Hansol was worried. Usually, he wasn't someone who worried a lot and was always laid back. But today, he felt himself becoming anxious. 

After Hansol and his friends unexpected meeting with Seokmin and Chan (and finding out that they were cousins), and Seungcheol giving the older of the two cousins a death glare, Seokmin walked away to speak with the librarian and Chan took a seat next to the guys.

"I didn't know that I'd meet you guys here, weird. But now that we've met," Chan started, clasping his hands together, "Please please please let me in on your new prank."

Seungcheol looked wary and Vernon looked like he was going to decline when Mingyu spoke up. 

"Well, we did promise that you'd join in on our new prank when we see you again, so, okay." Mingyu said.

Seungcheol widened his eyes. "But--"

"Ohmygosh thank you!" Chan whisper-screamed. He knew that he was in a library. "You guys will not regret this. So, what prank are we doing?"

"Well, we have to wait until Wonwoo hyung comes, and then we'd go to our secret hideout. Do not tell anyone, even Seokmin about this," Mingyu instructed. He seemed to be the only enthusiastic one right now. Chan nodded.

"So guys the librarian said-- oh hey Chan," Wonwoo said, obviously surprised exclaimed.

"Mingyu said I could join in on this prank group. Isn't that great?" Chan grinned excitedly. Wonwoo looked at Mingyu, who looked away, and grinned back at Chan.

"Sounds great!"

 

--

 

"Guys we are not about to let a sixteen year old do this prank with us," Seungcheol whispered to Vernon and Wonwoo, who both looked betrayed as Mingyu excitedly conversed with Chan.

"Fifteen in international age," Vernon answered. Wonwoo looked at him confusedly. "Okay, let me explain this to you--"

"Don't. You can't explain stuff," Seungcheol said. Vernon looked offended.

"Um excuse me, Seungcheol--" Vernon started to reply in English when Mingyu cut him off. (a/n: sentences in italics mean that they're speaking englisheu.)

"Vernon don't speak English please," Mingyu said in his accented English. Chan and Wonwoo started to laugh.

"What?" Vernon couldn't believe his ears.

"Don't speak english please," Mingyu begged.

"You heard him. Vernon, don't speak English anymore," Wonwoo said in Korean. "So, what prank are we doing?"

"I got it, hyungs! It's summer, right? What what do people do in summer? They go to the beach and they go in public pools," Chan started.

Mingyu snickered, grinning to himself like the child that he was. "You sound like you're doing an ad." 

Chan grinned. "So, what I was saying was that we do a mermaid prank, or rather, a merman prank. Isn't that great?!" 

The door to Mingyu's backyard opened, revealing his mom who had some food for them. Handing the try to a thankful Seungcheol, she started cooing at her son.

"Aw look at you, always inviting your friends over. Who's this, if I may ask?" she asked, looking at Chan.

"I'm Chan. Lee Chan!" the youngest exclaimed.

"You're really cute. Maybe cuter than Mingyu."

"No one's cuter than me," Mingyu replied, earning laughs from both Chan and his mom. The others were too busy eating cookies.

When Mingyu's mom left, Chan exclaimed, "Your mom's really nice!"

Everyone seemed to look uncomfortable at Chan's words until Mingyu cleared his throat. "Y-Yeah, she's really nice. I really like that merman idea. People will go nuts. Since Wonwoo already wore the beetle costume, I will have a try at being the merman. After all, mermen are seen as beautiful, so obviously, I'm the perfect match."

"You wish," Hansol snickered. Mingyu glared at him. "Mermen don't glare at people like you do."

"Shut the up--"

"Oh my god, toddler amongst us!" Seungcheol screamed, covering the ears of Chan.

"What lovely example you're setting for our new maknae here," Wonwoo sarcastically remarked, dodging the shoe sent his way, courtesy of Mingyu.

"Curse your fast reflex skills!" The orange haired male hollered, while Wonwoo and Hansol laughed. 

 

--

 

So it was decided that Mingyu indeed would be the merman, while Seungcheol and Hansol were in charge of buying the costume and setting up the necessary equipment.

Wonwoo and Chan would be the ones who would talk to the people visiting the public pools about mermaids and mermen, and would let Mingyu know of the time that he'd swim in, possibly scaring the people. Wonwoo didn't like that he going to talk to other people, and he knew his friends decided that because they wanted him to step out of his comfort zone. Chan was ecstatic to be the one who talked to others about the unreal mythical creatures. He was very excited to see their reactions.

 

--

 

So everyone set out into one of the most busy public pools during the summer. They made sure to be early so few people were there at that time. As soon as they arrived, Seungcheol and Hansol took with them a fake boulder to put deep under the water, close to the corner, while the rest kept watch to make sure that no one spotted them.

As soon as that was set up, Mingyu went into the changing room to get into his merman costume, and Wonwoo followed him. Chan looked confused.

"Why is he only following Mingyu hyung?"

Hansol grinned. "They're dating." Hansol only meant it as a joke, but Chan took it seriously.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Wonwoo and Mingyu love each other very, very much, as you can see," Seungcheol cut in, sharing a secret laugh between Hansol and himself. He wanted to see Mingyu and Wonwoo's reaction when they found out about this. "You can choose to keep it a secret if you want."

Chan slowly nodded. "Woah. I never knew that. I guess it was obvious."

"What was?" Hansol asked curiously.

"Mingyu hyung always stares at Wonwoo hyung, while Wonwoo hyung always smiles at Mingyu hyung."

"They like each other. Look, Mingyu and Wonwoo are coming. So let's stop talking about it," Seungcheol muttered to them.

Mingyu then went into the water and swam closer to the boulder, showing only his head and hair, which was covered, at the surface.

"Are you cold?" Hansol shouted to Mingyu. The orange haired male shook his head.

"Nope. The weather is hot, so I'm okay. People are starting to come, so let's start this!" Mingyu exclaimed before moving into the boulder and at the corner and moving to the surface. If spotted , it looked like a normal guy was just chilling buy the far end of the corner, but no one paid attention to that side anyway, so it was perfect.

As people gathered, Chan immediately started talking to a woman and her child about mermaids and mermen.

Wonwoo sighed, receiving cheers from Seungcheol and Hansol and internally cursing them in his mind because they were just happy that they didn't have to do anything else. He found himself first talking to a teenager like himself about if mermaids and mermen existed.

"That's a very weird question to ask," the guy, known as Taehyung, answered. "I don't think they're real."

"I don't think so too. But some people are saying that they've spotted some mermaids and mermen around beaches and public pools like this."

"Really?" Taehyung asked. Wonwoo nodded. "But seeing one up close would be weird and scary."

"Yup." While Taehyung looked for something in his bag that was next to the pool, Wonwoo lifted up four of his hands. He then saw something dark looking, which was the colour of Mingyu's tail. Mingyu swam fast. Wonwoo quickly left the scene.

As Taehyung stepped into the water, a hand grabbed onto his feet, making him gasp. Mingyu then shot up, revealing his tail and his bright orange hair, scaring and surprising the teen, who let out a shout, and walked away from the pool.

Mingyu quickly swam again, grinning at Taehyung's reaction. He'd already surprised the woman who was talking to Chan, and after gave Chan a hive five.

As Chan talked to another person, Mingyu stayed by his hiding spot by the boulder. 

Wonwoo found other people to talk to, and he felt himself getting less and less nervous as time went by, always grinning at Mingyu after the latter had shocked the people by making himself look like a merman. Mingyu was very convincing. Hansol and Seungcheol were always around to see the people's expressions and always snickered amongst themselves.

Chan also managed to talk to a lot of people, definitely giving Mingyu a job to do. However, when Chan talked to a certain person that was familiar to Hansol, the boy started to panic. He hoped that Sungkwan did not see him. So when Cahn gave the signal for Mingyu, Hansol found himself stopping Mingyu from going over to to Seungkwan, explaining the situation to him, since Seungkwan knew who they all were.

Since Mingyu did not come, Chan found himself talking to another person instead. A person who really got scared when Mingyu showed himself.

 

--

 

Wonwoo soon became tired, watching the youngest of them still possessing energy. He felt someone sitting besides him, but he didn't look to see who it was.

"Hi," the person said, surprising Wonwoo. He turned to see the smiling face of a girl. "You must be bored, huh?"

"I believe so," Wonwoo answered, causing the girl to grin. "My friends are doing something else and I'm tired."

"I came here with friends too, but I can't see them." The girl pouted, putting her long, black hair in one. She was pretty. "But you're here to keep me company."

"And you're here to keep me company too," Wonwoo said, smiling. 

"I'm Kim Jisoo," she said, extending her hand.

"Jeon Wonwoo. Nice to meet you," Wonwoo answered, shaking her hand. "Why are we so formal?"

Jisoo laughed. "I have no idea."

 

--

 

When Mingyu didn't get a signal from Chan, he relaxed by the edge of the pool, making sure that Seungkwan didn't spot him. He found his eyes wandering to Wonwoo's direction, smiling unconsciously when he saw the older.

The younger then spotted a pretty girl sitting down by his friend. He saw her start talking to Wonwoo, and felt a burning sensation in his chest when Wonwoo answered her without difficulty. She started to smile, and Mingyu felt himself getting bothered.

They're just talking to each other, Mingyu thought. Wonwoo's just talking to her. But Mingyu couldn't look away, and started feeling agitated. He hated the way Wonwoo seemed to smile so easily around her, and he wondered if Wonwoo thought she was gorgeous. They looked good together. He did not like the way he was feeling at that moment. Before he knew it, he swam under the water towards them, and grabbed the girl's feet, causing her to gasp in shock. He showed himself, and felt angry when the girl hugged Wonwoo out of surprise. 

Wonwoo had an expression basically saying, 'Mingyu what are you doing?'

Mingyu took a look at both of them, and them swam away. Sorry to have ruined your fun.

 

--

 

As the boys were on their way home, courtesy of Seungcheol's dad, Chan couldn't stop talking about what he did, and the people's expressions, leaving out the part of Mingyu dressing up like a merman because of Seuncheol's dad. Seungcheol was happy that the youngest was excited, and Hansol was still looking around to see if Seungkwan was still around.

Wonwoo noticed that Mingyu was quiet the whole ride and did not say anything to Wonwoo. He remembered Mingyu's unreadable expression when he saw him and Jisoo together. The older tried several times to speak to the orange haired male, but all to no avail.

As Wonwoo and Mingyu were dropped at the same time because they live near each other, Wonwoo tried get Mingyu to talk to him.

"Mingyu-ah. Can you please talk to me. Did I do something to offend you?" Wonwoo asked, walking beside the taller. 

Mingyu did not answer.

"Mingyu..."

The taller was in front of his house and was about to go in when Wonwoo grabbed his arm, making Mingyu turn around. "Seriosuly, Mingyu. What's up with you. Why are you being like this?"

"You really want to know?" Mingyu's voice sounded so small.

"Yeah..."

Mingyu walked closer to the older, engulfing him in a hug and burying his head into Wonwoo's shoulder. "I'm sorry Wonwoo. I really like hugging you."

"I really like hugging you too," Wonwoo replied.

"No. You don't get it. I really like hugging you. I like it so much that I feel so happy when I hug you and when you hug me back, and I can't wait to do it every single day. I like hugging you so much that I feel mad when someone else hugs you like I do." 

"What are you trying to say?" Wonwoo asked, his heart beating quickly. He felt Mingyu hugging him tighter.

"Wonwoo...I like you. You give really nice hugs," Mingyu almost confessed, facing Wonwoo now. He then smiles. "See you later."

It was after Mingyu entered his home that Wonwoo realized that the younger never answered his question. 

 

 

---

 

 

A/n: I hoped you guys liked this chapter and see you soon. Mingyu smiling gif cause why not?