I'm back and hopefully I'll be updating more frequently. 

Yifan and Luhan managed to smuggled the merman into the castle without anyone noticing. It helped that they the most trusted friends the prince had and the fact that the merman didn't move too much in the sack he was in. In the beginning, the ocean dweller had struggled against them but as time went on, his movements practically ceased. They carried him to Yixing's quarters knowing that the prince had requested to be moved there for the duration of his treatment.

Yixing gave them a quizzical look as soon as they came in with a big sack slung over Yifan's shoulder. His expression morphed into confusion when Luhan began to draw the curtains and block all entrances to the room.

"What are you doing?" Yixing asked.

Luhan and Yifan exchanged excited looks.

"We have something for you." Luhan said as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

Yixing gestured for them to go on and that's when Yifan lowered the sack to the floor, non too gently, and opened it. Yixing's eyes widened and a hand came up to his mouth in shock when he saw what, or rather who, was in the bag.

"Is this the thing that caused the ship wreck?" asked Yifan.

Yixing shook his head. "I don't remember but I have a feeling it's not."

"It's incredible though, isn't it?" Luhan said with glee. "There are probably more of them. In the sea. In the sea, Yixing!"

"Why is he not moving?" Yixing asked in concern.

Yifan shrugged. "I figured he got tired."

That's when Yixing noticed the gills on the merman's neck. He put two and two together and slapped both Yifan and Luhan in the back of the head.

"You idiots! He has gills, he needs to be put in water immediately."

Yifan looked unperturbed. "Calm down. There's plenty more of these in the sea. We'll just get another one if this one dies."

Yixing jumped out of bed and snatched the sea creature away from Yifan. "He saved my life, we're not going to be the reason his ends."

"You don't know that Yixing," Yifan reasoned. "He could've been trying to kill you."

"He wasn't." He insisted.

Yixing walked determinedly to the giant aquarium in the side of his room despite the fact that he was feeling lightheaded. The aquarium took up an entire side of the prince's room and it was filled with all sorts of fish the prince had personally caught whilst diving. He was very particular about the aquarium and chose to maintain it himself, not allowing any servants near it.

"What are you doing?" asked Luhan.

"He needs salt water to survive." Yixing said in a matter-of-fact tone.

With the merman in his arms, he quickly climbed the rungs of the ladder that was attached to the aquarium and jumped in to the water, ignoring the shouts of his friends. He held his breath and watched for any signs of the oceanic creature stirring. As Yixing's lungs began to beg for fresh oxygen the merman in his arms roused. Before he could celebrate, he was yanked out of the water by his collar causing him to lose his grip on the merman.

"Are you crazy, Yixing?!" Yifan shouted at him as they came up for air.

Yixing didn't respond, instead, he choose to look down and saw bright amber eyes looking up at him. His breath caught in his throat, he quickly looked away and allowed Yifan to carry him out of the tank. At the base of the tank, Luhan was ready with a towel and a fresh change of clothes, he rushed to pat Yixing down and strip him. Yixing glanced at the exotic creature and found that he was staring at them from the floor of the tank. When their eyes met, the creature quickly looked away and began to wade through the water at a sluggish pace. When he reached one end of the tank and found no exit, he waded to the other end. The merman soon began to panic when he found that both ends of the tank didn't contain an exit. Jongdae began to pound on the his glass prison causing Luhan and Yifan to stop dressing the prince and look in his direction. Jongdae then remembered that the humans left through the top. He shot through the water and out the top only to be caught in the arms of the human prince.

Yixing held him close to his chest. "Please don't jump out like that, I don't want you to get hurt. I'm sorry my idiot friends kidnapped you and transported you here without any regard to how you would breathe. I promise you that I will take you back to your home. It's the least I can do, I think it was you who saved me, and it's only fair that I repay my debt towards you. I just need to keep you alive, so please cooperate with me and stay in the tank for a while until I get better, then I'll personally you back into the ocean."

Jongdae had no idea what the human prince was saying but his voice was very soothing and his eyes only bore honesty. He felt his body relax with every word that came out of the prince's mouth. Jongdae knew he should be more cautious but he decided to take a chance and trust this human being. He curled up against him as Yixing began to move towards the tank. Once he had climbed the ladder, Yixing gently deposited the merman back into the tank and this time Jongdae went willingly. Yixing gave him a wide smile and Jongdae noticed how two adorable holes appeared in each side of his face.

"Thank you for cooperating." Yixing said to the merman.

Jongdae blinked up at him before swimming away shyly.

Yixing turned to Yifan and Luhan. "Who else knows he's here?" he asked coldly.

Luhan's eyes widened at the tone. "No one. We smuggled him in."

"You're both idiots!" he said harshly. "As the prince, I command you to be my personal servants until I get better."

Yifan gapped. "Are you being serious?!"

"This is your doing and now you two will face the consequences until I can right this wrong. I don't want anyone to know of his existence, which means, I don't want to see anyone until I'm better. If I urgently need to, then  you two will stay here and make sure no one comes to my room. You will take the duty of the servants which normally pass through here every day. That means you change my sheets, clean my room, bring me my food, etc."

"Yeah, we're not going to clean anything." Yifan said. "But we will make sure you get your food and medication on time and keep any servants or otherwise out of your room."

Yixing sighed. "Deal."

"What are you going to do about the merman until you get better?" Luhan asked.

"I'll take care of him." he said with finality. "But no one is to know of his existence. If anyone finds out, I'll know it's one of you two that told them and you will be executed because I'll consider it treason. I'm being serious guys."

Yifan rolled his eyes. "We're not going to tell anyone, Yixing, calm down."

Yixing looked over at Luhan and Luhan nodded. "I promise the knowledge of his existence will only stay between the 3 of us."

Yixing looked moderately satisfied. "Good, now get me some kelp, our guest must be hungry."