“You’re insane.” 

Do Kyungsoo, servant of the king, was staring at prince Chanyeol from the water. His tail was slowly moving under him, keeping his body still. Around him, friendly little sea horses were swimming in an excited way. 

“Insanely cute, I know” prince Chanyeol murmured back with a smirk on his face. He was sitting on a rock right next to his most precious collection of small and shiny sticks. Those sticks had more sticks on the end, while the other two types were different. One had a rounded end and the other could cut flesh. He cut himself the first time he found his first one. “Don’t you think it’s beautiful?”

“Prince, king Suho is waiting for you” Dyo, as he was called by the royal family, swam closer. He was really worried about his job now. Why was it so hard to deal with this particular brother? The older brother, Junmyeon, now known as king Suho, was so respectful and nice to him, even with him being his servant. And the younger brother, Jongin, known by his nickname Kai, was so obedient…

But Prince Chanyeol was always complicated. He was different. He had a difficult personality to deal with, he was bold but most of the time in a sassy way. He had those dreams. Weird dreams. Always dreaming, always late for his royal appointments, always with his mind somewhere else.

Prince Chanyeol was probably the most unique merman in the seven seas. And the most beautiful one too, Dyo hated to admit. He used to blush every time he had assignments related to Prince Chanyeol, mostly because he never obeyed him and was always teasing him. 

Now, looking around Prince Chanyeol’s personal cave and watching him stare at his collection with affection, he was sure this merman was the craziest one. 

“Dyo, why don’t we have things like this here? Why is everything so… so plain?” Prince Chanyeol’s eyes were shining, a sincere smile dancing on his beautiful face. He had expressive brown eyes and big pointed ears, his special charm, in Dyo’s opinion. 

“We don’t need useless stuff like this, our life is easier and makes more sense. Come with me now, please.” That answer made Prince Chanyeol gaze at his older brother’s servant, very offended.

“What do you mean? Of course not! All this things are made for using! Are you being frivolous about a world where humans make this? With their own hands? Humans, Dyo! Geniuses creatures!” 

He loved that word. Humans. He learned it with fifteen years old, on the day of his birthday, and now he still loved to say it out loud, three years later. His favorite word. For Dyo, the ugliest one.

Prince Chanyeol noticed that Dyo scowled at the mention of that particular word. The action made him giggle. He put his ugly shiny stick back on the wall and moved his longilineous body on the rock he was sitting, until he was able to jump and dive in Dyo’s direction. Purposely, he splashed a good amount of water with his tale on Dyo’s face, making all the little sea horses swim away from them. For Poseidon’s sake, he was so difficult! Argh!

When he emerged again, now in front of Dyo, his hair was red. His natural color was an unique silver, but the magic the royal family carried in their blood allowed them to do little enchantments when they wanted to. Some mermaids and mermen had powers, some didn’t. Dyo wasn’t lucky enough.

“Oh, wow, don’t do that!” Dyo blinked, confused. Staring so close at Prince Chanyeol’s exotic traces was kind of intimidating. He swam back a little, flushing. “C-can we go now?”

“Why does Myeonnie need me?” He asked, filling his mouth with water after that. He held a dangerous smirk on his face. Oh, my. Not again.

“Have some respect, Prince. He’s not just your brother anymore. He’s the king and guardian of our world. King Suho is the most powerful merman around here.” 

Prince Chanyeol kept smirking, and then he squirted all the water in Dyo’s face. 

May Poseidon have mercy on that poor servant’s soul.

At least he threw his arms around Dyo’s neck after that, hugging him tight. Dyo pushed him away immediately.

“You’re insane, I tell you! One day I’ll quit because of you!” 

“Oh, no you won’t. You love me!” 

He dived, holding Dyo by his fist and pulling him along to go back to the underworld where everything happened. And while being pulled by the prince, who was swimming so fast he could barely follow because he was way shorter than him, he thought in response “If only he new…”