For so long as he could remember, nothing really mattered to him. No, he isn't heartless. At least he would like to believe that he isn't. He earned a lot of friends for all his time of aimlessly wandering around and genuinely cares for them, even for that annoying werehound Jongdae, but what he means about "nothing really mattered" is he never truly cared if people stays with him or if they would go on their different ways.

To him, people come in go, you meet new ones at the same time, you also loses some.

That's just how it is.

That's how life is.

Jongdae once gave him a disapproving look when he ventured back to their tiny village. He told him that "you always have the power to make them stay. All you have to do is ask." while picking up bits of meat from the huge femoral bone of the demon cow he hunted earlier. "And if they still chooses to leave, then let them go. What's important is that you won't be beating your self up for the rest of your life with countless "what ifs?" running through your mind." The significantly younger weredemon added, an untold story flashing through his eyes, as he finishes his dinner before asking for Minseok's upon noticing that he hadn't touched it yet.

(He ended up sharing half of his dinner to the constantly hungry hound.)

Jongdae's words continuously rang to his head that night. When he finally settled down on one of the extra rooms of the hound's humble home, his eyes were trained to the white ceiling and tracing the pattern of the adjoined plywood with his fingers. He made sense. It was one of those times where he can count with his one hand that Jongdae actually showcased that he wasn't just some mischievous demon dog and that he's actually capable of saying something smart.

But if there's something that Minseok learned with the time he spent walking around with no direction, it's that all wise words held a deeper meaning, an untold story perhaps, something bittersweet that taught you a very valuable lesson.

And that seemed to be the case with Jongdae as his silent cries in the middle of the night didn't escaped Minseok's trained ears.

(Minseok left the next day and made no mention of the cries and the unfamiliar name that left the hound's mouth last night. Merely enveloping the younger demon into a comforting hug before continuing with his seemingly endless walk to nowhere.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The time when his and Lu Han's paths crossed was a strange occurrence.

The sun had just settled down, hiding behind the tall mountains which no weak human would want to get lost in, and in its place came the twin moons who were slowy rising from their hiding spot behind the mountains opposite to the sun's. Minseok had just lit his lantern—purposely ignoring the murmurs of the tiny demons who had been following the moment he entered the woods—and went on to hunt for the best spot to spend the night in.

It was faint at first, something he could easily overlook alongside the murmuring of the little demons, then it gradually grew louder that he then realized that someone or something was crying nearby.

With having spent nearly half of his life traveling, Minseok had gotten braver so instead of turning around and leave (an action his friend Baekhyun would do. A strange racoon demon who was mated to an Ogre with large ears. It was a peculiar pair but he really have no say to that), he followed the sound until it led him to a small pond.

Minseok raised his lantern higher to get a better view of the place. Aside from the plants that grew on the edges and the calm surface of the pond, he saw nothing out of ordinary. But the crying was still existent and he subtly wondered which demon killed their lover again this time before going to their routine of mourning for years for what they had done. The werecat put the tendency of his kind to be dumber than humans aside and resumed with his search for the owner of the voice. When he finally halted in front of a huge bush, the volume of the sound was now at full and Minseok was more than sure that he had finally found the source of the voice.

He don't know what was he expecting, really.

Maybe The Snow Woman for she's notorious for killing her lovers then and moan about it for a decade, or someone who is like her, but when he finally pushed the branches aside and saw a pale creature lying on his stomach, crying and kimono untied, showing his firm legs and upper torso, he was quite surprised.

He had trouble identifying what was it at first—he thought the creature was some sort of a fairy for it appears like one—but when Minseok focused on his legs and took in the dry shinny scales that littered the creature's feet, Minseok had never been so confused.

A merperson.

A freaking merperson in the middle of the woods.

Minseok had his fair share of peculiar events, it was a given when you spend your time traveling aimlessly, and it was definitely one of them.

It's because, while you can find merpeople almost anywhere, a dark and gloomy woods such as this one is the last thing someone would think of if ask where do merpeople usually hangs out. They're known for being a bunch of fun-loving individual, creating ruckus here and there, and simply flocks on places where it's fun and is surround by glimmering jewelries to clothe and beautify themselves with.

Merpeople are associated with the loud and obnoxious atmosphere of the busy streets of big cities, not in the damp and quiet surroundings of a dark forest.

So to see one in here was more than surprising.

Clearing his throat to not startle the already distressed creature, Minseok spoke a small "Hello." and successfully put a stop to the merperson's incessant crying.

When the merperson finally looked up, the werecat wasn't even that surprised when he was met by a very beautiful androgynous face. While their silver hair was all over the place and their face was red from all the crying they had done—magenta eyes glassy and staring at Minseok with a hopeful expression—it didn't masked the beauty they possessed. The cat subtly wondered about their gender but he was more concerned when they resumed crying and made a 'grabby-hand' gesture toward him, asking for his help.

Blinking a couple of times, ears flat on his golden hair in caution and not leaving the fact that this could be a trap, Minseok approached the creature with careful steps. He took hold of the extended hand, noting how cold they were, and slowly pulled the creature to his feet. Which he later finds out was a bad idea because the merperson's prized kimono slid off his body and Minseok was faced with a .

The most rational thing to do that moment was to pull back their—his clothes and wrap it around him. But Minseok was too flustered by the unexpected show that all he did was sputter red and spat a string of apologies.

Something the merman wasn't able to appreciate, much less register, when his eyes rolled back and he fainted straight to Minseok's open arms.

 

 

 

 

Minseok had to drag and soak him to the pond because he was breaking out and his scales were falling all over the place. For reasons he could not fathom, the merman seemed to choose to stay in land when there's a nearby body of water, resulting to him dehydrating and nearly dying.

It was an idiotic move, Minseok thought so.

 

 

 

 

Lu Han.

He found later that evening that the merman's name is Lu Han. 'Lu' meaning 'Deer' and 'Han' meaning 'Dawn', put them together and you'll get 'Deer of the Dawn', or so as the merman says in between swallowing down Minseok's balled rice with half of his body in the water.

(The werecat admits that his maroon fish tail is beautiful.)

Apparently, Lu Han got separated from his pack when they were on their way to the Blood sea. He recounts how a wild boar attacked them in the middle of the road and he thought running inside the forest was the best idea. But he ended up getting lost for days and by the time he finds the pond, he was already too tired to even move his legs. That's why he can't thank Minseok enough, even suggested that he repays his gratitude with a kiss.

(He ended up face planting on the ground, courtesy of the punch he got from Minseok when he tried to do so.)

 

 

 

He thought that was the only good deed he was going to do for Lu Han, but when he wakes up the next day—feeling someone poking his leg with a twig from the branch he slept in—he was greeted by grinning face asking him to take him to the Blood sea.

Minseok denied the request because he's a cat and cats don't like water (unless they're warm and shallow in his case, because that he can tolerate) and the road to the Blood Sea is littered with different body of water.

So he said no and ignored how sad the merman looked.

 

(But then he proposed to take him to the nearest town because that look might or might not have moved him a little.

And it turned out, he probably shouldn't have.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The soft rocking of the surface he's lying down is what he first registers, then the soft chugging of a vehicle he can't properly discern with his mind still in a foggy state. He feels someone covers him with something fluffy, carefully tucks his chin and feet as if afraid that he would disturb his slumber. Minseok's ear twitches at the action before lying flat on his head.

He hears someone swallow thickly with his movement and slowly, his eyes flutters open—gray eyes searching for something familiar—and he's meet with magenta ones that are looking at him with uncertainty and—fear?

"Where am I?" he hoarsely asks, closing his eyes once more to whack his brains out for any clue that might give his current location.

"Ugh, about that..." Starts the voice he vaguely recognized. "You're or may not be aboard a train leading to the southern coast." they ended with a thick swallow.

At the mention of the southern coast, Minseok's eyes snaps open and he abruptly rises from his lying position, going straight to the nearby window.

Only to hiss and fall back to his makeshift bed on the floor of their cabin.

Behind the window is nothing but water. A ing huge body of water. Minseok coils in fear to the corner of the small space he's in with the memory of vast expanse of clear water he had seen. No mountains, no bridge—heck! The train tracks is probably even a few inches below—and just the idea alone that he's surrounded by so much water makes his pupils enlarges until it nearly covers his irises and shiver in extreme fear, ears flat on his head and tail puffed up.

"Hey, hey, calm down." Comes the same voice from before. Minseok is then faced with a face (pun intended) he remembers seeing for the first time in a dark murky forest.

Silver hair, magenta eyes, button nose, rosy cheeks and reddish lips: A memory of a fish tail in the color of its owner's eyes, Minseok is then attacked by a different memory where the same person was giving him a shot of 'sake' as a thank you for helping him and then, everything faded to black when he gulped it down.

Lu Han.

"Y-you..." his lower lip quivers at the sudden realization that this merman added something to the drink he had offered. "What did you do? What did you put in that sake?" He questions with his voice uncharistically low as his mind is muddled with the fact that he's in the middle of nowhere and is surrounded by so much water.

Seeing the slow accumulation of tears in the corner of the other's eyes and the fear that is mirrored in them, Lu Han rushes to his front in panic. "It wasn't anything dangerous! It was just a sleeping potion!" He says, hands awkwardly hovering around Minseok, unsure if he should give him a pat or touch him with all the notion leading to only one end: he might get scratched.

That, he realized much.

So he instead bites his lower lip and sits crossed leg in front of Minseok, hands on his lap. "I-I, ugh, I know that was very unethical and very ungentlemanly," He swallows as the other sniffs and hiccups: looking extra sinful with his reddened nose and glassy eyes. "But I really need your help for me to get to the Blood Sea." Lu Han starts and the way Minseok is now openly glaring at him despite of the tears is very, very, frightening. "I wasn't going to do that, I swear! But you gave me no choice. You were so oppose to helping me and I just... Just... Right now, you're the only I can entrust myself with because you saved me."

And Minseok is now so close into killing him.

That's it, no more helping people next time! The werecat thinks and clenches his fists.

"Why do you need me to take you to the Blood Sea in the first place?" Minseok snarls, addressing the question that has been bugging him from the start. "Can't you just—" a whimper when the train mildly shakes from hitting a small bump. "j-just swim or something to get there?"

At the ending question, Lu Han's cheeks is tinted with a small hint of red. The merman shyly rubs his neck and gives Minseok a sheepish smile the other so want to wipe off. "This might sound strange but—but I easily get lost in land." he confesses with a laugh.

When Minseok didn't speak a word and simply stares at him like he's crazy, Lu Han sees it as his cue to explain further. "You see, when I'm in the water I have no problem with direction. I can navigate through it in ease but when I'm in land, it's a different story. The land confuses me. I find everything looks the same and with that, my ability to navigate is reduced to—I don't know? To that of a human's intellectual capacity I guess." And he even had the audacity to laugh at his lame comparison.

Which doesn't makes sense because humans can be pretty smart.

Minseok can affirm to that from his experience of living in the human realm for a few years back in a city called Gyeongju.

"And yes, I can swim but sooner or later, I will face another land before I can find another river to swim in." Lu Han continues. "Either way I will end up getting lost and I can't afford that. I need to be in the Blood Sea before the Moons does a triple full rotation or else my pack will leave me." He says and gives Minseok a what could be a hopeful look.

"I know you detest me right now and understand that," he sighs and slowly, he reaches out for Minseok's hand, clasping it with his as he looks at the werecat straight into his eyes. "But I really need your help. I can't afford to be left alone by my pack. They're my family, basically the reason why I'm alive, and you're the only one who I trust right now so please... Please, help me." He murmurs and all Minseok could do is to furrow his eyebrows and retracts his hand from the merman's grasp.

"Fine," he says before Lu Han could summon his kicked puppy look. Convincing him isn't really that hard. Jongdae and nearly all his friends knows that guilt tripping Minseok is the best way to make him heed to their request and the werecat doubts Lu Han knows Jongdae, therefore he could be telling him the truth.

(Or you know, Lu Han could be a con artist like his werehound friend.)

"This better be worth it," Minseok grumbles and wraps the blanket tighter around his still shivering form.

Beaming, Lu Han pulls a liquid container from his kimono and offers it to Minseok.

Naturally, the other eyes it suspiciously but Lu Han merely laughs. "It's just a two headed cow's milk." He says. "I bought it before we boarded the train. I thought of bribing you with it to be honest." He shrug and when Minseok continue to sit there looking at him in suspicion, Lu Han's lips morphs into a pout. "I promise I didn't add anything suspicious in it this time." he swears and slightly shakes the container, urging Minseok to take it.

Suspicious still, Minseok squints and his eyes and wraps the blanket around him tighter. "You drink it first." Is what he says just to make sure the merman isn't lying.

With a roll of his eyes, Lu Han uncaps the liquid container and takes a chug of the milk. Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he smirks when nothing happens before placing the container into the werecat's palm, letting him get a whiff of the milk's sweet aroma.

"Try it. It's really good." the merman persuades.
When Minseok finally accepts the container—his loud grumbling stomach is what finally convinces him—the grin he gets in return is blinding and the werecat looks away, flushing slightly as he places the lid of the container on his lips (he ignores the image of Jongdae hooting "indirect kiss!" in his head).

Nothing out of ordinary happens at first.

Minseok actually gulped down the entire content in one go because it's so damn good and misses the way the merman's lips quirks up to a small smirk.

Then his eyes suddenly feels heavier—a yawn escapes his mouth after he shakes his head—Minseok rubs his eyes then yawns again.

Before he knows it, he's back to sleeping and he vaguely hears Lu Han says "I lied." then ing giggles and everything once again fades to black.

(Minseok recalls far too late about hearing a potion Merpeople makes that only works on creatures that isn't their kind.)

 

 

 

 

Lu Han is a peculiar creature to say the least.

But so is his kind.

Minseok, with his years of traveling has a decent knowledge of mermen and mermaids, knowledge that are passed down to him by his fellow travelers and on some occasions, by said mermen and mermaids themselves. He thinks that among the monsters he had met in the monster realm, nothing could come close to the similarities the merpeople had to humans.

They are promiscuous: changing lovers as fast as they changes their clothing. A trait he observed so well back in the human realm.

They are highly materialistic: merpeople love to collect accessories and beautify themselves with them, flaunting all the golds and silver around their neck, ears, and fingers for everyone to see much like how humans do.

And last but not the least, they are obnoxious and annoying.

If there is something that Minseok disliked the most aside from water, it's anything that destroys the peace and quiet. And the merpeople's obnoxious laughter is something that he truly detest.

(Their laughter brings him back to a place in Gyeongju where humans consumes an unhealthy amount of alcohol and laugh at nearly everything that they see.)

But to put it simply, merpeople are peculiar because they are so close to humans in terms of traits and physical aspects than any demons and monster could be.

And Lu Han is no different from the stereotype his kind had set up.

The second time he wakes up inside the train cabin, the merman who had drugged him is nowhere to be seen. The first thing he did—like any sane person would—is to check if anything's wrong with his body or if his belongings are still around. Sighing of relief because nothing seems to be out of place, he wobbles up to his feet to see if they finally landed.

Much to his relief, he could finally see the outline of the city from where he's looking, the wooden towers and flags peeking from the high walls that was created to prevent invasions from pirates and other unwanted guests. Which means that they are nearing the station and Minseok doesn't have to fear for his life anymore. With a heavy relieved sigh leaving his mouth, he slides down to the wall of the cabin and rummages his brain for possible routes he could take to take him back to the northern areas. A route where he can avoid as much water as he could.

He is in that position—knees pulled close to his chest and eyebrows furrowed in concentration—when his perpetrator finally makes an appearance.

Beaming like he hadn't drugged Minseok TWICE, Lu Han approaches him with a bounce on his feet.

"Minnie!" He exclaims. "We're almost at the station! I'm really excited because this is my first time in this city and man, I swear I can smell the foods from here and—" His words are cut off by a glare courtesy of the werecat and his sudden walking out of the room. "Minnie! Where are you going?" Lu Han calls out as he follows Minseok out of their cabin.

"My name is Minseok. Get that right." He says through gritted teeth and ignored the merman who is following him like a lost puppy. His feet are still unsteady but he gathers all of his strength just so he could get as far as he could from the crazy fishperson.

"But Minnie is cuter than Minseok! It's like a—oops, sorry." Lu Han says when he nearly bumps into an elderly Kappa in his haste of following the werecat. "like a—a... A cute nickname?"

The only thing he got from that comment is a hard glare.

"Where are you going anyway?" the merman whines when Minseok didn't made a motion of stopping.

"Farther away from you." Minseok spits in anger.

"But why?! You promised to take me to the Blood Sea!" Lu Han gasps out, finally catching up to the werecat and blocks his way.

"Well, not anymore." Minseok grumbles and tries to side steps his way out of Lu Han's body.

Pouting, the merman stretches his arms wide to keep the werecat from leaving. "Is this because I gave you that milk? Sorry, okay? I just thought that it would be better if you sleep the entire duration of the train ride. You don't look like you were enjoying yourself." he reasons out which makes the other huffs in irritation.

"You..." Minseok grits his teeth and is about to point an accusing finger but quickly retracts it. Never had he thought being irrational is a trait of a—oh, wait. It is. "It's a common sense that you ask the other party that first, and drugging me only proves that you're dangerous and I don't want to associate myself with you even further." The werecat says and walks passes by the merman. "Good bye, Lu Hen."

"It's Han." The merman corrects with a pout.

"Whatever. Hope you don't get lost." Is all that Minseok says as he opens the door to the next cart where, unlike theirs, is packed with different monsters: a crowded place where all the seats are occupied and Minseok winces when a baby snake-girl screams her lungs out.

Minseok ignores all the commotion happening all around him and sets his mind to getting to the cart where he can leave first.

Only to be stopped by a familiar—annoying may he add—voice.

"So that's it?" Lu Han's booming voice puts a halt to all the noise inside the cart. "After all we've been through, you're just going to end things like that, Minseok?"

Eyes wide as a saucer, he whips around and gives the merman an apprehensive look. Lu Han is looking at him with such a forlorn expression that one would think the werecat stepped on his heart a gazillion times.

"What are you talking about?" Minseok questions but instead of responding like a normal person would, Lu Han swallows thickly and now, there's a formation of tears in his eyes.

"I love you..." He says instead and now he has everyone's attention. Everyone is shifting their eyes from the werecat who is looking so confused and the merman who has a crestfallen expression. "Always had and always will... And I thought you felt the same. But, you just... After all the things I've done for you. After all of the lengths I'd gone through just to pleasure you during our hot y sessions and—"

Blazing red, Minseok crosses the distance between them and slaps a hand over Lu Han's mouth. "What the hell are you saying?" he manages to squeak in the midst of his embarrassed and mortified state.

Removing the hand on his mouth, Lu Han choses to grasp it and place it directly over his beating heart. "Can't you feel that?" He questions in a voice not more than a whisper. "My heart still beats rapidly for you. Despite all of the mean things that you've said, words that impaled me, how you quickly dismissed us, dismissed me... It still goes crazy for you."

Somewhere inside the cart Minseok is sure as hell that he hears someone sob with the merman's words.

Minseok on a different note wants to impale Lu Han on the face with his fist.

And he might have done just that... Until he start to register the whispering.

"Oh my... What a heartless fellow." he hears an old lady say, far too loud for it to be a whisper, and he could just picture the dirty look she's giving him.

"How can he even resist that?" Another follows with a click of her tongue. "I thought that the thing about werecats being cold in terms of emotions is nothing but a mere gossip but here we are..."

Minseok grits his teeth in annoyance and directs a cold glare to the merman's direction.

"If I had a lover that beautiful, I would never let him go." Another nosy monster states and soon enough, different accusing words are directed to him and the last time he felt this uncomfortable is when a frog demon chases his hand for marriage. Even now, remembering the entire ordeal is enough to make the fine hairs on his nape stand in horror.

"What must I do for you to stop this?" He asks in a low voice even though he perfectly knows what the answer is going to be.

Grinning, Lu Han tugs on his hand and pulls him close. "Stay with me?" he says and smiles charmingly, making all the nosy females—and males—swoon at the sight.

Inhaling as deep as he could, Minseok takes his wrist from the merman's grasp and walks pass him—purposely bumping their shoulders—and pushes the door open.

"Where are you going?" he hears Lu Han call followed by the sound of footsteps.

"Back to our cabin, where else?" is all he says—snarls to be more specific—and he wishes to anything that Lu Han isn't grinning in victory.

(To his disappointment, the merman is and as he gave the werecat a few steps ahead, he whistles happily and knows that this journey is going to be anything but boring.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And everything he thought about Lu Han, every stereotype that is associated with being a merperson, turned out to be right.

Minseok watches from his place on the corner of the pub as Lu Han laughs loudly—chugs down a bottle of alcohol—and lays his card, presenting a set that completely annihilated his opponents and taking their golds and coins in the process. For someone—Minseok thinks—that is supposed to be in a hurry to get to the Blood Sea, Lu Han is taking his sweet time frolicking around.

Blowing his fringes off his forehead, the werecat finally decides that Lu Han had enough playing and leaves his spot.

Patting the merman on his shoulder, Minseok leans close to his ear and says: "We should go if we want to catch the last train to the next city."

Much to his irritation the merman simply chuckles. "Relax, we don't have to go now. We just arrived." Lu Han grins wider as he inspect his cards. Minseok thinks that for someone who has such an average set of cards, he looks far too happy. Squinting his eyes, it is then the werecat learns why the merman had been winning each rounds. Lu Han sneakily takes a few cards from the sleeves of his kimino, almost unnoticeable signifying that he is used to doing such, and thus, his once boring set is now holding the best cards.

What a cheat.

But once again, Lu Han wins the game.

"Yes!" The merman exclaims and before Minseok could register anything, he is pulled on top of his lap. "You see that, baby? Aren't I amazing? Give me a kiss—"

A crack is definitely heard when Minseok's fist came in contact with Lu Han's jaw.

The monsters and demons sitting with Lu Han on the round table visibly shrinks back when a deadly glare is directed to them before the now unconscious merman is dragged by the collar out of the pub. But the moment the door closes, they scrambles to take golds Lu Han left.

Minseok dragged the unconscious merman halfway through the road to the train station until he finally wakes up and grumbles how much of a killjoy the werecat is. He ignores it of course but when they finally gets to their destination, the last train just left and the urge to smack the merman had never been so strong.

"Oh bummer. What a shame, let's go back to the pub then." Lu Han says, his words lacking all the sincerity it needed, and even had the audacity the wave happily at the disappearing vehicle.

Instead of doing what the other is suggesting, Minseok let out a tired sigh and slumped on the ground of the train station. His ears are flat on his golden hair and he looks smaller.

Sighing and somewhat feeling kind of guilty, Lu Han bites his lower lip before crouching beside Minseok. He brushes a few golden locks away and gray eyes are then looking at him in question and exhaustion. "Sorry..." he says, now genuine with the word that left his mouth. "Let's go find a place to sleep, okay? And then we'll leave first thing in the morning." he adds with a small smile on his lips.

The look Minseok is giving is definitely far from trusting and all Lu Han could do is to pout and raise his pinky.

"What's that?" the cat questions and eyes the finger suspiciously.

"Have you never been in the human realm? It's a pinky promise..." Lu Han explains in amusement.

Taking Minseok's pinky, he wraps his around it—trying hard not to chuckle at how small it is compared to his—and sings a strange rhyme about having to swallow a thousand needles if the promise is broken.

"How old are you exactly?" Minseok instead questions due to how childish Lu Han was being.

Cocking his head to the side, Lu Han then grins. "Three hundred and twenty eight." he admits, revealing that Minseok is only a few years older than him. In the monster realm, that is fairly young but with how Lu Han is acting, the werecat thought he was younger. Maybe just around a hundred and eighteen.

"You don't act like one," Minseok grunts and stands up. Lu Han follows suit and didn't question when the werecat makes his way to the exit.

"Oh really? Do tell how should I act Mr. Wise and Impatient." The merman challenges and when he drapes an arm around Minseok's shoulder, he is shoved to the side by a very irritated cat. "Geez, you need to get laid... I volunteer to do the deed!" Lu Han then adds and he squints his eyes at the merman.

Shaking his head at the merman's ersion, Minseok sighs in exhaustion and walks ahead of the other.

Instead of letting the werecat be, Lu Han chooses to latch himself on Minseok's back and wraps his arms around the grumbling cat.

"Are you always this touchy?" The elder ask to which Lu Han giggles at. ing giggles at.

"Only to those who I really like." Lu Han admit. "And I like you. You're fluffy and cute."

"That's a shame then because I already hate you." Minseok grumbles. "And don't call me fluffy and cute, that's an insult to my kind."

"Your words wound me." the other replies with a roll of his eyes and didn't made a motion of removing himself from the cat. "I have a question for you too." Lu Han starts with a hum. "Are you always this grumpy?"

"I'm not grumpy."

"Sure. Who told you that? Your mom?"

There is a small pause after that before Lu Han then realize that he stepped on a unwanted territory with how Minseok's expression falls at a fraction. "Uh—Sorry maybe I shouldn't..."

"What are you sorry for?" Minseok scoffs. "Maybe you're right. Maybe she did told me, I'm not sure though. I was barely able to comprehend my surroundings when she left." the cat admits like it's nothing but saying what he had for lunch.

With his confession on the other hand, Lu Han frowns and let him go. He walks besides the cat and Minseok chuckles at the way his eyebrows furrowed.

"Don't think too much about it. Unlike you merpeople, we don't stay in packs. Werecats leaves their kittens on their own once they're done teaching them everything that they need to survive." He says in a small voice and focuses his attention on the paper lanterns hanging by the windows of each buildings that they passes.
It's already late at night and there are barely any other people aside from them.

Minseok honestly don't mind. He is used to this kind of silence, used to the time where everyone is returning to their home to rest, and used to walking around savoring this peaceful atmosphere.

Lu Han on the other hand doesn't look as comfortable as how Minseok is. The merman is worriedly gnawing on his lower lip and when he catches the werecat's eyes, he sighs.

"No offence but what you've just said is pissing me quite a bit." he admits which only earned a small laugh from the cat. It's nothing new, really, even Jongdae, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun, and all other people he'd met said the same. "Don't laugh." he grumbles. "Conceiving a child, caring for them for a while before leaving them, then go on with your life and forget that they even existed. That's just making my blood boil. What's the point of it all?"

"Keeping our number relevant. What else would it be?" Minseok says with a grin despite perfectly understanding where the merman is coming from.

"I don't like your kind then." Lu Han confesses with a loud exhale. "A child is a symbol of love, something that should be created with love, and shouldn't be treated like some trash that you'd throw away after you're done with it."

"Lu Han," Minseok starts and stops in front of the merman. "Pardon me but I think it's kind of ironic hearing that from a creature that is known for its promiscuity. I know I shouldn't generalize and I barely know you but right now you sound like an hypocrite." he says and doesn't care just how blunt he's being. Sighing, he reaches out and pats the merman on the shoulder. "If you don't like my kind, I don't like yours either and I guess it's better that way. At least we have something in common. Let's go, I want to board the first train in the morning." he ends before turning around to continue his walk to finding a nearby Inn.

Behind him, Lu Han is frowning as he watches Minseok's back.

He wants to defend himself, defend his kind, say that: yes, they might sleep around a lot, they might have different lovers from each cities they go to but once they find the person they want to be with for evermore, they could be the most loyal lover that you can find.

And that, they prides themselves for being the most loving parents out there.

But he didn't because for once, he feels exhaustion eat his body, and instead, he simply follows his companion to retire for the night.

---

 

 

 

 

 

xiukitty x merlu

 

gives up on making this a one-shot and turns it to a chaptered (hopefully just three chapters) fic instead lmao. 

 

hope u enjoy this new word vomit from me. (╥﹏╥) i always wanted to write a folklore au. /this started as my attempt for a serious but as you can see, i got carried away lol