Chapter 7

Himchan watched as Yongguk walked back into the room. He had heard from the human called Youngjae that it was a bathroom. Yongguk had left the merman alone for a bit when Youngjae and Daehyun left. The merman was thankful that the new humans left him alone being that he was still a bit frightful towards them despite Yongguk telling him that the new humans were friendly. What he didn't like was Yongguk leaving him alone in a place that he didn't know anything about.

He was now in the human world with the land creatures. He was out of his safe world in the sea. He knew just how dangerous it was for him to be on land. He had seen what had happened to those fishes and other sea creatures that were captured by the land creatures; they always wound up dead. He had even witnessed what happened to those whales that somehow washed up on the land; they died.

Himchan couldn't help but worry that he would end up the same way. But there was something about Yongguk that reassured him that he was safe here with him. The merman didn't know what it was, but something told him that Yongguk wouldn't do anything to hurt him. That the human cared from him. Yongguk was genuinely worried and scared when he looked over Himchan's wounds. It wasn't the way that other humans looked at sea creatures whenever they were captured.

Yongguk was different and if Yongguk said that the other two humans were friendly and wouldn't hurt him, then Himchan would try to be less frightful towards them.

“How are you feeling?” Yongguk asked as he knelt down on the floor so that he was face to face with the merman.

“Fine.” Himchan murmured, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Do your wounds still hurt?” Yongguk smiled when Himchan shook his head. “Good. You're not bleeding anymore so that's a good sign.”

Yongguk looked at the pink tinted water and sighed. “We need to change your water though.”

Himchan watched as Yongguk reached over to the other side of the tub. He gasped as Yongguk's hand grazed the base of his fin. Himchan immediately bit the bottom of his lip as a blush spread across his face. The base of his fin had always been one of the most sensitive parts of his tail. He would always try to avoid grazing it against anything because the sensation was too much for him. But he didn't expect for the sensation to be this strong from a graze.

“What's wrong?” Yongguk looked back at Himchan, his eyes widened when he saw the blush on Himchan's face. “Oh no, you're turning red. Are you running a fever?”

Yongguk reached over to place the back of his hand on the merman's forehead, the back of his other hand touching his own forehead. Himchan's breath hitched a bit when he felt Yongguk's wet hand on his skin. Yongguk had touched him before but this time it felt different. It was unexpected. Maybe it was because Yongguk had touched the base of his fin and he was still reeling from its sensation.

Yongguk looked down at the merman and froze. The blush on Himchan's face made the merman look absolutely adorable.

Cute even.

Yongguk wasn't blind. Ever since the day that he was saved by Himchan, he had been mesmerized by the merman's beauty. Yongguk had never seen a sight as beautiful as Himchan. No one that walked on earth was as breathtaking as him. But right now, with the blush spreading across his face and neck and the way he shyly looked back up at Yongguk while nibbling his bottom lip, Himchan was not only a breathtaking beauty, he was also the cutest thing Yongguk had ever seen.

They held their gaze with each other for what seemed like a lifetime until Yongguk realized what he was doing. He cleared his throat and broke their gaze, much to Yongguk's disappointment.

“You don't seem warm. So no fever.” Yongguk said as he pulled his hand away from Himchan. “That's good that you don't have a fever.”

Yongguk moved back to the other end of the tub, where the plug for the tub was and where Himchan's tail stuck out. He reached towards the bottom of the tub to pull out the plug.

“Wait.” Himchan said, his voice stronger than it was before. Yongguk looked back him with that same curious look from before. “My tail...be careful.”

“Oh my god! Does it hurt? Are you in pain? Did you break it?” Yongguk asked all at once, panic starting to wash over him. “Himchan you need to tell me if something hurts so I can try and help you.”

Himchan shook his head. “It doesn't hurt.”

“Then what is it?”

“It's real sensitive...where the fin starts....” Himchan's blush deepened.

“Oh...Oh.” Yongguk flushed when he realized what Himchan had meant. “Um, okay. That's good to know. I'll make sure not to touch it.”

Yongguk carefully reached into the tub and under the merman's tail. He managed to unplug the tub without touching his tail. Himchan watched as the water that he was soaking in, lessened bit by bit. The pink tinted, dirty water was disappearing and Himchan was glad about it. He didn't know how long he was going to have to soak in that filthy water.

“Now that water is gone, I can get a better look at this cut.”

Yongguk brought his attention to Himchan's tail. He had already looked over the cuts when he pulled the merman onto his boat but he wasn't able to get a good look at them while panic and adrenaline coursed through his veins. He looked over the gash that ran diagonally down Himchan's tail. The wound had stopped bleeding which was a relief to Yongguk. He was worried that it wouldn't stop bleeding with how big the cut was. He was also relieved to see that the wound wasn't as deep as he thought it was meaning that it would heal on it's own without any stitches. Can merman even get stitches?

Yongguk moved over to one of the protruding fins on Himchan's hip. He carefully placed his hand underneath the delicate fin to look at the cut. He frowned at the sight; the once whole fin was now ripped in two, without any way of uniting them once again.

Himchan looked down at the fin that Yongguk was holding up in his hand and covered his eyes. He could feel the tears pooling in this eyes. The shaky breath he took caught Yongguk's attention.

“Himchan, what's wrong? I thought you said that your cuts didn't hurt anymore.” Yongguk let go off the fin that was in hand.

“My fin...tail...they're no longer beautiful. Just like me.” Himchan murmured.

“Hey,” Yongguk grabbed Himchan's hands and slowly pulled them away from his face. He locked eyes with Himchan's dark sorrowful ones; tears had started to slowly pool out of them. “Don't say that. Of course your fin and tail are still beautiful and...”

He thumbed away the tears that ran down Himchan's cheek. He noticed the deep blush that tinted the merman's cheeks. Unconsciously, Yongguk his lips as he stared into Himchan's eyes, neither of them realizing just how close their faces were getting to one another.

“So are you.” Yongguk said softly, his breath tickling Himchan's lips.

“Hyung, we're back.”

Yongguk quickly pulled himself away at the sound of Youngjae's voice. He got up onto his feet and turned around, not daring to look at Himchan. His entire face and neck burned from the embarrassment when he immediately realized what he had done and what he was about to do. It wasn't something that he had planned to do, it just happened. He was too caught up in the moment to realize what he was doing.

“Hyung?”

Youngjae stopped at the entrance of the bathroom. His eyes moved from Yongguk's bright red face to Himchan's slightly flushed, bewildered face back to Yongguk. He quickly put two and two together and smirked.

“Did I interrupt anything?” He asked his older brother.

“No! What makes you think that you did?” Yongguk said as he flustered about the bathroom. “I was just checking on Himchan's wounds and changing his water.”

If Youngjae didn't know any better, his brother was turning an even brighter shade of red. This was probably the first time he had ever seen his older brother like this.

“Ah, okay. It just seemed like something happened between you two.” Youngjae said, a mischievous smirk graced his lips. “I'd hate to think that you were taking advantage of poor innocent Himchan with your lecherous ways.”

“I'm anything but lecherous!” Yongguk turned back to his brother in disbelief that he was being a accused of such things.

“Is that why you brought him here, hyung?” Youngjae let out a dramatic gasp. “To do those things to him?”

Youngjae quickly ran down the hallway when Yongguk lunged forward. Yongguk chased after his younger brother down the hall and into the living room. He stopped when he saw that the some of the furniture was pushed back and a deflated swimming pool resting in the middle of the room. Daehyun stood next to the pool, reading the instruction manual.

“What's all this?” Yongguk asked as he surveyed this room. “Why is all the furniture moved around and why is there a mini pool in our living room?”

“It's for Himchan!” Daehyun looked up from the manual and smiled.

“Okay. Hear us out.” Youngjae put his hand up, stopping his older brother from responding. “Daehyun thought that it would be a good idea to move Himchan into this mini pool.”

Daehyun nodded. “Mmhmm. Look you can't have Himchan in the stuck in the tub for as long as he needs to heal. I mean, how do you plan on showering if he's in there? Plus do you want to use the toilet with him watching you?”

“I don't know. After what I saw in the bathroom, it seems like hyung brought Himchan here to corrupt that poor innocent mind of his.” Youngjae said before running behind his boyfriend for protection from Yongguk's glare.

“Yongguk hyung, you wouldn't!” Daehyun gasped dramatically. “You dirty old man.”

Yongguk rolled his eyes and huffed. “You two are the worst.”

“Just having a little fun with you, that's all.” Youngjae laughed.

“So according to this, we're going to need a pump to inflate the pool.” Daehyun said.

“We have one in the shed.” Youngjae pulled himself away from his boyfriend's back.

“Wait. Please tell me you're not serious about having a mini pool filled with water in the middle of our living room?” Yongguk said, hoping that this was another joke of theirs.

“Yes?” Daehyun said hesitantly.

“We can't put him outside. Think of all the people that could see him out there.” Youngjae said.

“Yeah but we can't have it in here. Think of the floors, furniture. The electronics.” Yongguk said.

“So you want to keep him in the tub?” Youngjae asked.

“No. He can't stay in there either.” Yongguk said.

“Then what do you want to do?” Youngjae asked.

“Ugh! I don't know!” Yongguk ruffled his hair.

Youngjae snapped his fingers. “Didn't aboji have a tarp in the shed? We could use that to protect the floor from whatever water spills out of the pool.”

“I don't know if it's there but it's worth a shot. Being that this idea is both of yours, you two get the privilege of setting it up.” Yongguk grabbed the bag of medical supplies that he had sent Youngjae out to get.

He walked back to the bathroom, taking a breath and centering himself before he walked back in. The last thing he wanted was to be awkward around Himchan. The merman most likely didn't know what had happened between the two of them or what was going to happen. He wanted to keep it that way. There was no reason make it awkward.

Technically nothing happened.

Moment? What moment? There was no moment.

But Yongguk couldn't stop the blush that tickled his cheeks when he saw Himchan in the tub smiling back at him.

He held up the bag of supplies. “I have the things I asked Youngjae to get for your wounds.”

“Okay.” Himchan said as he watched Yongguk kneel back down in front of him. “I'm a little dry. Can I get some water?”

Yongguk looked in the tub to see that all of the old water had been drained. “Oh right.” He reached over and the faucet. “I'm only going to fill it up a bit. I still need to get to the wounds on your tail.”

Himchan nodded. He watched silently as Yongguk rummaged through the bag beside him. Yongguk pulled out a few things that were unknown to Himchan. Yongguk grabbed a small thing that was long and thin at one end and that could bigger at the other end.

“I need you to open your mouth.” Yongguk said in a voice that only comforted the merman.

Himchan did as he was told and opened his mouth for the human. The long thin end of the thing in Yongguk's hand was placed underneath his tongue, surprising the merman.

Yongguk saw the confused look on the merman's face and chuckled. “Don't worry Himchan. It's not going to hurt you. I just need it to make sure that you don't have a fever. Now close your mouth please.”

Himchan closed his mouth. He didn't know what a fever was but he was curious as to what this stick in his mouth had to do with it. He pushed his lips out a bit, making the stick angle up towards him. He looked down at it, not knowing that his eyes were crossed because of it. He wiggled the stick around his mouth and almost dropped it when it started to beep.

Yongguk took the thermometer out of Himchan's mouth and thanked the high heavens that the merman wasn't running a fever. He wasn't so sure if mers were like humans and ran fevers when they got sick, if they even got sick. But he figured being that since Himchan had half a human body, he should have everything Yongguk did from the waist up. Give or take some fins and scales.

“Okay, no fever. No infection. I think....”

Yongguk grabbed the antibacterial ointment from the bag. He spread a light layer across the gash on Himchan's tail causing the merman to flinch at the touch. He wasn't sure if it would help at all being that the ointment would most likely wash off when the tail was fully emerged in water again. He at least had to try something so that it wouldn't get infected.

“What does lecherous mean?” Himchan asked as Yongguk spread more antibacterial ointment on the cuts that were on his chest.

Yongguk was so caught off by the question that he dropped the antibacterial tube into the tub. He could feel the instant burn spreading across his face to his ears and down his neck. He looked back up at the merman. Himchan tilted his head to the side and Yongguk could have imagined the “?” over the top of the merman's head. Himchan stared back at him, eyes wide and filled with curiosity. Himchan was really too pure and innocent to learn what the word lecherous meant.

“Youngjae said you were lecherous. What does it mean? Are you a leech?” Himchan asked. “No wait, you're a land creature. Leeches live in water, like I do and they're really small. So you can't be a leech. But if you're not a leech, then what is lecherous?”

Truly too pure and innocent.

“Um. Well.” Yongguk started but paused when he couldn't find the right words. “Lecherous means...”

“Yongguk hyung, Youngjae and I need help with the pool.” Daehyun said from down the hallway and Yongguk couldn't have been more grateful.

“Yup! Be right there!” Yongguk said getting back on his feet.

Himchan watched Yongguk as he walked out of the bathroom. His tail unconsciously slapped on the bathroom wall as he was once again left alone. He picked up the tube that fell into the water and stared at it. He really didn't know what it was but Yongguk was putting it on his cuts. He squeezed the tube and clear ointment poured out of it. He tried to grab some of the ointment that came out of the tube with his other hand. He stared at the substance as he rubbed it between his fingers.

Himchan then remembered that there were cuts that Yongguk didn't get to before he left. He looked down at his chest and used whatever of the ointment that hadn't been rubbed into his fingers against one of his cuts. When he was done with what was left on his fingers, he turned back to the tube. He concentrated hard to squeeze the tube as lightly as he could so that the ointment wouldn't spurt out like the last time.

One by one, he spread the ointment on his cuts. As his tail flapped against the shower wall, part of it hit the faucet straight on causing the water to start rushing out. Remembering what Yongguk had said about keeping his wound out of the water, Himchan tried to reach the faucet so that he could shut it off. He had seen Yongguk do it a few times already, how hard could it be? He stretched his hands, barely able to reach to the other side. The water continued to rise, now covering his wound. He noticed that the water level was starting to reach the top of the tub and was about to run over.

“Yongguk!” Himchan yelled from the bathroom and in seconds Yongguk was running into the bathroom. “It won't stop.”

Yongguk turned the faucet off right before the water was at the edge of the tub.

“It's a good thing we're going to move you.” Yongguk said as he reached into the tub and unplugged it. “Daehyun, I'm going to need your help.”

The boy walked into the bathroom ready to listen to whatever the reason why Yongguk called him in.

“I need you to help me lift Himchan out of his tub.” Yongguk informed him. “You, under one arm and I, under the other.”

“Where are you taking me?” Himchan asked them both but directing the question mainly to Yongguk.

“We're just going to move you to a different part of the house so that way you're not stuck in here.” Yongguk said. He crouched down to the merman's level. “Daehyun and I are both going to carry you out of here, okay?”

“Okay.”

Yongguk and Daehyun both lifted Himchan out of the tub, water splashing onto the floor. Daehyun groaned when he felt the weight on his shoulder. They slowly made their way out the bathroom and down the hall. Himchan noticed a small thing filled with water. It looked like it would be much bigger than the actual thing he had been in.

Yongguk and Daehyun gently placed Himchan into the pool. The tarp had been placed underneath it and covered a good portion of the area around it so that the floors wouldn't get damaged. Daehyun had bought one of those back rest that floated in the water, so that Himchan could lean against it. The pool wasn't a big pool but it wasn't a small one either. It was big enough so that Himchan could fully stretch out in but small enough so that it didn't encompass the entire room and it was just as deep as the tub.

Himchan took in his new surroundings and smiled to himself. He liked this place that he was in. It was much more open and bigger than that small enclosed space he had been in.

“How do you like it?” Youngjae asked as he dipped his finger into the water. “Is the water temperature fine?”

“I really like it. Thank you.” Himchan flashed a big genuine smile, showing off his teeth and the eye dimple that Youngjae didn't know he had.

“Good, we're glad you like it.” Daehyun smiled back at the merman.

“Um, Youngjae?” Himchan's face morphed back into one of curiosity as he remembered what happened earlier that day. “What does lecherous mean?”

Hi guys! Missed me? I missed you!

This is by far my favorite chapter of this fic. I had so much fun writing this and laughing to myself while doing it. (I think the guys at work thought I was crazy but what else is new?) I did mention that fun stuff was going to happen and boy, now that they're under the same roof it's only going to lead to a lot of shenanigans. I haven't decided whether I should have Youngjae and Daehyun go back to Busan yet. I might keep them for maybe another chapter cause man are they fun to have around. I mean, who else is going to pick on Yongguk, right?

According to my forward, I didn't see this fic going past 5 chapter let alone get to 10 but here we are at 7 and I'm nowhere near the end. I kind of have an idea of what the rest of this fic will be and it's going to be fun. There's a couple of things I need to figure out first.

Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. If you follow me on tumblr, you kind of already know as to why it took me so long. (At least you heard me and whine about not being able to write.) I'm hoping that the next chapter doesn't take too long to update. (I do have two other fics I need to update before coming back to this so as long as those don't take forever to update.)

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Til next time lovelies~