Chapter 9

Daehyun groaned when the sound of his phone alarm jolted him from his sleep. He reached his arm out and patted around for the phone to silence it before it woke his sleeping boyfriend. Once the alarm was silenced, he opened his eyes to the morning sun shining through the blinds, illuminating Youngjae's bedroom. He gently grabbed Youngjae's arm and removed it from where it was resting around Daehyun's waist. He swung his legs over the bed, planting them on the hardwood floor and stretched his arms over his head. He turned back to plant a kiss on Youngjae's temple before grabbing his phone, standing up and walking out of the bedroom.

He yawned as he walked to the bathroom, scratching his chest. He did what he normally does every morning: relieve himself, brush his teeth, wash and shave his face, all in that order. And per usual before waking Youngjae, Daehyun made his way to the kitchen so that he could start a pot of coffee. He almost dropped his phone and squealed when his eyes laid on Yongguk and Himchan sleeping in the living room, holding hands. He didn't know whether to take a bunch of pictures or wake Youngjae up first to see this.

He opened the phone app and snapped a few good shots of Yongguk and Himchan. He quickly stopped when Yongguk started to stir before hurrying back to Youngjae's room so that Yongguk wouldn't see that he was standing there taking pictures of them. Youngjae is going to kick himself for missing this.

******

It took Himchan a moment to realize that he wasn't in the sea but in Yongguk's home when he woke up. His heart rate started to quicken when he noticed that Yongguk was nowhere to be found. He was expecting to wake up with the human next to him, holding his hand just like how they had fallen asleep.

“Yongguk?” He called out.

“Yongguk went out to buy you some food.” Daehyun said as he appeared from the kitchen. He sat down next to the kiddie pool and grabbed the remote. “Did you sleep well?”

Himchan smiled to himself. “Yongguk made a good dolphin.”

Daehyun tilted his head slightly, not knowing if he wanted to know what exactly Himchan meant. He was just about to ask the merman when Youngjae walked in.

“Good morning, Himchan. Do you need more water in your pool?” Youngjae dipped his hand into the water as Himchan shook his head. “Yongguk went to buy you fresh fish to eat. We weren't sure how often you eat or when the last time it was that you ate but Yongguk plans on buying a lot of fish for you just in case.”

Himchan splashed his tail in excitement. “I haven't had fish in many suns!”

Youngjae smiled. “Then you're going to have one satisfying breakfast.”

“Breakfast? Is that what you call eating?” Himchan asked.

“It's what we call the first meal of the day. Us humans eat three meals everyday; breakfast is the first one, lunch is the second and dinner is the last one.” Daehyun explained.

“You humans eat a lot. I only eat once every sun.”

“We would save a lot of money on food if we only ate once a day.” Youngjae thought out loud as he stood back up. “I'm going to finish up our first meal of the day before hyung gets back.”

“And I'm going to stay here and keep Himchan company.” Daehyun said as Youngjae walked back to the kitchen before turning back to Himchan. “So I see that Yongguk sle-”

“Himchan, you're awake.” Yongguk said as he walked through the front door causing Daehyun to groan in frustration. He dragged a large bin in with him. “I brought a lot of fishes for you to eat. I'll be right back. I'm going to get the other bin.”

Daehyun got up and went to the bin that had live fishes swimming around in the water. “Talk about fresh! He got you fish that's still alive.”

Himchan splashed his tail at the thought of fresh, live fish. He hadn't been sure if he was going to eat anything at all while he was on land. A small part of him thought that he was going to starve being that he didn't know what humans ate. Knowing that Yongguk went to hunt fish for him made Himchan really happy. He was so hungry at the moment that he didn't care what kind of fish they were, just as long as they ended up in his belly.

Daehyun dragged the bin close to Himchan so that the merman could look for himself. “Bon appétit.”

Himchan looked up to him in confusion. “Huh?”

“It means 'enjoy your meal'. It's something humans say in another part of the land.” Daehyun tried to explain without going into what countries and languages are.

“Oh...okay, I will.” Himchan smiled at Daehyun.

Himchan looked down at the bin and his lips; there were a good amount of fish swimming in the bin, ten if you were to actually count them. Himchan's eyes followed the biggest one of the bunch. His hunter instinct kicked in as he dipped his hand into the water, waiting for the marked fish to swim within it's grasp. His tail lightly swished in the water in unison with the fish.

Yongguk came into the house just in time to watch Himchan try and fail to catch a fish. Daehyun quickly signaled Youngjae to come over and watch. The three of them stood there mesmerized as they watched Himchan “hunt” for his food. They jumped when Himchan clasped his hands together and capture the fish. He took the flailing fish out of the bin and with both of his thumb claws he stabbed into the fish as it slowly started to die. Once the fish was certainly dead, Himchan dug his claws into the fish tearing it open with ease. He his lips as he stared at the fresh meat before biting into it.

Youngjae gagged. “I don't know why I thought this wasn't going to be gross.”

“I'm officially swearing off fish.” Yongguk said as he looked on. He wanted to look away but it was one of those moments that despite it being gross, you just can't stop looking.

“You know, even though this is gross he's still really adorable.” Daehyun said, Yongguk and Youngjae both shooting Daehyun a look of disbelief. “What? Look at how happy he is! You can't tell me that look of pure elation on Himchan's face isn't adorable!”

Himchan looked up at them when he heard his name; his mouth was stuffed with fish meat, giving him chubby chipmunk cheeks and a bit of blood dripped down his chin. He didn't know exactly what they were talking about being that he was solely paying attention to the fish in his hand until Daehyun said his name.

Daehyun gestured towards the merman. “See! Adorable.”

******

Himchan scratched his forearm in the area where his fin was protruding out. He hummed to himself as he relaxed in the pool, his belly was now full with the fish that Yongguk went to hunt for him. He probably would have gone back to sleep if it wasn't for Yongguk moving around and doing human stuff. He needed his dolphin next to him so that he could fall asleep. It also didn't help that his scales were starting to get really itchy.

“I didn't think you would eat so much, Himchan.” Yongguk said as he looked at the bin that was now filled with fish bones. “Daehyun told me that you haven't eaten in days. You must have been very hungry.”

“I was.” Himchan nodded, he had started to scratch at the scales at the start of his tail. “The last time I had fish was before I got hurt.”

With a frown on his face, Yongguk crouched down to Himchan's level. “Himchan you should have told me when the last time was that you had fish and that you were hungry. I would have gotten you food sooner.”

“Sorry.” Himchan murmured.

“A lot did happen yesterday so it's understandable that you didn't mention it. But next time you want something, tell me okay?” Yongguk smiled with the merman nodded. He stood up and grabbed the bin and reluctantly went to dispose of the fish bones and wash the bin.

Himchan turned his focus to the television playing in front of him, both his hands were now scratching different parts of his body. He didn't know why his body was so itchy like it was right now, he had never experienced this before. Sure his body would itch but not to this extent. Something like this only happened to him....once.

Himchan's eyes widened when he remembered the last time he was close to being this itchy. It was when he was sunbathing on a rock and fell asleep. His body had started to dry out from being out of the water for such a long time. All he did was just jump back into the water and the itch was gone. Problem solved.

But he was sitting in water right now. Why was he still so itchy?

Himchan cupped water into his hands and splashed it on to his chest, shoulders and arms. He tried to get as much of his body wet as possible. He scooted down further into the pool so that his entire upper body was submerged in the water and his tail was now sticking out of the pool. He turned over onto his stomach and shimmied his chest in the water. He even submerged his head into the pool and stayed still, letting every part of his body that had not been in the water soak it all in.

Youngjae walked into the room and screamed when he saw Himchan face down in the pool, not moving. “Oh my god! He's dead!”

Himchan popped his head back out of the water, wondering why Youngjae was screaming all of a sudden.

“Jesus Christ!” Youngjae placed his hand over his heart.

“What's going on?” Daehyun ran into the room in a panic from hearing his boyfriend screaming bloody murder.

Youngjae grabbed Daehyun's shoulder, bracing himself up. “I thought Himchan was dead! He was face down in the pool not moving! I thought that we killed him!”

“Youngjae calm down, Himchan's clearly fine. Look at him.” Daehyun gestured towards the merman who was scratching the scales on his neck.

“I was soaking the parts of me that haven't been wet in a while because it started to itch too much.” Himchan told them.

“Does that happen a lot?” Daehyun asked. “You getting itchy?”

Himchan nodded his head. “Only when I start drying out. That's why I turned around to wet the rest of me.”

“See, he's perfectly fine.” Daehyun turned to Youngjae, who looked at the merman as if he were trying to figure out if Himchan was telling the truth. “Nothing to worry about.”

“So everything is fine with you, Himchan?” Youngjae asked.

Himchan nodded as he continued to scratch at his neck; scales flaked off when Himchan's nails raked over them. The three of them looked on as the scales floated in the water. After a couple of beats, they all screamed.

“Oh my god!” Daehyun yelled.

“My scales!” Himchan yelled.

“We ARE killing Himchan!” Youngjae yelled.

Yongguk ran into the house in a panic when he heard the screams from the three of them. “What's going on?!”

“Himchan's scales!”

“My scales!”

“We're killing him!”

“What?” Yongguk was trying to understand what exactly they were saying as they were all screaming in unison.

Himchan scooped up the scales that had fallen out and showed them to Yongguk. “My scales fell out!”

Yongguk was instantly overcome with panic when he saw Himchan's fallen scales. He crouched down to Himchan's level. “Let me see your neck.”

Himchan tilted his head to the side, there was a clear bald spot on the merman's neck.

“This is bad.” Daehyun said, who was now crouched down next to Yongguk. “He said he was starting to become really itchy because he was drying out.”

“Drying out? But Himchan, you're in water.” Yongguk said.

“We're killing him.” Youngjae was now pacing back and forth.

Himchan started to scratch his hip. The fin that had been split in half after the accident was now missing the upper half after Himchan's nails raked across the base causing them all to scream in panic.

“I don't know why this is happening!” Himchan panicked. “This has never happened before!”

“Okay, don't panic!” Yongguk said to them, but mostly himself.

“That's easy for you to say!” Youngjae threw his hands up in the air.

“We need to think this through with cool heads.” Yongguk breathed.

“Guys, look.” Daehyun pointed to the spot on Himchan's hip where the fin had fallen off; instead of seeing muscle - “meat” - it was porcelain flesh. “Is that skin?”

“Himchan, can I get a better look?” Yongguk asked. Himchan nodded and moved to stick his hip out of the water. Yongguk leaned closer to examine the spot, he grazed his fingers across the bald patch and to his surprise, it felt as smooth as skin. He barely touched one of the scales around the bald patch when Himchan moaned as some scales flaked off.

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry!”

“You're making it worse, hyung!” Youngjae panicked even more.

“Do it again.” Himchan flushed as he looked up at Yongguk. “It itches so much. That actually felt really good.”

Yongguk could feel the two other set of eyes on him as he gulped before lightly raking his nails over Himchan's scales. More scales flaked off into the pool, exposing more skin. The more Yongguk scratched, the more the scales fell. Himchan joined Yongguk and started to scratch another part of his tail. He sighed when more scales that he and Yongguk were scratching flaked off.

“More skin. Do you think that Himchan actually has legs under there?” Daehyun asked.

“Don't be ridiculous. He's a merman.” Youngjae chastised him.

“And mermen aren't supposed to exist.” Daehyun responded back. “There could be a good chance that Himchan is shedding his scales and fins for legs.”

“Himchan, you're not hiding legs inside your tail by any chance, are you?” Youngjae asked.

Himchan closed his eyes and tilted his head back, sighing as both of his hands were now scratching his scales alongside Yongguk's hand. “No. I don't think so. I never tried to find out if I did.” His blush had spread from his cheeks all the way down to his chest.

Yongguk was sporting about the same shade of blush on his face as he continued to aide the merman with his problem. Something about seeing Himchan like this, blushing and was making this extremely awkward for Yongguk. This felt all too intimate for him. He didn't want to think of Himchan in this type of situation; acting and sounding like this.

“Is that? Yep, that's his .” Daehyun said turning his head away as Himchan scratched the middle part of his tail, revealing that in fact, there was a human under there.

Without thinking Yongguk snuck a peek and immediately scrabbled to grab something, anything to cover Himchan up. “Himchan stop scratching there!”

Himchan moaned. “But it feels so good.”

“Oh my god!” Youngjae had turned away, shielding his eyes from seeing anything.

Himchan didn't understand why all three of them were growing bright red. At the moment, he didn't care why they were like that, all that matter was scratching all these itchy spots on him. It felt so good to scratch that he didn't care if his scales were falling off anymore.

To their horror, Himchan's scales continued to flake off over the course of a couple of hours; the more he scratched, the more skin he revealed. The kiddie pool was now overflowing with scales to the point that the water could no longer be seen. Youngjae squeaked when Himchan raised a leg out under the mass of scales.

“Himchan?” Yongguk removed his hand from within the pool and sat back. “How do you feel?”

“The itching's stopped.” Himchan responded, lifting his other leg out from the pool. “These things are so much lighter than my tail.”

“Do you want to see if you can stand up?” Yongguk asked.

Himchan nodded. He grabbed Yongguk's hand and tried to stand just like he had seen them do before. Yongguk grabbed Himchan's other hand so that Himchan could put all of his weight on him. Himchan's new legs shook the more Himchan put his weight on them. Yongguk caught him as he stumbled for a bit before standing completely straight on his two new legs.

Youngjae and Daehyun stared on as Himchan turned around to face them. “Huh. You actually did have legs under there.” Daehyun said, still bewildered at what he was seeing with own two eyes, despite the fact that he had been there throughout the entire process.

Youngjae laughed in disbelief before passing out against Daehyun.

Omg, Himchan has legs!  It's really about to get fun from here.  

Sorry for being M.I.A but weill, I had things to do.  Life happened.  Being an adult isn't all that it's cracked up to be.  But I'm back on schedule so hopefully the next chapter doesn't take too long to write.

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Til next time, lovelies~