallow reefs that could be found in those parts. A smile tugged his lip, knowing his boys were watching over him one last time before letting him go, and he allowed himself a few minutes to let his tears run freely before he made it back to land, and to the rest of his more human concerns.