“Daddy?” A four year old Taemin asked from his perch on Kibum’s lap. Kibum was diligently working on paperwork that required him to read and sign. They spent most of their mornings like this; Taemin snuggled in his one of his fathers’ lap while his fathers signed paperwork that required their attention. Usually Taemin would nap or draw pictures but today he found himself wanting his fathers’ attention.

“Yes, baby?” Kibum answered while signing a document.

“Can I have a seal?” Taemin asked.

“A seal? As in the animal?” Kibum looked down at his son who was doodling on his paper.

“Yeah,” The boy chirped happily.

“No, you can’t have a seal, sweetie. Seals are not pets.” Kibum explained.

“Oh.” The boy sounded disappointed.

“How about we get you an octopus?” His Appa suggested from across the room.

“A fish?” The boy’s mood brightened considerably.

“Yeah, we can go get you one tomorrow.”

“Really?!” The boy smiled widely at his parents.

“Really.” His daddy reassured him. “Why do you want a pet all of the sudden anyway, Tae?”

“Sometimes I get lonely and bored. I just want something to play with.” The little boy explained.

“I see.” His daddy said before leaning down and kissing the top of his son’s head. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Because Daddy and Appa have important business to attend to. I don’t want to annoy you.” The boy said matter of factly.

“Oh honey,” His Appa said, swimming over to them. “You’re never annoying us. You’re our special baby boy.”

“Okay.” The boy smiled up at his Appa. “I love you Appa.”

“I love you too, Taemin.” His father leaned down and kissed him on the forehead before going back to finish his daily paperwork.
“Ya! What about Daddy?!” Kibum asked, pretending to be hurt. “Do you not love Daddy anymore?”  

“Of course I love you, Daddy!” They boy said, shocked at his father’s question, not quite understanding that it was meant to be a joke.

“I love you too, my little prince.” His Daddy kissed him before he too went back to work. Taemin was perfectly content coloring for the rest of the morning.

*******************************

“I never knew that Minho hyung was so violent!” Taemin exclaimed in shock. Onew had decided to pay a visit to the mermen since he hadn’t been able to see them in a few days. He was telling Taemin a story about the time that he had been chasing Onew around and tackled him which resulted in two accidently broken arms.

“He’s really not, he didn’t mean to break my arm.” Onew defended Minho.

“Oh, I see.” Taemin laughed at the thought of both Minho and Onew with broken arms. “That must’ve been fun.”

“Yeah, right. You wanna see Minho when he hasn’t played hockey in six weeks?!” Taemin shook his head in response before Onew continued on, gesturing wildly with his arms. “He’s insane! He gets so stir-crazy and he becomes angry! Hockey’s good for him I tell  you! It helps him get out all his stored up anger!”

“What is hockey, hyung?” Taemin asked. He had never heard of the sport before Onew had mentioned it to him just now.

“Oh, right.” Onew said, suddenly remembering that Taemin probably had no idea what it was. Sometimes it was so easy to talk to the merman that he completely forgot that he wasn’t human and lived his entire life under the ocean. “Hockey is a sport that’s played on ice. It’s really violent too. The players slam each other into walls trying to get a rubber disk like object, called a puck. They use these sticks that look like the English ‘L’ and use them to wack around the puck. They wear these things called  skates that are basically shoes with sharp blades on them to help the players move around on the ice. Each team has goals on either end of the ice and they have someone in a lot of padding stand in front of them to keep the puck from getting in.” Onew explained.

“Ah, I see. It sounds like fun!” Taemin exclaimed.

“It is. It’s also very fast paced, too.”

“I bet.”

“Taemin?” Onew asked.

“Hmm?” The boy hummed in response.

“What are you and Minho exactly?” Onew asked, noticing that Taemin’s tail had turned pink.

“W-what do you mean?” The boy stuttered.

“Well, I see the way you look at him.” Onew began explaining. “You look at him like he’s the most attractive person you’ve ever seen. He looks at you the same way, too. So I guess I was just wondering if you liked him.”
“Of course I like him, hyung.” Taemin said, trying to avoid Onew’s real question.

“Not like a friend, Taemin. Like the way your parents like each other.”

“Oh.” Taemin said, the pink on his tail getting darker. “Yeah, I guess I do like him that way. But I don’t think he likes me the same way, hyung.”
“What do you mean?” Onew said, confused. It was very obvious to him that Minho liked Taemin.

“Well, when I asked him whether or not he liked guys, he said that he didn’t know and that he never really liked a guy before. So, it would be stupid for me to  chase after him, don’t you think?” Taemin muttered looking down, sadly.

“No, I don’t think that at all.” Onew comforted him. “I think Minho likes you more than he lets on.”

“What makes you think that?” Taemin asked skeptically.

“He talks about you all the time. He tells me how you’re doing, that you’re helping him learn how to swim. He tells me how pretty your tail looks from under the water, he thinks it ‘shines’. He also thinks that you appear very unearthly when he sees you underwater.” Onew explained.

“He told you all this?” Taemin asked, surprised.

“Well, not exactly.” Onew muttered and Taemin cocked a brow. “He kinda keeps a journal and I may or may not have read it.”

“HYUNG!” Taemin shouted in disapproval with a hint of amusement.

“WHAT?! It fell out of his backpack and I grabbed it for him!” Onew defended himself. “But, that’s not the point! The point is: he likes you. A lot. Maybe you should confront him about it.”

“I don’t know…” Taemin said, shyly.

“Look, Minho is a really shy person. He’d never admit that he likes you unless you initiate it.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

“I don’t know if it’s fair though.” Taemin said.

“What’s fair?” Onew asked.
“Well, let’s say that he likes me.” Taemin explained. “He couldn’t possibly stay with me forever, even if we both wanted to.”

“What do you mean?” Onew was obviously confused.

“Well, I don’t belong here. Sooner or later,  I’m going to have to go back to the ocean with my parents and when that day comes, I’d have to leave you and Minho behind.”

“What? Why?!” Onew asked, stunned by the mermaid’s words. He knew the mermaid didn’t belong in the pool; he belonged in the ocean, where he could roam free and his parents could continue ruling over their section of the ocean. He just never thought about the day when Taemin would actually leave. He knew he was going to be sad, he had become such good friends with Taemin and his parents in the short time he had known them.
“I belong in the ocean and we both know you guys can’t follow me there. It’s just not feasible. You and Minho need to be here, going to school, ruling the hockey team and the chess club, and someday mating with pretty women.” Taemin felt a pang in his heart at the thought of Minho mating with some girl. But Minho didn’t belong to him and never would. He had no right to get upset.

“Taemin, Minho is a mermaid too. He could follow you to the ocean!” Onew pointed out.
“No, he belongs here with you.” Taemin sighed, admitting the fact not only to Onew, but also to himself.

“Do you really gotta leave?” Onew questioned, sadly.

“Yes, we really need to leave. We don’t belong here.” Taemin gave him a sad smile.
“When?”

“Soon. Daddy and Appa have to go back to the kingdom. We are going to have to leave very soon.” Taemin told Onew.

“MWAH?!” A new voice shouted from the doorway.  

**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************

A/N:

We're back (E/N: *Waves cutely* hiiii). Took us long enough, didn't it? I apologize for the wait! But, at least it wasn't like 3 weeks like a few weeks ago (That was wayyy too long). Good news: I already wrote another chapter! So that should be posted as soon as Bre stops putting more holes in her ears and edits *sigh* (YAH! I only put ONE hole in my ear and I've been wanting this piercing for like a year! For those who didn't hear: I FINALLY got my conch piercing!!! I love it way more than I should!). Well, we hope you enjoyed this chapter! We love you all! Comments are love!!

Picta Spam!!

Bre's conch (DOESN'T IT LOOK AWESOME! Hole # 9 :D) Fun fact: Taemin has a conch but I haven't seen him wear it other than this

Key's conch :) Can you tell that I like piercings? Lol

OH GOD PLEASE DO!