In case you're wondering this is kind of what Kai looks like with spots like you would find on a harbor seal

The Agency had a habit of not calling before they paid a visit, and they also had a habit of not explaining what they were doing when they showed up randomly at 8 AM on a Saturday.

The doorbell jars Suho from a nightmare and he spends a few seconds trying to shake off the last images of his dreams. He’s the only one who goes downstairs, and when he opens the door and sees the men in suits he has a brief thought that this is about the report they filed a few days ago, but why would they show up for that now?

“We need one of the rooms with an adjoining bathroom to be vacated,” says a burly man in sunglasses. Suho blinks up at him tiredly.

“Um…why?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

Suho heaves a sigh and steps back. “Hold on a second,” he mumbles, rubbing his eyes. He somehow makes his way to the second floor, stumbling around before he comes to the room at the very end of the hall, where Baekhyun is sleeping. Suho lifts him up and staggers across the hall to Jongdae’s room, dumping Baekhyun in his bed. He then clears Baekhyun’s laptop and some clothes from the room before turning it over to their visitors. After that Suho goes back down stairs and starts to make coffee.

The men go in and out of the house a few times before the coffee is finished, carrying in large cardboard boxes. When Suho sits down with his coffee the house is silent for a few minutes. Then the drilling starts. Baekhyun and Jongdae are the first to come down stairs after that.

“I’m sorry about the room,” Suho says to Baekhyun before he can even open his mouth. “They said they needed a room with a bathroom, I figured…well it was between you and Jongdae, I picked you.”

Baekhyun shrugs. “It’s okay.”

“What are they even doing?” Jongdae asks.

Suho slumps down in his seat. “I have no idea,” he mumbles. “I don’t ask questions anymore.”

Kris comes down stairs next. He takes one look at Suho and offers to make breakfast.

It’s not been an easy week for anyone. Their team is still new and not everyone is best friends yet. When lack of sleep and an Agency that insists on keeping secrets is added to that mess, tensions tend to run really high. It’s taking its toll on Suho, anyone can see it. As the other residents come down stairs they all see the look on Suho’s face and don’t complain about the noise upstairs. Yixing is the only one who doesn’t come down.

“How is he?” Lu Han asks Minseok timidly.

Minseok looks even worse than Suho does. His eyes are dead and his body sags with exhaustion. “He’s sleeping,” is all he says.

It takes about a half hour for the drilling to stop, but the men don’t reemerge. Everyone eats breakfast in silence, and they linger at the table. They’ve been visited like this only a few times before, and each time nobody has told them what was going on, they figured it out on their own after the Agency employees had left. Last time this happened Chanyeol was added to the team, and the Agency dropped by to install a cooling chamber for him. There’s something about this that makes everyone think a new member is being added again, but nobody wants to bring it up.

The men leave around 3 PM, the largest one tell them to leave the room vacant until further notice before he exits. As soon as the door closes behind them Suho puts his head down on the table and cries.

Kris goes to him first, asking if there’s anything they can do for him.

“I hate when they just…invade like this,” Suho sobs through chattering teeth. “They don’t ask, they don’t explain, they just come in and make changes…I hate when…they do this…I’m so tired…”

Suho was the first one to join in the group to join with the Agency, back when he was only thirteen, so that makes him the leader by rules of seniority. He doesn’t talk about those early times much, but his relationship with the Agency is rocky and everyone kind of feels like he didn’t have a happy time in the beginning. Kris was the second one in the group to join the Agency, so when Suho is incapacitated or needs a hand, he becomes a leader. Kris also doesn’t have the best relationship with the Agency, mostly because he can’t stand secrecy.

Kris tries his best to calm Suho down, and it sort of works, but it’s obvious that Suho is still not in the best of moods.

“Maybe you should go back to bed,” Kris suggests gently. “You’re tired, I don’t even need empathy to know that.” He looks around the room. “Maybe we should all go back to bed for a little while.”

“I can get behind that,” Jongdae says, “Baekhyun can share with me, since the other rooms only have twin beds.”

Chanyeol stands up. “I can help you get Suho upstairs, Kris-hyung.”

Kris smiles at him. “I should be okay, I just need you to open his door for me, if you don’t mind.”

Suho tries to protest, but he’s so tired that if he tried to walk he would probably collapse. Everyone trails after Chanyeol, Suho, and Kris, going to their own rooms and trying to get a little more sleep. All except Kyungsoo, who has been dying of curiosity for the last seven hours.

Once everyone is in their own room, Kyungsoo goes down the hall and peeks inside the last room. The bedroom itself is unchanged, but Kyungsoo somehow expected that. He scurries inside and opens the bathroom door, and his jaw drops. It was a large bathroom to begin with, and it used to have a large bathtub and a glass-encased shower stall. Now the bathtub and the shower have been removed and replaced with what looks like small swimming pool.

Kyungsoo steps inside, staring at the new addition. It’s not a bathtub, that much is clear—it’s got a faucet like the one a bathtub would have, but the whole thing is lined with freshly laid tile and looks like something one would find in a spa. But as big as it is, Kyungsoo realizes it’s too small to be a pool.

It’s deeper than a tub as well, so deep that it’s half sunken into the floor. Curiosity overcomes him once more and Kyungsoo cautiously steps into the thing. The tiles are cool under his bare feet and they don’t slip, which means that whatever is holding them in place has dried. As Kyungsoo sits down he realizes that the tiles and grout have been laid so smoothly, he can’t feel a seam between them. When he’s fully seated, the walls of the enclosure go up to his eyes, and he can actually lay flat and still have a good two feet of space blow his feet. He lays with his back against one side of the pool-thing and stretches his arms out in front of himself. His fingers just brush the other side.

Curiosity satisfied for the time being, Kyungsoo stands up and goes back to his own room. He’s not exactly sure what this thing is for, but he’s got an idea and doesn’t want to think about it too much while he’s this tired. Right now the only thing he really finds himself wondering is how, even if they changed clothes, did the men in suits manage to keep themselves so clean during this renovation?

By the time Kyungsoo drags himself back downstairs after his nap, it seems like everyone else has already had a peek at the renovation, and they’re all discussing it.

“They’re giving us a pet stingray,” Chanyeol says firmly. “Or a penguin.”

“You’re an idiot,” Baekhyun tells him, patting his head.

“Come on,” Chanyeol insists, “Look, they can’t send us a new member who needs to be in water all the time, what would be the good in that?”

Lu Han pipes up, “Maybe it’s like, he doesn’t need to leave the water to be useful. Maybe he can see the future, or he practices transfiguration.”

Kyungsoo speaks then, “Yeah but if he needed to be in water all the time, he’d need something bigger.”

“Maybe he’s just freakishly huge,” Jongdae says. “Or bloats.”

“Oh, and I’m an idiot?” Chanyeol scoffs. “Come on, nobody’s that huge.”

“Kris is,” Jongdae says, eying Kris.

“I’m not that tall,” Kris says lightly. “You’re just short.”

Jongdae’s eye twitches, as does Kyungsoo’s.

“Nothing against you, Kyungsoo,” Kris continues. “Just that other person.”

Kyungsoo almost asks what the two of them argued about this time, but thinks better of it. He looks around and notices that Suho is missing. Lu Han follows his line of thinking.

“We sent Suho to the spa, figured he needed a break.”

“You look like you need one too,” Chanyeol says to Lu Han. “How are you feeling?”

It’s like everyone stops breathing. They usually try to refrain from bringing these incidents up again after the fact.

Lu Han smiles. “Thanks for worrying about me Chanyeol, but I’m okay, I promise.”

Nobody believes him, but nobody wants to call him out on the lie. Everyone sits in silence for a few minutes, then Yixing comes into the room.

“Good morning,” He says with a smile. “Oh, I mean afternoon.”

“Hi, Yixing,” Everyone mumbles, in some form or another.

“Where’s Minseok?” Kris asks.

“Asleep,” Yixing says. “I think he’s having nightmares.”

Everyone tries not to flinch. Lu Han quietly gets up and exits the room.

“Is Lu Han okay?” Yixing asks after a minute.

“He’s just tired,” Jongdae says gently. He takes Yixing by the elbow. “Why don’t you go keep Minseok company? I’m sure he’ll sleep better if you’re with him.”

“Okay,” Yixing says. “Yes, I’ll do that.”

Jongdae walks him back. When Yixing’s out of earshot, Kris growls something under his breath. Kyungsoo doesn’t catch it but Baekhyun does.

“Look nobody likes it, okay?” He snaps, “Do you have any better ideas?”

“Yeah,” Kris says, “Tell him the truth.”

Kris, Baekhyun and Chanyeol dissolve into bickering. Kyungsoo grabs a cup of coffee and goes back to his room. He peeks into Lu Han’s room on the way, but Lu Han isn’t there.

The next afternoon everyone is lounging around the living room watching reruns of Running Man when the doorbell rings. Everyone looks at each other, Suho makes a face and pulls his wings around himself, ducking his head down.

“Not it!” He says.

Kris gets up and opens the door, and then he swears in his mother language.

Everyone peeks at the door and their jaws drop. The men in suits are back, and they’ve got a tall black box with them, it almost looks like it could be a refrigerator but everyone knows what that box is really for.

“We’ll need a space to be cleared,” the man at the front of the group says.

The apartment is technically a safe house, which means that moving a new resident into the apartment is a tricky thing. Each time it happens, the new resident has to be disguised. A lot of people have eyes on the Agency, but that’s okay because the Agency knows how to transport a person of interest and lose any tailing spies in the process. But even the initial move into the house has to be secret, and the new agent is usually put into a box like the one in the hallway for the move. The men in suits disguise themselves as handymen or delivery men, and usually more of them wait in the building. Nobody knows how many people it takes to transport one agent, just like nobody knows what it is the men in suits really do.

Everyone clears a path for the box. The men in suits wheel it in, and then carry it up the stairs to the second floor. Nobody needs to ask where it’s going. After a few minutes the men come back and one breaks off from the group to walk over to Suho, who is peeking out at everyone from over the tops of his wings.

The man holds out a file. “His name is Kai. Be careful, he’s a little bit of a handful.” Then he leaves and the men in suits all exit the house. They’re gone before Suho’s feathers have even fully stood on end.

“A little bit of a handful,” Suho echoes. With his feathers all up, he looks a little like an angry porcupine, though no one will ever say it to him because he’s much scarier than a porcupine. “Oh sure, dump the handful on us and leave.” He drops the file to the floor. “Well I’m going to go make sure the poor thing isn’t traumatized. Let’s hope I come back in one piece.”

“Want me to come with you?” Kris asks, even though he knows the answer.

“No, everybody stay here.”

Suho stalks up the stairs and everyone holds their breath, straining to hear. After a moment Kris whispers, “I hear splashing.”

Then a door slams and Suho comes back down, looking slightly damp.

“Well,” He says. His eyes are wide and he looks like he just woke up from a weird dream, “Guys, guess what? Mermaids are real.” He pauses. “Well, merfolk I guess, because that was not a maid…”

“THERE’S A MERMAN IN OUR HOUSE?” Chanyeol shrieks. “Oh my god! First aliens, then Jesus’ younger brother and a unicorn, now a merman?! What’s next??”

“That Jesus thing is getting really old,” Minseok says.

“Can we meet him?” Chanyeol asks excitedly.

Suho holds up a hand. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, maybe give him a few minutes and like, take it slow. He’s really…well, not in a good mood.”

“Would you be?” Kyungsoo asks, but nobody answers.

“Oh,” Suho says, “And um, he’s got tentacles so, beware of that.”

There’s a shocked silence.

“Oh god,” Jongdae whispers, “He’s half giant squid.”

“That’s not funny!” Suho explodes as Chanyeol bursts into panicked giggles.

Kyungsoo picks up the file from the floor and scans it. The first page has only the most basic information. Apparently Kai is seventeen years old, was found injured on some obscure island, has been reluctant to form bonds or communicate, and…

“Guys,” Kyungsoo says loudly, “He can teleport.”

“Oh, really?” Suho asks, reading the file over Kyungsoo’s shoulder. “Wow, that’s convenient. I wonder if he can take people with him?”

“That would be awesome,” Baekhyun says excitedly. “Wow, I hope he settles in quickly so we can actually talk to him.”

But it becomes apparent that Kai is not going to be settling in any time soon. After about an hour Chanyeol goes to say hello to him and comes back wet and looking a little scared.

“He hissed at me,” Chanyeol says. “At least, I think that’s what it was.”

“Maybe we should all just go say hello and get it over with,” Yixing suggests. “If we drag it out, it might serve to just stress him out even more.”

Suho sighs. “I get that, but if he keeps splashing at whoever walks in, the floor’s going to start to leak. Maybe we should wait until tomorrow, keep contact at a bare minimum.” He turns to Kris. “What are you sensing from him?”

Kris is quiet for a moment, frowning in concentration. “I don’t know. His emotions are very complex and they’re constantly changing. He’s…agitated and angry, like he’s itching for a fight, but he’s also very timid and has a desire to be alone.”

Jongdae looks towards the stairs nervously. “Maybe Suho’s right, maybe we should leave him be.”

Kyungsoo clears his throat and waits for everyone to look at him. “If it’s okay with everyone, I would like to try to communicate with him.”

“Um, okay,” Suho says after a brief hesitation. “I suppose if anyone can do it, it’s you.”

Kyungsoo grew up in an orphanage and he used to help out with the younger kids and the new arrivals. Along the way he learned how to connect with the kids who didn’t want to be there, who were angry with the world and just wanted to go home.

Kyungsoo nods. “Okay, I need to go shopping first, I’ll be right back.”

“Shopping?” Minseok echoes, “What for?”

 “Well,” Kyungsoo explains to his friends, “I just spent the last hour reading his file. According to this, he’s spent most of his life in the ocean. What do you think he eats?”

“Fish?” Baekhyun guesses. “We have fish.”

“We have canned, old, prepackaged fish,” Kyungsoo says patiently. “I’m pretty sure that’s not what Kai is used to eating.”

There’s a collective “Ooooh.” Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, he can’t believe he needs to explain this.

“His file also says that he doesn’t talk, but not whether it’s because he can’t or just doesn’t feel like it, but it does say that he can write, so while I’m gone somebody needs to get a dry erase board and some markers so he can talk to us.” Kyungsoo tried not to read too much into personal information, just enough that he could get a sense for Kai’s personality.

“I’ll do that,” Jongdae says, “I think I have extra in my office.”

“Good,” Kyungsoo says. “Chanyeol, come with me, I need someone to help me carry all this stuff.”

While in the orphanage Kyungsoo learned that truly the best way to make a connection was through food—by offering food, he could show that he cared about the other person’s wellbeing.

There’s a market not too far from the apartment that has some pretty good fish vendors. Kyungsoo uses the credit card the Agency gave them and buys some of the freshest fish he can find, some of it’s not even dead yet. Chanyeol reminds Kyungsoo that it’s been a while since the lot of them had nice food, so they make sure to buy extra to share. Chanyeol pouts until Kyungsoo caves and gets half a dozen lobsters.

“These things aren’t cheap,” he grumbles under his breath.

“Not like we’re paying for it,” Chanyeol reminds him. “Come on, after the week we’ve had we deserve nice things. You know what, get four more! One for each of us!”

Kyungsoo sputters. “Nobody is going to eat a whole thing!”

Chanyeol glares until he relents and Kyungsoo vows to make Chanyeol carry the bag home. In the end it seems like they’ve bought their weight in food.

Once they get back, Kyungsoo lays out the haul and carefully goes through it, picking out what he thinks are the best fish. On a serving platter he lays out a fresh salmon, pieces of octopus and squid, and several whole shrimp. Then at Chanyeol’s insistence he prepares a few more salmon for cooking as well clams, more shrimp and a few whole baby octopus.

“You guys are insatiable,” he grumbles under his breath. “Hold off on cooking until I get back, okay?”

He carries the plate upstairs, taking care not to spill it. The bedroom door is open, but the bathroom door is firmly shut. Kyungsoo kneels down, putting the plate next to him, and stays down as he opens the door. He keeps his eyes lowered and listens carefully. He can hear the water lapping at the sides of the tub and a low growl rumbling from the newest resident. Kyungsoo slides the plate in ahead of himself and inches inside on his knees, keeping the bathroom door open so that Kai doesn’t feel like he’s trapped.

“Are you hungry?” Kyungsoo asks quietly. He picks up the plate and slowly raises his eyes.

There was no picture in Kai’s folder, so Kyungsoo wasn’t sure what to expect. Kyungsoo can only see his head and a bit of his hands from his position, but his breath catches in his throat at how beautiful he is. Kai’s skin looks smooth and slick, like that of a dolphin, and it’s a light brown color with rich, dark brown spots. His fingers have a thin, translucent webbing between them, and Kyungsoo’s not sure if he has nails or just hardened skin on the ends of his fingers, he’s too far away to tell. Kai has hair on his head, which Kyungsoo finds slightly surprising, but no eyebrows or lashes. He stares at Kyungsoo through narrowed eyes, the picture of distrust.

Kyungsoo has only looked at him for a few seconds and he lowers his eyes again so Kai doesn’t get uncomfortable. He holds out the plate of fish.

“I wasn’t sure what you would like,” He says, “There’s more downstairs, and a much bigger variety too. I’ll leave this here, and when I come back for the plate I’ll leave something for you to write on so you can list what you like to eat, okay?”

He inches forward on his knees until Kai growls threateningly, then he stops, sets the plate down, and backs out. He doesn’t stand until he closes the door.

When he goes back downstairs, everyone looks at him like he’s just performed a magic trick.

“You’re not wet,” Suho says. “How are you not wet?”

Kyungsoo explains it to them as he prepares dinner.

“In nature, creatures often feel threatened by what’s bigger than them. Kai’s in a pretty defenseless position right now, so the first thing to do is not be bigger than him. I pretty much crawled the entire time. Then when I got too close he growled at me, so I backed off. I just went in to give him food, after that I got out of his personal space.”

Noticing Chanyeol’s pout, Kyungsoo reaches over and pat him on the head. “You and Suho kind of buttered him up for me, I think. You startled him but didn’t hurt him, so I think he was a little more receptive. I’m going to back after dinner, and I’m going to spend a lot of time with him over the next few days. Since I’m not a giant and I have experience with this kind of thing, I’m hoping he won’t find me too threatening and I’ll be able to get a good sense for how to act around him, then I can introduce him to you all. Sound like a good plan?”

“It’s a good plan,” Suho says. “As long as you feel like you can handle it.”

“I can,” Kyungsoo says confidently.

After dinner Kyungsoo takes the dry erase board and goes back upstairs. He enters the same way he did last time, and when he looks up he doesn’t see Kai at all and figures he must be under water. The plate has been cleared, only the head of the salmon and a few fish bones remain. Kyungsoo clears his throat and after a few seconds Kai’s head pops up.

Kyungsoo holds up the board. “This is for you to write what you like to eat, and anything else you want to tell us.”

He hesitates a moment. He wants to say more, but Kai is shrinking away from him, so he leaves the board and the marker and exits the room.

Kyungsoo retrieves the board as soon as he wakes up the next morning. On it Kai has written a neat little list of tuna, squid, octopus, eel, crab, shrimp, salmon, mackerel, lobster, cod, sardines and clams. Kyungsoo has most of those things downstairs and he give Kai a breakfast plate with a whole crab and several shrimp. He has no idea how much Kai is used to eating and writes that question on the board, leaving it in the bathroom along with the plate. When Kyungsoo comes back an hour later Kai is waiting for him. He’s pressed against the far side of the tub but is sitting up straight, his gaze less mistrustful and more curious.

Kyungsoo looks down at the board. Kai has scrawled ‘A lot’ under his question.

He looks up, feeling slightly guilty. “Are you still hungry?”

Kai seems to consider it for a moment, then shakes his head.

Kyungsoo nods and gathers the plate. “I’ll be right back.”

He brings the dish downstairs and then hurries back. Kai has not moved. Kyungsoo settles back against the wall of the bathroom and Kai frowns at him.

“I won’t stay too long,” Kyungsoo says. “I just want to talk to you for a few minutes, let you know about this house. There’s ten people living here, including me and you. Each one of us can do something special, or is something special. I can sense weakness in the earth, and Suho—the first one you met yesterday—he’s half angel, and he can make people tell him the truth, and he’s really strong. Chanyeol, the second one you met, he can control fire. He’s really good at it, he’s never hurt any one of us before. We use our gifts to keep people safe, prevent our enemies from stealing our secrets. We don’t get to do things like that every day, but at least once or twice a month there’s something that we need to do.”

Kai listens to him with a blank face but Kyungsoo can sense that he’s hanging on to every word.

“We’re not going to harm you. I’m sorry if we scared you yesterday, but we’re going to have to get along now that you’re living here. I know it can be scary to meet so many new people at once, so for a little while it’ll just be me. This is your room now, just yours, so you don’t have to worry about anyone intruding. I’ll come in here and talk to you, and I’ll bring you food, and when you’re ready I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

Kai looks like he swallowed something unpleasant, but when Kyungsoo asks him what’s wrong he just lowers himself into the tub until he’s completely submerged. Kyungsoo sits there until a tentacle rises up and flicks water at him, which he takes as his cue to get lost.

For two days Kyungsoo doesn’t make much progress. He sits with Kai for a few hours a day, telling him more about himself and the other residents, and he stays until Kai either starts hissing or splashing. Towards the end of the second day Kyungsoo brings the newspaper and reads it to Kai, which gets a positive response—or more positive than anything else has—Kai moves to the edge of the tub and curls his fingers over the edge, peering at Kyungsoo curiously as he reads. It’s the one time Kyungsoo’s not chased out by a hiss or a splash, so on the third day he brings a book of fairytales. Kyungsoo’s owned the book since he was a child, he received it for Christmas one year at the orphanage. It’s a beautiful book with about sixty stories, all beautifully illustrated. For the first few minutes Kyungsoo turns the book around to show Kai the pictures, until he looks up and realizes that Kai is leaning over the edge of the tub to get a look.

They lock eyes and for a second Kyungsoo wonders if Kai is going to chase him out. Instead Kai slowly sits back, looking slightly embarrassed. Silently praying for a miracle, Kyungsoo inches over until he’s almost right next to the tub. Kai watches him but doesn’t hiss or splash, so Kyungsoo turns back to the book and begins to read once more. After a few seconds he senses Kai coming closer, leaning slightly so he can see the pictures.

This is the closest Kyungsoo has gotten to Kai yet—both physically and, he thinks, emotionally. Kyungsoo sits on his heels, the added height making it easier for Kai to see the book, and also for Kyungsoo to see Kai. As he allows Kai a closer look at Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage, Kyungsoo peeks into the bathtub.

Kai’s tail is the same color as the rest of his body, and the tentacles along his hips seem to be the boundary for where the tail starts. The tentacles are spaced evenly and Kyungsoo counts eight of them. They’re thin and long, probably a little longer than his tail. Kyungsoo can’t tell the length, as they’re floating lazily in the water. Kyungsoo figures that if Kai laid flat with the top of his head pressed to the wall of the bathtub, there would be about a foot of space between the end of his fins and the other end of the tub.

‘He looks nothing like what Disney tried to do with Ariel,’ Kyungsoo think to himself. From the waist down Kai looks kind of like a dolphin, his tail is thick and strong looking, and the flippers at the end look similarly strong, not the flimsy little things that Disney gave their mermaids.

For the rest of the afternoon Kyungsoo steals glances at Kai as he reads, until he realizes that Kai has stopped staring at the book and is instead staring at him.

Slowly Kyungsoo turns his head and looks Kai right in the eye for the first time. He’s breathless once again at how truly magnificent Kai is. He knew the world was full of amazing things, he lived with an alien and a unicorn, merpeople weren’t exactly out of the realm of possibility, but he never really gave it much thought until now. He hopes Kai doesn’t think he’s rude, staring at him in absolute wonder, but it seems like Kai is just as fascinated by him. His eyes roam Kyungsoo’s face, and for the first time Kyungsoo sees that Kai doesn’t close his eyes to blink, instead he has a third eyelid—a thin, translucent lid that slides out from the corner of his eye, much like what many other marine mammals have.

After a few moments of staring Kyungsoo puts his book aside and turns to face Kai.

“Hi,” He says, smiling.

And Kai smiles back.

For a few seconds they just stare at each other. Then Kai’s hand twitches and Kyungsoo glances down—his fingers are tapping against the edge of the tub.

“What is it?” Kyungsoo asks.

Kai bites his lip—his teeth are slightly pointed—and slowly lifts his hand. Kyungsoo kind of guesses where this is going and keeps very still. Kai gently places one finger on Kyungsoo’s cheek and traces down to his lips. Once on a trip to the aquarium Kyungsoo got to pet a dolphin, and Kai’s skin really feels quite similar, as far as Kyungsoo can remember. Kai’s finger traces up again to brush over Kyungsoo’s eyebrow. Kyungsoo closes his eyes and feels Kai’s fingers on his eyelid, then his lashes. He’s so gentle, so careful. When he removes his hand Kyungsoo opens his eyes again. Kai touches his hair, rubbing the strands between his fingers as if studying the texture, frowning in concentration. After a moment he sits back and looks at Kyungsoo expectantly.

Kyungsoo reaches for Kai’s hand and carefully feels the webbing between his fingers. It’s thin and flexible but feels strong. Then he brushes his fingers over the very tip of Kai’s and realizes that he does have nails, not just skin. He then brushes his hand over the top of Kai’s head and combs his fingers through his hair. He’s surprised at how thick Kai’s hair is, and it’s very coarse too, which Kyungsoo guesses is from the exposure to salt water. He pulls his hand back but stops when he feels pressure on his wrist, when he looks down he sees a tentacle wrapping around his arm. When Kyungsoo stops moving, the tentacle unwinds from his wrist and flops over his hand. Kyungsoo realizes that it’s like those of an octopus and has small suction cups on the underside. They stick to his palm briefly before lifting off, the pressure almost feels like a kiss.

“What are they for?” Kyungsoo asks, looking down at the tentacle that dances over his hand. “How much control do you have over them?”

When Kyungsoo looks up Kai is grinning at him. He uses the tentacles to pick the dry erase board and pen up from the floor. Using only the tentacles, he’s able to write.

‘They are good for hunting, keeping a large fish still or holding on to smaller ones once they’ve been killed. They are also used to keep hold of an anchor while sleeping.’

“That’s useful,” Kyungsoo manages, completely floored by how dexterous the appendages are. He realizes that with the webbing between his fingers it would be difficult for Kai to use a pen, this must be how he’s been writing the whole time.

“What about breathing?” Kyungsoo asks, “Do you need to hold your breath?”

Kai writes, ‘I can breathe like you, but I also have gills.’ Then he turns and lifts his left arm up to show four little slits along his ribcage. He grabs Kyungsoo’s hand and places it over them. Kyungsoo traces the slits and Kai doesn’t move, but when Kyungsoo brushes his finger along the very edge of the skin Kai squirms and bats his hand away, pouting.

“Ticklish?” Kyungsoo asks. Kai nods.

There’s a commotion from downstairs and Kyungsoo jumps—he’s forgotten all about the time.

“I have to go get dinner ready,” he says. Something tightens around his wrist and he looks down. Another tentacle has wrapped around his arm.

“Don’t you want to eat?” Kyungsoo asks. Kai loosens his grip but looks unhappy.

“I’ll be back later,” Kyungsoo promises, extracting himself completely. “I’ll bring pictures so I can start introducing you to everyone else. Maybe you can meet them tomorrow?”

Kai frowns and sinks below the water.

Kyungsoo reports his progress over dinner and says that he wants to try introducing everyone to Kai tomorrow, but he’s not sure about it.

“He does this thing,” Kyungsoo explains, “Where when he’s disapproving of something, he either hisses or ducks under the water, like he’s hiding from it. when I brought up meeting everyone, he went under the water.”

“Does he not like us?” Chanyeol asks.

Kyungsoo shrugs. “I mean, he doesn’t even know you.”

“Maybe it’s defensive,” Kris suggests. “Or maybe he’s avoiding the issue. Burying his head in the sand. Don’t ostriches do that when they’re afraid?”

That makes Kyungsoo pause. “You know, you could be onto something.”

Kyungsoo thinks about that all evening and goes back to see Kai as soon as dinner is cleaned up. Kai’s eaten only half of his dinner, which makes Kyungsoo worried. He brings the leftovers downstairs and tells Baekhyun to put them away before darting back to the bathroom. Kai is hunched over in the water, looking gloomy.

Kyungsoo approaches slowly, touching Kai’s arm to get his attention. Kai turns towards him but doesn’t look up. Kyungsoo presses up against the edge of the bathtub and cups Kai’s face in hands, trying to feel for a fever, but it’s difficult since he doesn’t know what normal feels like for Kai.

“What’s wrong?” Kyungsoo asks. “Are you sick? Was the fish bad, was it too old?”

Kai shakes his head.

Kyungsoo tries to get him to respond a few more times, but eventually gives up. He takes his phone out of his pocket and pulls up the folder with everyone’s picture.

“These are your new teammates. This is Kris, he’s from another planet and he’s got a robotic arm and eye, among other things. He can see in the dark, hear things that nobody else can, and he can turn his hand into just about anything. Suho’s half angel, like I told you, and can make people tell him the truth, and he’s got super strength. Jongdae can hack into any system—er, maybe you don’t know about that? Hmm? Okay, moving on, Baekhyun is a master of disguise, he can make himself look and sound like anyone. Chanyeol can control fire. Lu Han can move things with his mind and do…other stuff. Yixing is actually a shape shifter. His primary shape is a human but his secondary one is a unicorn, which gives him the ability to heal. Minseok is his companion. Remember that story I read from the book, about how unicorns won’t attack s? Well it’s only partially true. Shape shifters usually have a companion, someone who keeps them safe and who they draw energy from when they need it. Minseok is actually the son of a . Crazy, right? Well apparently it happens more than you would think. Anyway, Minseok is Yixing’s companion, he’s also good at martial arts.”

He though Kai would at least be shocked when he was talking about Minseok, but even though he’s looking at the screen he’s not reacting.

“Kai? Are you listening?”

Kai suddenly shoves himself away from the wall and moves to the other side, curling up and wrapping his arms around himself. Kyungsoo turns around to put his phone on the sink, but is stopped when he feels a tentacle latch onto his wrist. He turns around again. Kai is staring at him with wide, terrified eyes.

“Please don’t go.”

Kyungsoo almost drops his phone in shock when Kai speaks. He quickly regains his grip and holds it up so Kai can see. “I’m…I’m just going to put this down, okay?”

Kai loosens his grip but doesn’t let go. He moves to the edge of the tub, the tentacle slides down so that he holds on with the very tip, and the length is enough that Kyungsoo can reach the sink to put his phone out of the water’s reach. Then he goes back to the edge of the bathtub and kneels in front of Kai.

The tentacle is replaced with Kai’s hand. Kai looks like he’s going to start crying any second.

“What’s wrong?” Kyungsoo asks.

Kai’s chest is heaving, his breath coming in quick little gasps. Kyungsoo lays a comforting hand on his cheek.

“Kai, it’s okay, just tell me what’s wrong.”

Kai whimpers, a quiet, heartbreaking sound. “I want to go home,” he says. “I don’t want a new home, I want my old one…” his voice breaks and he starts sobbing. Before Kyungsoo can even move Kai burrows his face in Kyungsoo’s chest and wraps his arms tight around his torso. Kyungsoo rubs Kai’s back and his hair, trying to soothe him, but Kai only seems to be crying harder. He presses closer, squirming against the wall of the bathtub.

“Kai, try to breathe,” Kyungsoo begs, “Please, you’ll make yourself sick.”

Kai doesn’t seem to be able to hear him. Kyungsoo is at a loss for what to do. He feels Kai’s arms tighten around his waist and Kyungsoo grunts as he’s lifted up, over the edge of the tub and into the water. He finds himself seated on Kai’s hips, his legs on either side of Kai’s body. Kai is still sobbing into his shoulder, pressing himself so tightly against Kyungsoo that he can feel every shaky breath, every heaving sob.

Kyungsoo wraps his arms around Kai’s shoulders and holds him. He keeps petting his hair, hoping the gentle touch will soothe him. After a few minutes Kai seems to try to calm himself down. His breath comes in huge gasps, and he rocks back and forth. Kyungsoo makes himself limp, following Kai’s motion. He places his hand on either side of Kai’s head and makes him turn to the side. Now at least his mouth is uncovered, but it’s somehow worse because Kyungsoo can hear each sob clearly, and they echo around the bathroom.

Kyungsoo’s not sure how long it takes for Kai to finally stop crying. He just stays and holds Kai until it happens. At some point Kai adjusts his hold on Kyungsoo, loosening his grip and nuzzling into his neck. Kyungsoo feels like his heart is going to break at how snuggly Kai is. It’s clear to him now that Kai has been feeling so alone, has been wanting to be held like this, but he was too afraid to ask for it. Or maybe he thought that by asking he was binding himself to this place, when all he wanted was to go home.

Kai’s sobs fade to hiccups, then tiny gasps, and then finally his chest rises and falls evenly as his breathing returns to normal. Kyungsoo waits a few more moments before he speaks.

“We won’t try to make you call this home,” he says. “And we won’t try to replace your family if you do stay. But you were brought to us for a reason, and I know what it is.”

Kai flinches. “You…you know?”

Kyungsoo nods. “You were hurt.” His fingers find the scar under Kai’s right arm. “A hunter was trying to stab one of your family members, and you put yourself between them. The knife punctured your lung, now it’s not safe for you to dive too deep.”

Kai sniffles and whines, “I didn’t get a choice.”

Kyungsoo feels like he could cry. “Most of us didn’t. I know it’s not fair. If we could choose…we would choose differently. All of us would.”

Kai leans back against the wall of the bathtub. Kyungsoo brushes his thumbs under his eyes, drying the last of his tears. Kai takes Kyungsoo’s hands and holds them to his face briefly before letting him go again. Kyungsoo can’t help but to smile a little.

“You are sweet,” he murmurs. “Somehow I knew you would be.”

Kai smiles, though it’s a little shaky, like he still wants to cry. “You should…change,” he says. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s okay,” Kyungsoo says quickly. “It’s just water. I’ll go change and then I’ll bring you some more food, okay?”

Kai nods and Kyungsoo can feel him staring as he leaves the room. As sad as it was to see Kai so upset, Kyungsoo can’t help but be happy that he’s made this connection with Kai.

Suho has no idea what is waking him up at 7 AM and nudging him downstairs, but he’s wide awake with the feeling that he needs to get his out of bed. He gets out of bed with a sigh and plods to the hall and down to the first floor. He’s still a little out of it since it’s so early, and he doesn’t even realize that the light is on in the kitchen until he’s in the doorway. Then he sees a strange boy sitting on the kitchen counter. The two of them stare at each other for a half second before—

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Suho leaps back with his hands over his heart, his wings fluttering slightly, and feathers all over the place. The boy stares at him with wide eyes and a half eaten doughnut clutched in his hand.

“Suho,” The boy says breathlessly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!” He wipes powdered sugar from his mouth with his sleeve. “I was hungry, so I went shopping.” He gestures to the box of doughnuts next to him. There’s still several left, but there’s an empty box on the floor. The boy holds out the box sheepishly. “Want one?”

Suho recognizes this boy, though he looks totally different. “K-Kai?”

As soon as he says it he knows it’s true. This is Kai, albeit without a tail, or tentacles. The shape of his face hasn’t changed much, but now he has eyebrows, lashes, and human teeth. His skin has lightened considerably, and the webbing between his fingers has disappeared. Suho’s sure that if Kai removed his shirt there would be only skin, no gills.

“Y-you…you have legs,” Suho stammers, like it isn’t totally obvious.

Kai smiles and sits back, leaning against the cabinets. His feet  swing back and forth slightly and he looks like an overgrown child. “Yes, I have legs. It happens when I’m out of the water.”

“I…see,” Suho says faintly, even though he really doesn’t see. Then again, he supposes it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

There’s footsteps on the stairs and Kris calls out, “Is everything alright? We heard screaming—what the, Kai is that you?!”

Suho turns around. Everyone has been woken up by the screams and they are all staring at Kai in shock. Kyungsoo manhandles his way past Suho, grumbling to be let in because he can’t see past all these giants. Kai gasps and shoves the box of doughnuts aside, leaping off the counter and running at Kyungsoo. He slides to a halt and throws his arms around Kyungsoo’s shoulders, snuggling into his neck.

“Hi there,” Kyungsoo says, patting Kai’s back. “It’s nice to see you out an about.”

Kai mumbles something that sounds like ‘I missed you.’ There’s something about the way he holds Kyungsoo, something that makes Suho feel like he’s intruding on something intimate.

“I’m sorry,” Jongdae says, elbowing Suho aside, “But since when do you have legs?”

Kai stops snuggling Kyungsoo and smiles. “I’m only half aquatic, you know.”

“We did not know,” Suho says. “Kyungsoo, did you know?”

“I only found out at like, 1 AM. We were up late last night talking,” Kyungsoo answers quickly.

“Now you know,” Kai says brightly. “And I wanted to say that I’m sorry for splashing you Suho, you too Chanyeol. And I’m sorry for staying away for so long, I was mad because I was taken away from my home, but Kyungsoo really helped me and I feel a lot better now, so I’m going to try really hard not to hide as much. I hope we can still be friends.”

He says all of this very fast, and Suho’s starting to get a bad feeling, but before he can say anything about it Chanyeol starts cooing over how cute Kai is and rushes over to introduce himself properly. Baekhyun is not far behind, and Yixing after him, and then Lu Han, but finally Kyungsoo shoves everyone aside and fixes Kai with a stern look.

“Kai, how many doughnuts did you eat?”

Kai grins at him. “Twelve, why?”

“Uh-huh,” Kyungsoo says, “And how many cups of coffee?”

Kai points to the empty cup behind him. It is a large. “This is the second. Can we get more? I like coffee.”

“Oh no,” Suho moans, collapsing at the table. “Oh, dear.”

Kai looks a little put out. “Is that bad?”

“You’ll be so hyper,” Suho says quietly.

Kai frowns. “I ordered what the lady in front of me ordered—two boxes of doughnuts and two large coffees. The doughnuts are good!”

“How did you pay for that?” Kris asks.

Kai pulls the credit card out of his pocket.

“How did you even get that?” Kyungsoo asks.

“It was on the table. Can we go get more?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “Maybe tomorrow, right now you and I are going to go for a run and you’re going to work off that sugar rush. Can someone come with me, I’ll need help carrying him when he passes out.”

Kai, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo all leave, Kai saying the whole way that he’s not going to pass out. An hour later when they return, Chanyeol is carrying a passed out Kai on his back.

Kyungsoo stays with Kai while he sleeps, to make sure he doesn’t run off again. It’s a lie, he stays because he wants to. It seems like he’s not fooling anyone. Chanyeol smirked at him before he left.

“He’s very fond of you, eh? Something you would like to share with the rest of the class?”

Kyungsoo had punched him in the gut and closed the door in his face, and he hopes Chanyeol hadn’t seen his blush.

Now Kyungsoo leans against the headboard, Kai’s head on his lap, the two of them squished together on the double bed. He hadn’t put Kai there, he’d somehow found his own way into that position and Kyungsoo didn’t have the heart to push him away, not when he looked so peaceful. He runs his fingers through Kai’s hair and rubs at the back of his neck, marveling at how his appearance has changed. Last night Kai had begged Kyungsoo to stay with him, asking if they could share the bed.

“Won’t you need the water though?” Kyungsoo had asked. “I don’t mind sharing but I don’t want you to like…you know…”

“I thought you read my file,” Kai said. “Didn’t it say that I’m only half aquatic?”

Kyungsoo shook his head.

“My mom was merfolk, my father was human. When I dry off, I’ll look like you,  but when I get wet I’ll look like…this.”

Kyungsoo had been too tired to ask any more questions, already his head felt like it was spinning from all this new information. He’d carried Kai to the bed and collapsed beside him, falling asleep almost immediately. Now Kyungsoo wishes he could have been awake to watch the transformation.

Kai snuffles in his sleep and flops around, ending up with his face squished into Kyungsoo’s belly and lying pretty much on top of his legs. Kyungsoo frowns at him.

“Are you awake?” he asks.

“No,” Kai moans. “I’m sleeping.”

Kyungsoo lays his hand on the back of Kai’s head. “My legs are going to fall asleep.”

Kai whines and squeezes his arms around Kyungsoo’s legs. He mumbles something and Kyungsoo can’t make it out, can only feel Kai’s mouth moving against his stomach. He pushes and wriggles until he gets Kai off of him and then he lays down flat, pulling Kai up so that they’re face to face, next to each other.

“There,” Kyungsoo says, slightly out of breath. “That’s better.”

Kai pouts and squirms closer until his face is in Kyungsoo’s neck. He sighs and Kyungsoo shivers.

“Are you cold?” Kai asks.

“No,” Kyungsoo huffs, “You’re very warm. And very snuggly.”

Kai hums. “Can we do this every day?”

“What do you mean?” Kyungsoo asks.

Kai pulls back and looks up at him through his lashes. Kyungsoo resolutely squashes the urge to kiss him.

“Can we…um, share a room?” Kai asks shyly. “I know you said that this is my room but…you, I mean, I think…” He pauses, staring at Kyungsoo’s chest rather than look at him. Kyungsoo can see that his cheeks are pink. “I want you to stay with me,” he finishes quietly.

“Why?” Kyungsoo asks.

Kai looks up at him again. “Don’t laugh okay?”

“I won’t, I promise.”

Kai looks away. “You feel like home,” he says quietly. “You feel different from everyone else. I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Do I remind you of your family?” Kyungsoo asks.

“No,” Kai says quietly. “It’s a feeling of belonging. It’s not a reminder, it’s new, but it feels…” He snuggles closer, his arms around Kyungsoo’s waist and head on his shoulder. He sighs happily. “I feel so right with you.”

Kyungsoo wraps his arms around Kai and pulls him even closer. He’s only known Kai for a few days, but for some reason it feels like it’s been much longer. Kai has a point, this does feel right.

“I’ll stay,” Kyungsoo says. He feels Kai smile against his shoulder.

And if they snuggle like this every night, they won’t even need to get a bigger bed.

I'm actually working on another mermaid thing, not in this AU, and I kind of incorporated my ideas for how mermaids would look into this story. I got some of my ideas from that phoney baloney documentary that Animal Planet did (Mermaids: The Body Found) but some of them are my own. 

More about Kai: He of course doesn't really look like a sea horse but as far as coloring goes, that picture is pretty close, with the darker brown being what color the spots are. If you saw him in the water he would look like a seal, and underwater he'd blend in well with kelp forests. The tentacles are a lighter brown and like I said in the story, he uses them to hunt and to anchor himself to something (ie Kelp) when sleeping, or mermaids link tentacles together to keep from floating away. I'll go over this at another point in the fic but the tentacles are also very sensitive so if the mermaids need to hide, they can use their tentacles to scope out dark places and figure out how big they are, if there are any dangerous outcroppings, they can even use them to tell the difference between certain types of rocks and corals.

Next I’ll focus on Lu Han, Minseok and Yixing, since now I’m sure everyone wants to know more about the unicorn thing. And the thing. And why the hell Lu Han is sad all the time. But since like I said stories from this AU will all be posted separately, you should probably subscribe to me as an author if you want to know when I’m posting new things.