"Thank you," Baekho replied his friend. "Alright. Let's go and get you cleaned up." Baekho removed his jacket and put it aside. He rolled up his sleeves and carefully slid his arms beneath Minhyun who clung to him in return. Minhyun twitched when his body was lifted. The muscles squeezing together made it hurt but he only had himself to blame. He bit his tongue so he wouldn't make any noise. Baekho carefully got off the bed and carried him into the bathroom. Seungkwan stepped aside and decided there wasn't enough space for 3 so he left instead, helping Baekho to clean up the room instead. 

Baekho shut the door once he had placed Minhyun on the side of the bathtub that he barely used. He preferred quick showers after all. Minhyun looked at the warm water behind him, dipping his hand inside before pulling it out in surprise at the heat. 

"It's hot," Minhyun squeaked. Baekho tilted his head and tested the water. 

"No, it's just warm?" He replied confused. 

"The sea is much... colder."

"Oh... it'll cool down soon. I have to clean your wounds first," Baekho said as he got down to his knees in front of Minhyun's tail. He took a cloth and dampened it. "It's going to hurt."

"I know," Minhyun replied, giving the human a half smile even though the smile barely registered in his eyes. Baekho wanted to cheer him up but it was pretty impossible when he could barely bring himself to show the other a smile. He started wiping the sides of the wounds. Minhyun gripped the bathtub tightly, gritting down on his teeth as it stung. Baekho grimaced every time Minhyun flinched or hissed. He could tell it was probably painful especially now that he could actually hear the pain in his voice too. 

"Will you tell me why you did this?" Baekho asked while rinsing the blood off the cloth. Minhyun panted a little as Baekho took off his shirt to remove the bandage around his stomach too, revealing the healing wound that sunk into his body and created a weird scar in contrast to the rest of his pale skin. 

"I... want to stay... with you," Minhyun groaned, gripping onto the shirt tightly. "But... because...I'm a merman... I can't." He tried to speak through the pain that was in his body and throat. Although his throat felt much better already, it was still strenuous to talk. Baekho stiffened up and squeezed the cloth in his hands. He sighed softly and turned back to him. 

"What do you even like about me?" Baekho made sure that there was no more dried blood on the other before checking the water again. It was pretty cold now. 

"You're... nice. You sound.... wonderful," Minhyun whispered softly. "You listen... to what I say..." Baekho chuckled softly.

"Isn't that how people are supposed to treat one another?" 

"But... I'm not human..." 

"Seungkwan is pretty nice to you too. He got you food."

"He... forced... the blanket... off me before."

Baekho didn't know what else to say. He would admit that he does treat Minhyun nicer. "Well, once you warm up to him, he is a nice guy too. Let's just take a shower, okay?" Baekho smiled and Minhyun glanced at the water before nodding. He didn't think he would be able to enter the water without screaming bloody mary. Baekho poured some shampoo onto his hand and started scrubbing Minhyun's hair.

"What's that?" He asked, seeing the bubbles form on Baekho's hand. He chuckled a little since it was his first time having someone do something like this to his hair. 

"It's shampoo. Meant to keep your hair smooth and clean," Baekho explained. "Best to close your eyes too. Wouldn't want it to get inside."

"Why?"

"Cause it'll hurt too." Minhyun nodded and shut his eyes. Baekho took the chance to stare at the pretty face in front of him, not realising he had stopped moving his hands. Minhyun opened his eyes and Baekho flinched.

"Why did... you stop?" Minhyun asked. "Are you...done?" 

"Huh? N-no. I wasn't," Baekho stuttered and cleared his throat awkwardly. He gave Minhyun's hair a few more scrubs before washing the shampoo off his hand. He took a bucket and carefully rinsed it off sideways so the water wouldn't come into contact with his other wounds. Minhyun just sat quietly and did as asked. "Do you need to wash your tail?"

"Wash? But it's always.... in water. Isn't that considered.... washed?" Minhyun asked confused and that made Baekho confused too. He let out a light chuckle and nodded.

"This is soap. It has a really nice smell to it. Want to give it a go?" He asked Minhyun instead. Minhyun sniffed the soap and then glanced at Baekho.

"Yes. Because it smells... like you," he said with a small smile. Baekho coughed awkwardly. He wasn't expecting Minhyun to say that but it was his body soap so he probably shouldn't be this embarrassed. He pushed his thoughts to the back of his mind as he started scrubbing soap onto Minhyun's tail, careful not to get it too near his wounds. Baekho was quite intrigued by how fish like his tail felt yet how human his body felt. 

"You really are a merman," he murmured as he started lathering Minhyun's body. Minhyun showed a slight pained expression and nodded, trying to keep a small smile to hide the ache he felt from Baekho's words.

"I am...," Minhyun replied and Baekho regretted what he said.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset again," Baekho said quickly and Minhyun shook his head.

"It's okay... even if I wish....hard enough... it's impossible to... change what... I am, right?" Minhyun asked. Baekho gritted his teeth.

"Maybe not but... I think you're pretty like this too. It might not be legs but... but you can swim much better than me and you can breathe underwater," Baekho said, trying to comfort Minhyun this time.

"But I can't... walk on land... walk beside you."

"That's okay. Maybe... Maybe there's another way to do that," Baekho replied as he started rinsing the soap off Minhyun. Minhyun had to stop talking since the water that trailed down his tail made his wounds sting. "Just a bit more." Minhyun nodded and groaned quietly, keeping still until every last soap bubble was washed off. Baekho patted his head before taking a towel to dry off his body. His mermaid tail was sparkling again, perhaps even brighter than when Baekho had first seen it. The wounds weren't that visible thankfully. "You did great." He dried Minhyun's hair as well.

"Mmm... But you can't... carry me around... everywhere," Minhyun mumbled as Baekho carried him in his arms. He liked being carried by Baekho but he knew he wasn't exactly light either. Baekho just happened to be stronger than he looked. 

"Guess not," Baekho sighed and opened the door. Seungkwan turned to them and grinned, in his hands were a wheelchair. 

"Guys. Took you long enough. Look what I got," Seungkwan said almost too excitedly. 

"A wheelchair?" Baekho asked as he placed Minhyun down onto his bed. 

"What's... a... wheelchair?" Minhyun asked. 

"This is," Seungkwan replied while motioning to the wheelchair. Minhyun raised his brows, clueless on what Seungkwan was trying to show him. It was a chair on wheels. What made it so special? He couldn't understand.

"For him?" Baekho asked and Seungkwan nodded.

"Duh. You and I can walk on land. With this, we just need to find a way to hide his tail and then everything else will be hunky dory," Seungkwan said proudly. "I'm so smart, aren't I?"

"But his tail is really huge...." Baekho was skeptical with the idea although it was tempting to give it a go. He looked at Minhyun who turned to him with a puzzled expression. He tried to think of a way to hide the tail that would definitely flop onto the ground even if they succeeded in getting Minhyun to sit in it. "Could you.... curl your tail while sitting?"

"Curl? Uh.... it's a little tough..."

"We will figure it out. Here, put this on and this as well," Seungkwan said while tossing Minhyun a shirt and... a skirt. A long skirt. Minhyun hissed as the clothes dropped onto him since he didn't catch them. Baekho held back both his laugh and annoyance at the way Seungkwan was treating Minhyun to help the merman put on the shirt. 

"Don't wanna," Minhyun hissed as Baekho tried to get him to lift his arms. 

"Why not? You put on the buttoned one before," Baekho asked.

"C-cause-" Minhyun turned red for some reason as he recalled how Baekho got it on him. "No. It feels.... weird."

"Mmm.... what about this.... I'll grant you any wish you have that I'm capable of doing if you put this and the skirt on obediently," Baekho said, trying to bribe the merman who seemed to give it a thought.

"Any wish?"

"As long as it's within my capabilities," Baekho corrected and Minhyun pouted, letting a few more seconds pass before nodding. 

"Fine." He lifted his arms and Baekho slid it on. He cringed as the material wrapped around his body uncomfortably. He was more comfortable with being since that had never pose as a problem in the sea. Fishes don't wear clothes and he had definitely seen people in the sea before too by accident. 

"A little help, Kwan?" Baekho asked when he had to put the skirt on. 

"Geez... I was not planning on touching him at all if I can," Seungkwan grumbled but walked over anyways. Baekho handed his friend the skirt before lifting Minhyun up so Seungkwan could slide it all the way up his tail. Minhyun just watched in terror as his tail disappeared into the skirt and then popped out again at the other end.

"Sorcery?" Minhyun muttered and the two humans laughed as quietly as they could. Baekho put the merman down who started flicking his tail to see what the skirt would do but winced and stopped when it stung. 

"No. It's a skirt. Usually worn by females but... in your case, you can't exactly wear pants. They won't fit at all," Seungkwan replied. 

"Okay.... this hides only about 70 percent of his tail. What do we do about the tail fin part?" Baekho asked while rubbing his temples. 

"We could stuff it into a bag or something.... then put a blanket over it again.... something, something," Seungkwan grumbled, annoyed that he had to keep suggesting ideas when he hadn't intended to actually help the other this much. He was literally making a merman look as human as possible and that felt really wrong to him. It was like hiding a wolf in sheep's clothing. 

"Sounds like it'll work. But what do we do about drying out?" Baekho just recalled when he noticed the skirt getting wet from the water that he hadn't wiped off his tail. 

"Plastic bags with water should work." 

"You know what, Seungkwan. You are pretty smart." All of Seungkwan's earlier annoyance vanished with the appearance of his smug smile. Baekho almost rolled his eyes when his friend started nudging him. "I regret saying that. Come on. Let's try it out." 

Seungkwan grinned and stepped back, holding onto the wheelchair so it won't go rolling away. Baekho lifted Minhyun again and slowly lowered him onto the wheelchair. Minhyun didn't fight back. He was just confused as Baekho placed him onto the wheelchair. He flicked his tail to a more comfortable position as he felt around the wheelchair. Seungkwan exchanged a glance with Baekho who started panicking.

"Wait!" Baekho couldn't stop his friend from pushing the wheelchair at a sudden full speed. Minhyun squeaked and grasped the side handles tightly. Seungkwan laughed as he ran around the room with the wheelchair. Baekho groaned, trying to stop his friend. Minhyun's panic slowly turned into light chuckles.

So this is what makes it so special.