Chapter Text
One might think there isn’t a direct connection between Minho and Changbin wanting to make some sushi and Hyunjin currently going through an attempted homicide by his own food. But somehow, that is exactly what has happened in the last thirty minutes.
But let’s go back to the events that led up to that.
Hyunjin has been wandering around the apartment, painfully bored because no one is paying attention to him. Felix, Chan, and Jisung are playing League of Legends or something like that—Hyunjin isn’t sure. Jeongin and Seungmin are watching a drama that failed to hold Hyunjin’s interest for more than fifteen consecutive minutes, and Changbin and Minho are cooking.
He decides to go bother the last two because they’re the easiest to annoy, and besides, he’s a little hungry. So it’s a two-for-one deal. He walks into the kitchen and sees Minho’s tail swaying back and forth while he fixes the sushi rice, so Hyunjin can’t help reaching out to try and grab it.
“Watch what you’re doing or I’m going to rip off your own tail and stick it in the air fryer,” Minho warns.
“You’re so mean, hyung.” Hyunjin’s ears twitch slightly in fear, but he ignores it and wraps his arms around Changbin from behind. “Why are you cooking, Binnie? Doesn’t Chan get scared you’ll burn down the kitchen?”
“It’s because none of you know how to prepare fish the way I like it,” Changbin complains.
“Hey! I tried to learn how to cook it for you. It’s not my fault I can’t taste it and tell if it turned out right!” Felix shouts from the living room, his cute rabbit ears twitching.
“Fish is horrible. You just shouldn’t eat it,” Jisung says with a grimace.
“Apparently we’re not going to eat it anyway,” Minho sighs. “The delivery with the fresh fish should have arrived already. Chan, can you check where the order is?”
Meanwhile Hyunjin is still wandering from one place to another, so now he climbs on top of Chan and touches the inside of one of his hyung’s wolf ears, just to watch how it moves unconsciously. Chan growls but ignores him and focuses on checking the order.
“Uh… Minho-ya,” he says hesitantly. “Exactly how much fish did you buy to spend that amount of money?”
“Wow! We’ve never spent that much on my food,” Seungmin says angrily when he leans over and sees the total.
“Yeah, because kibble is cheap,” Minho mocks, and it looks like Seungmin might bite him. It’s actually very likely that he will.
They keep talking, but Hyunjin honestly isn’t listening anymore. He slowly collapses onto the couch, practically dragging himself across everyone’s laps until he ends up on top of Jeongin.
“What’s wrong, do you want to go play?” Jeongin asks with that mischievous smile, and Hyunjin knows that playing with the little fox only ever means trouble. That just makes it twice as exciting.
But before he can answer anything, the doorbell rings and Hyunjin jumps to his feet. He’s suddenly too eager, as if the way his skin vibrates is warning him that something strange is happening. Some people might call it survival instinct, but Hyunjin isn’t really sure how that works or if he even has one, so instead of backing away, he walks straight to the door.
“It must be the fish. The supplier says he needs a… liability waiver signature?” Chan reads, confused.
“What the hell did you buy exactly?” Seungmin asks.
“Hyunjin, since you’re already there, sign for me,” Minho says, ignoring the question.
“Your wish is my command.” Hyunjin makes a strange gesture as if Minho were some kind of war general and opens the door.
The first thing that greets him is a man who looks like he absolutely hates his life. He holds out a document and a pen, telling Hyunjin to sign quickly. But that’s not the important part. What truly grabs Hyunjin’s attention is the enormous aquarium beside the man. It’s so big it takes up almost the entire hallway.
You can’t see what’s inside because it’s covered by a dark cloth, but Hyunjin has always been far too curious for his own good—side effects of spending too much time around Minho—so before signing anything, he grabs the cloth and lifts it without thinking twice.
The first thing he sees are beautiful eyes. Not fish eyes, like he would have expected. Eyes that look at him with something Hyunjin doesn’t understand but that completely dazzle him. They explore him and his face, and he does the same. Every time his gaze moves he discovers that he likes everything he finds: the fullness of your lips, the shape of your nose, the way your eyebrows arch.
The smile on Hyunjin’s lips widens. He didn’t know food could be this pretty! Though if he’s being honest, he doesn’t love the idea of eating this. He’d much rather play.
Before he can keep inspecting the aquarium more closely, the man holding the paper taps him impatiently. He doesn’t even speak, but his expression is more than enough to tell Hyunjin to sign, and he does so enthusiastically. The guy looks at Hyunjin with clear displeasure and then at the little thing inside the aquarium before shaking his head and leaving.
Hyunjin practically bounces with every step as he grabs the cloth and tosses it to the floor. You—his future meal—move through the water, almost mirroring Hyunjin’s movements, and he finds it fascinating. You definitely want to play with him too; it’s obvious. Hyunjin gasps in excitement and nearly has a heart attack when he realizes that instead of legs, you have a long, beautiful fish tail.
That’s insane! Is that really what Minho and Changbin want to eat? He doesn’t like that at all. He frowns, already plotting something—though he has no idea what yet—to convince the others to keep you instead.
You don’t take your eyes off him while Hyunjin pushes the cart carrying the aquarium. It’s incredibly heavy, but he’s strong enough to move it. He’s wearing a huge smile as he walks into the apartment, and before he even makes it all the way inside, Jeongin is already there.
“Why did you take so long? Minho-hyung was complaining—” he starts, before stopping abruptly. “What the hell? Is that a fucking mermaid?”
“A what?” Jisung jumps to his feet, and when he gets right in front of the aquarium he yells, “Holy shit, it’s a mermaid!”
“That’s literally what I just said,” Jeongin says, rolling his eyes.
All the boys gather around the aquarium with varying degrees of shock. Minho approaches calmly and taps the glass twice with a smile so wide no one notices the depth of the extremely questionable comment he makes next.
“It’s not a mermaid, idiots. That doesn’t exist, those are myths,” Minho says. Hyunjin can’t help getting annoyed when he notices you look away from him to focus on Minho instead, though there’s something dark in your expression that he doesn’t like. “This is the food. It’s a little fish. A pretty one.”
Without worrying about anything, Minho steps closer and taps the glass again. You swim forward until your face is just inches from his and bare your teeth in what even Hyunjin understands as a sign of aggression. Minho is crazy, that’s a fact, but even so the manic smile he puts on is excessive.
“Hey, Minho… I know we said the fish had to be fresh, but…” Changbin starts, looking noticeably alarmed.
“Obviously the term mermaid comes from myths that existed before the hybrid era,” Seungmin interrupts in a rough voice. “But you can’t be stupid enough not to realize this creature isn’t a fish. It’s a sea hybrid.”
“Yeah, Minho, it’s a living being. We should return her, you can’t eat her!” Felix scolds.
“Exactly. What would you think if someone tried to sell you as food to another hybrid?” Jisung adds.
“I’d think it’s the natural law of life,” Minho shrugs, and several of them gasp.
“Who cares about natural law?” Jeongin says in what might seem like a defense in your name, but the others quickly remember how similar his mind works to Minho’s when he adds, “She’s too cute to kill. I say we keep her as a pet.”
“No, of course not! Are you insane?” Felix stomps his foot against the floor again and again. “We have to return her to her habitat. She’s not ours, especially not ours to decide what to do with.”
A small argument breaks out between all of them. Hyunjin only listens vaguely to a few fragments since he’s more interested in trying to climb up one of the edges of the aquarium until he manages to get on top and shift the lid that seals it a little.
“Well… she is ours, actually.” Chan grimaces. Before the boys can bombard him with questions he adds, “Well, technically. She belongs to Hyunjin. He signed the ownership document.”
Hyunjin’s ears perk up at that information. What is Chan talking about? He doesn’t understand until—oh. He sees the paper he signed earlier, the one Chan asked to read while the others were arguing.
So this pretty little thing—you—belong to him?
He pushes the lid a little more until you notice and turn to look at him, your pretty tail swishing through the water. Hyunjin stretches out a hand and starts playing with the water, wanting you to come closer so he can touch you. And as if you can read his mind, you do. You swim toward him slowly with a very intense gaze.
“What do you mean she belongs to Hyunjin?” Minho grumbles. “I’m the one who paid.”
“That’s what you get for never going to receive your own packages,” Jeongin mocks.
“The pabo ferret won’t even know what to do with her,” Minho complains.
“And you would? You wanted to kill her!” Felix snaps.
The argument fades into the background in Hyunjin’s mind. Now it’s you who stretches out a hand, and he can see the long, beautiful claws on your fingers. Yours and his hands are so close now, and Hyunjin’s heart is beating like crazy. The only thing repeating in his head is that you’re his, and he’s so happy. He wants to touch you, get closer, play. Could he play with you the same way he does with Jeongin? He wants to find out as soon as possible.
All that stream of thought snaps the moment you finally touch him—but not because of the wonder of the contact.
No.
It’s because of the sudden pull.
You grab his wrist and yank him straight into the enormous tank. Hyunjin is too stunned by the initial shock of the water flooding his brain, but he can still feel the rough treatment you give him: your claws digging into his skin and the way it seems like you have no intention of letting him go.
He starts drowning almost immediately, and it’s not even so much the water as it is the shock of your actions. He looks for something to grab onto but only finds you—your body, your waist, your face, your tail. It’s absurd how aware he is of how you feel like in his hands, even while you’re trying to kill him.
Beyond his perception he can’t notice the panic the boys fall into: shouting, crying, or trying to do something to pull Hyunjin out of the water. The next thing he knows, his ears pass the water’s depth and somehow he hears the glass shattering before being dragged by gravity—or the water—down to the floor.
He doesn’t fall alone, of course, since you had such a firm grip on him. The two of you crash together in a tangle of limbs. Your tail ends up trapped between his legs in a strange way, but Hyunjin doesn’t find it uncomfortable. He doesn’t even think about the sting of his wounds.
He already knew it—he doesn’t have survival instincts.
The other boys have no idea what to do. They’re stunned, worried, or honestly excited. The dumb smile on Hyunjin’s face doesn’t give them much of a clue about how he wants them to react now either.
Your tail flaps a couple of times, and that’s when Jisung is the first to speak again, somewhat hesitantly.
“Won’t she drown if she stays out of the water?”
But before anyone can answer that question, you let out a sound of exasperation and somehow—almost magically—your long tail turns into a pair of legs, just like that… right in front of everyone.
And oh. Hyunjin suddenly realizes that you’re very naked from the waist down, and that your new legs are tangled with his. He turns incredibly red, unable to stop it even if he tries. When he glances to the side, he realizes the other boys aren’t doing much better.
As if that level of nudity wasn’t enough, you grab the seashells that had been acting as some sort of strange bra and toss them aside without hesitation, leaving your breasts completely exposed and, well… everything else too, really. Hyunjin swallows hard, but honestly looks more times than could be considered decent before gasping when you throw one of the shells directly at Minho’s head.
“What the hell?!” Minho shouts.
You ignore him, pushing Hyunjin away and climbing out of his little nest of limbs, only to stand up on both legs as if it’s the most natural thing in the world and you’re completely used to it. Not like someone who had a fish tail five minutes ago.
It’s unsettling.
The surprises don’t stop there, because you start walking further into the apartment while no one seems capable of stopping you, and you say in the most ambiguous tone of all:
“Where the hell is a damn bathtub, you idiot humans? Damn kidnappers.” You take step after step, swaying your hips in a way Hyunjin can’t ignore. When no one answers, you turn back with a murderous look and bare your fangs. “Come here, you idiot ferret. If they say I belong to you, you’d better know what you got yourself into.”
They all stammer, but none of them seem physically capable of forming words. Seungmin, who always finds a way to speak before the others, manages to choke out:
“I thought sea hybrids didn’t speak our language?” His eyes are wide.
“And why did she call us humans?” Chan adds, even more confused. “Humans haven’t existed for centuries.”
There are far more questions than answers, but surely someone smarter than Hyunjin will figure them out.
All he does is jump to his feet and follow you, tail wagging behind him.
“Wait! I’ll show you the bathroom!” he says excitedly, before adding for the others, “We’re keeping her. And don’t even think about trying to eat her, Minho, or I’ll be the one making air-fried cat for dinner.”