https://imgur.com/a/pwJwoyw

San entered the room after Yeosang and Wooyoung. His eyes adjusting from the evening dark sky outside to the candle lit room. During his tour with Wooyoung earlier, they had not entered this room. San assumed it was probably because his room had yet to need a repair. Therefore it didn’t warrant an entry in his logbook. He’d have to add it to his blueprint later though.

San took in more of his surroundings and observed the structure of the room. It was slightly larger than the room he and Yunho shared. The table was completely covered in parchment and loose papers so San could not tell what color it was originally but as he took a seat in the dark wood chairs, he noted that underneath the mess there was a dark blood red table cloth that draped over his legs when he sat.

“Usually it’s just us who attend this meeting.” Hongjoong waved San to sit across him. Around the table sat 6 chairs, San sat across from Hongjoong with Wooyoung on his right and Yeosang from his left. Seonghwa sat between Hongjoong and Wooyoung. “Everyone’s busy during the day so we didn’t have much of an opportunity to talk. Worry not though, we assign rotations to have the bare minimum for a skeleton crew during the evenings. The rest usually just party and drink until they pass out or retire to their rooms until morning. Once you’re done here you can go back to your chambers to rest. How was your day?”

San suppressed an urge to roll his eyes as if a captain actually cared what a mere runt did on his ship, that’s what the quartermaster and chief engineer were for.

“It was fine. Spent some time with the doctor and Wooyoung.” San replied.

“Good. And the other kid?” Hongjoong questioned towards the rest of the group. Wooyoung shrugged and Yeosang shifted his eyes away.

“He’s fine. Organized and always asks questions.” Seonghwa broke the silence. “...too many questions.”

“He’ll be a quick learner then. Less work for you to manage in that case. And Yunho won’t slack off,” Hongjoong smiled and faced San. “Because I'm sure both of you’ll be on your best behaviors.”

San kept a straight face but he knew a threat when he heard one. He didn’t want Yunho to suffer punishment for something he did, he didn’t know the levels of corporal punishment these pirates had. The worst would obviously be death. But San doubted they would go to those lengths as they had made a point in needing San’s cooperation. However San didn’t trust them the slightest bit, not sure if they would have underhanded tactics such as torturing Yunho to get San to give in.

“I’m joking. I’m joking. Don’t make such a serious face.” Hongjoong laughed. “You’re part of our crew now and nothing good comes out of doubting each other. Rather we called you here to let you gain a sense of trust with us first. Ask away! We’ll answer any questions we can for now.”

“Then I'll start off easy.” San shrugged. “Don’t pirate captains wear pirate hats?”

Hongjoong wrinkled his nose as he laughed. “Always unexpected aren’t you? No problem. To answer, I do have one. I just don’t wear it as hats make the head too heavy and obstruct your vision. In a death match, one with the better vision will always win because they’ll be able to predict the next move. Doesn’t mean I won’t wear it though, I’ll use it on occasion if need be.”

San thought for a bit, maybe he’d give them a trick question just to see if they were telling the truth.

“Then give me more information on what you know on merfolk. Seeing as you have one on your crew.” He looked at Seonghwa, who was looking down at his ledger.

“What do you want to know?” Seonghwa sent him a fake smile. “How to swim?” He sneered.

San glared in response. “No, you saw for yourself I can swim.”

Seonghwa merely shrugged. “I recall dragging you the entire way.”

San rolled his eyes. “My mother was murdered when I was seven. I’ve been raised among humans ever since I was born, so sorry if my skills as a merman aren’t to your standards.”

“Seonghwa, stop.” Hongjoong placing his hand on the other’s elbow. The other sat back and grunted. “Sorry about that. We won’t pry if you don’t want to talk about yourself. But if you want more specific answers, then you’ll have to ask more specific questions.”

“How long can we stay out of water?”

“Seonghwa stays out of water for three days at most, but he can last on land up to five days dpending on his physical condition.” Yeosang replied.

San nodded in response. He could stay out of saltwater 4-5 days himself. It seemed that they had no intentions of lying so far.

“How did you manage to find me so easily at Aurora?”

“Merfolk have exceptional senses, much more than humans could possibly interpret. It was also partially due to Seonghwa memorizing your scent from the night prior that we were able to track you down quite easily.”

San nodded. That answer didn’t seem too far fetched.

“And how long do merfolk usually live?”

Hongjoong gazed towards Seonghwa who had been turned away from San.

“I don’t know. But i’m 98 years old if that gives you an idea.” Seonghwa grunted.

“I’ve been living off of human food for the past thirteen years but do merfolk from the sea actually eat humans?” He pressed.

The taller man huffed and replied. “Common merfolk can eat anything they want, ranging from fish in the sea to any kind of human food.”

“Common merfolk? Is there a special variation among your kind?”

“Sirens, they are merfolk belonging to the royal family and what land dwellers usually refer to in your history. Their bodies are different from that of common merfolk as they can only feed on humans. Their bodies will physically reject everything else. They have to come up to the surface to feed which is why they’re often sighted. The common merfolk will not consume human flesh as that is a royalty custom. Non-royals consuming human flesh was a crime punishable by death.” Seonghwa continued.

“And you are…?”

“Best hope that I don’t eat that brother of yours.” Seonghwa smirked but Hongjoong lightly tapped him on the head with his fist.

“He’s lying. He’s just a common merman.” Hongjoong laughed to Seonghwa’s dismay.

“All of you are always mean to me.” Seonghwa pouted.

“So the entire royal family is made up of sirens?” San asked.

“No, rather only a specific few of those of the royal family can become sirens.” Seonghwa replied.

“San, what do you know of merfolk history from the land?” Yeosang questioned.

“From what i’ve heard...A long time ago the goddess of the sea was born from man’s wish to be prosperous in gathering resources from the sea. But after years of serving man, they saw that man had ravaged and depleted the sea of resources, overfishing and destruction and contamination. Angered, the sea goddess cast a curse on fish to get revenge on mankind for driving them almost to extinction. They lure humans with song and drag them down to their deaths and for thousands of years they’ve been at war with each other.”

“Such garbage a human would come up with.” Seonghwa replied. “We’re not fish. We’re closer to humans if anything.”

“What does that mean?”

“The tales of origin state that our ancestors were both human. A human male and woman conceived a child, but the man was wicked and cheated on her. He wanted to get rid of the daughter that tied him down and when the woman refused, he cast both of them off a cliff into the sea. In the woman’s last breath she begged the god of living to spare her child. The mother died immediately but god took the child and blessed her. They became the goddess of the sea. God tried raising the goddess of the sea to help the humans but the goddess hated the father that killed her mother. After reviving her mother, giving her a new form, a tail and gills so she could survive in water; she tasked her to track down their father and kill him. But the goddess of the sea miscalculated, and the mother was still in love with the man. Together they birthed another daughter but this daughter was a mermaid. The man this time was no different and tried killing the goddess’ younger sister as well. The goddess of the sea had had enough and raged for seven days and nights at their mother. When their younger sister was only a week old; the goddess murdered her own mother and offered the father as sustenance to their week old sister. She became the first siren.”

San sat in silent shock.

“The goddess raised the siren as her younger sister. But while the younger sister had to consume human flesh, the goddess had no need to eat. The siren felt it was unfair. The goddess didn’t understand when the sister rebelled against her as they were different. And the goddess was eventually betrayed again when the siren found a human partner. The goddess killed the human partner again but the siren had already conceived another child with them and gave birth to another generation of merfolk. Generation after generation happened and the goddess realized her curse.”

A gulp.

“The goddess and her younger sister who had been born from the seed of a human man could never break that cycle. Mermaids would only fall in love with humans and only human male seed could be used to conceive the next generation. As if it was a curse god placed on the goddess for harming the humans he loved. The goddess rejected the curse, framing it as a blessing in disguise. She forced every mermaid she could to consume human flesh, because after becoming a siren they could no longer tolerate any other sustenance. The goddess’s will weakened over thousands of years, hurt by the betrayal. One day she was suddenly gone, but the sirens who had only lived according to her will kept on continuing their tradition.”

A nod.

“But by overhunting the humans, they strayed from the sea and the siren population quickly declined. Therefore the royal system was created to determine how resources were distributed. The royal line is made up of the eldest daughter of the previous queen, and it became an enforced tradition to find a human mate and after producing an offspring, feed the father to the merchild so they could become a siren. It became law that only the queen and princesses could consume human flesh and they were also given special powers and privileges. Thus preserving the next generation of sirens to feed the goddess’ hatred towards humans."

“And merman…?” San mumbled quietly.

Seonghwa shrugged. “Rejects. Maybe due to the goddess of the sea’s disdain towards men. Merman could not conceive due to the curse. They’re all infertile. Even if they were born from the current generation’s queen, they had served no other function other than to serve the royal family.”

“What if the current generation’s queen doesn’t produce a mermaid? What if they only produce mermen, they won’t become sirens?”

“Then the younger sister of the queen takes over and is tasked with producing the next queen. The merman child is taken in usually by another family and raised to be servants. Still they were treated better than common mermans, common mermaid families couldn’t sustain raising more than one, often sacrificed or abandoned the young mermen to fend for themselves.”

“And the common merman or even the common merfolk just...dealt with that? Being forced into servitude for the royal family and not being allowed to consume humans or be punished to death?”

“Due to the powers of the goddess, consuming humans gave the sirens more powers than common merfolk. If they disobeyed they were immediately killed or offered up to the human’s as a sacrifice to lure them in. And the royal family that produced generation after generation of sirens actually did become genetically different from that of a merfolk born from a common mermaid. Due to generations of not consuming humans, common merfolk could no longer process human flesh. Their bodies now reject human flesh and their bodies shut down from sickness and often die from it. They could never overpower the sirens that rule over them and in the end it just became an accepted way of life. There was no reason for common merfolk to go out of their way to consume human flesh anyway.”

San sat back. “So you lied.”

Seonghwa cocked an eyebrow.

“You’re a merman and you’re even a common. You couldn’t even eat Yunho if you wanted to.” San talked back.

Seonghwa raised his arm defensively even though he sat across the table. Wooyoung cackled, he had been quiet the entire time.

“Unless you’re a princess.” San teased and this time even Yeosang released a small giggle.

“You’re dead.” Seonghwa growled but Hongjoong tapped him on the head again.

“Do you know what powers a siren has?” San asked.

Seonghwa shrugged.

“Then how about a COMMON merfolk then?”

Seonghwa glared but responded. “General powers include hydrokinesis, hydrocryokinesis, hydrothermokinesis and auditory manipulation.”

“I have no idea what those mean Seonghwa.” San glared.

“I’ll explain them.” Yeosang offered. “Seonghwa has the ability to manipulate not only the shape but he can also transport water within a range of distance as long as he wills it. He can manipulate the temperature of the water to either freeze to ice or boil as well. As for auditory manipulation, Seonghwa can use his voice to create an audiovisual illusion and influence humans to do as he bids. The duration of his singing will determine how much of an influence he has; a mere five seconds will make humans confused, ten seconds and the human will start to forget their memories, fifteen seconds will drive a person crazy, and at twenty seconds he can fully manipulate their movements. Let’s just say people don’t normally make it past thirty seconds.”

“Is that what he used that day?”

Yeosang nodded. “Although not technically a power, merfolk have evolved to develop an anti-spell that can be casted on humans so they will not be affected by auditory manipulation.”

“That’s why we weren’t affected.” Wooyoung chimed in. “We’ve already been granted protection. Your brother was not and so he was affected that day.”

San nodded. He’d have to take all the information with a grain of salt. But from their tones and body languages, none of them seemed to by lying to him. However the back of his mind screamed that there was more information they were withholding from them, but he feared that if he dug too deep, they’d be suspicious.

“You can ask more if you’d like, you know?” Wooyoung gazed towards San, the latter looked down at his hands to avoid his gaze.

“No, I think I’m fine. I’ve been here for quite a while and I’m quite tired from today, I’ve done a lot of things I've never done before.” San excused himself and rose from his seat. He looked at the rest of the group that had continued sitting.

“We’ll be here to continue discussing things regarding the direction of the crew. Off you go, or you may be excused as you land dwellers put it.” Hongjoong grinned and waved him off.

San walked over to the door, hyper aware of the gazes fixed on his back. In the back of his head he belatedly thought he probably should stay a bit longer to eavesdrop on their conversation. But he didn’t want to risk being punished already on his first official day.

“Good night.” He mumbled as he shut the door behind him.

He returned to the deck and noticed most of the men had either fallen asleep right on the deck or returned to their respective quarters. He looked up to see if Yunho had seen him return, but he couldn’t get a really good look as he was obscured by the base of the Crow’s nest. He decided to return to their shared room and lit one of the candle lamps in their room.

He settled into his hammock and stared at the wall wistfully, painfully aware of his new environment. Yunho was his only friend and person he could trust on this ship. He knew that they would not likely be paired to work together very often because of their differences in talent and specialties. He wiggled himself even further into the hammock and clutched the blanket to his chin, the loneliness creeping in and surrounding him. He and Yunho had spent every night together since that day. When was the last time he spent the night alone, he wondered.

It felt like hours had passed and San continued staring at the wall until he heard creaks from outside their room. San tensed. Shutting his eyes quickly and feigned sleep as light from the hallway flooded the room.

“San?”

He heard the familiar voice of Yunho approach him. He opened his eyes and welcomed the older.

“I’m back. Yeosang came to relieve me early. He said I wasn’t used to the overnight shift and so he took over.” Yunho smiled and patted San on his forehead. “Get some rest until dawn breaks. I’m heading to bed as well.”

“Yunho.”

“Mm?”

“I asked about myself.”

Yunho smiled gently and continued patting San’s head. Yunho was really the only one San felt comfortable touching him really. He vehemently hated any contact in the barkeep, especially touches from females. But Yunho’s large hands were warm and calming against his cool skin.

“That’s good. Did you learn a lot?”

“Mm.”

“That's great. Make sure to tell me later okay? But get some rest. Knowing you, you probably stayed up all night.” He laughed. “You still have to do the day shift tomorrow.”

San pouted but his eyes felt heavy and warm with Yunho’s hands covering them. And within seconds he immediately fell asleep.

____________________________________________________________________________

Over the next few days San and Yunho kept themselves busy around the ship, helping out wherever they were assigned. They were diligent in their work as they didn’t want to get punished and stand out. They wanted to lay low to avoid suspicion and figure out the layout of the ship and procure all the resources they needed before their escape when they finally reached the next port down. They were assigned to many different positions; some including managing logbook reports and records, lookout shifts in the crow’s nest, scrubbing and the cleaning of the ship, laundry for the crew, assisting with repairs and tending to minor injuries that the crew had as well as helping out with the cooking preparations.

Over the next few days whether it be in the privacy of their chambers or during their shifts together San would relay information he learned about his species to Yunho. The elder was surprised but took in all the information calmly.

Since that night San had yet to be invited back into the briefing room but he was somewhat glad as being around those four unnerved them. Knowing that they were withholding information from him but he couldn’t do anything about it.

He barely interacted with Hongjoong, he rarely came out to eat with everyone. San had only seen him join once for a late drinking party and he had smashed everyone out of the park with his alcohol tolerance. As for Yeosang, he never really saw him except for when he exited his bedroom or leaving his post at the Crow’s nest. The light haired man would smile at him when they walked passed each other but they had yet to exchange any conversation.

He worked most often with Wooyoung, occasionally with Seonghwa and the rest of the crew. Wooyoung had treated him the same as the first night, overly interactive but San had learned to deal with his behavior and how to dodge his physical touches. He noted that Wooyoung touched everyone though, often offering hugs to Yunho who accepted them more readily than he did.

Seonghwa was the surprise though. He was prickly and angry at him from the beginning, he expected to be treated badly. But in recent days he had mostly eased off of glaring at them whenever he got a chance, and treated him more cordially...was a way to put it. He didn’t purposely argue with San unless San got in his face, and treated San like the rest of the crew. It was strange seeing such a change...maybe Wooyoung was right that he just needed time to warm up.

As the days continued to pass San got increasingly more frustrated with the lack of development and no news of plans. Don’t pirates get more action? He pondered. He had heard tales of them pillaging merchant ships and towns for gold and women. He was grateful that there were no women on board, less anxiety for him to deal with except for one specific person that always was too close for comfort.

He sighed at the vast span of blue ocean that surrounded them. San had almost lost track of the days they had been out at sea, it seemed they were there for weeks wasting away performing menial tasks listening to their orders. The crew simply just went about their day duties and he couldn’t personally ask them what the ATEEZ was planning. He was scratching at his head in frustration when he noticed Yunho urgently signalling for him to pay attention.

“Hm?” San looked up the brunette. They were currently in the kitchen peeling the potatoes to prepare for that evening’s stew. Some growth had taken to growing on them and they peeled and were cutting the spoiled parts off and tossing them into a barrel that would later go to feed to the pigs in the cages below.

“I got a look at food stock in storage down below. There isn’t much left now, we’ll definitely have to dock soon to restock on supplies.” Yunho whispered. “Looking at how much is left, I’d estimate that we have about a week left at sea before everything is depleted.”

San tried his best to control his expression but he was delighted inside. He nodded but didn’t respond, they could continue their conversation later that night in their chambers. But at least he had something to look forward to now. He could almost taste the freedom on the tip of his tongue.

He flinched, stirring himself out of his daydream and looked down. He had nicked his hand on the knife peeling potatoes and his blood streamed down his finger. Yunho gasped as he dropped his own knife and grabbed at his apron. He wrapped San’s finger in the cloth and applied pressure.

“San!” The door to the kitchen burst open and Wooyoung waltzed in with a giant smile on his face. Today he was sporting his forehead scarf again and had his hair tied back, San noted he seemed to alternate with the days. Wooyoung looked quizzically at Yunho hovering over San and gasped when he saw the blood that had seeped into San’s trousers. “What happened?”

“It’s nothing. Just a nick.” San hissed as he pressed his finger with the apron. “Was this cloth even clean Yunho?”

Yunho faltered and hesitated. “Uhhhhh…” He mumbled and San sighed as he ripped the apron off his finger. “Last time it was washed was….a week ago?”

Wooyoung approached him and ripped his forehead scarf off and tied it around the base of his finger to make a tourniquet. “I’ll take him to medbay. You stay here.” He ordered Yunho and the taller man stiffened at his sharp tone.

“Wooyoung stop. It’ll get dirty!” San protested but Wooyoung grabbed his injured hand by the wrist and dragged him out. “Wooyoung! I can go to Doc myself!”

San felt mortified and slightly embarrassed as Wooyoung dragged him across the entire boat hand in hand. He gazed at Wooyoung’s frame from behind and cringed. He was muscular toned, with a sharp jawline to match; but the way his gait and the skirt flowed behind him made him feel sick to his stomach. They rounded the corner and bumped into Seonghwa who stumbled back a step.

“Hey!”

“Sorry sorry! He got hurt and we need to get to the Doc!” Wooyoung laughed but it sounded rushed and impatient. “He cut himself pretty deep.”

“Show me.” Seonghwa commanded and San laughed nervously under Seonghwa’s piercing gaze.

“You guys really don’t need to...I can get there myself.” He argued but Seonghwa took his wrist from Wooyoung. “I just cut myself peeling the potatoes. It's not serious.”

“You don’t get to decide that.” Seonghwa’s voice was deep but stern.

San was going to protest more, but squeaked in surprise when Seonghwa stuck his finger into his mouth.

“What are you doing!” San struggled to free his finger from their lips, but the death grip Seonghwa held on his arm prevented him from slinking away. “Seonghwa, what the hell!”

“Ahh I forgot you can do that.” Wooyoung said, calm returning to his voice.

“Wooyoung! Make him stop!” San squeaked and started kicking at Seonghwa’s shin before he felt his finger slip out with an audible pop. “What the ?”

“You’re an important piece to Hongjoong. And I’m not letting you risk getting infected and dying on us.” Seonghwa glared.

San was about to protest when he noticed his finger no longer stung. He pulled it up to his face and examined it closely. The blood had been replaced with a thin layer of saliva but the cut was now gone.

“What?” He uttered in disbelief.

“Seonghwa can heal minor injuries with his merman powers.” Wooyoung said unwrapping his now blood soaked head scarf from his hand.

“Stop getting flustered over little things.” Seonghwa scolded. “You really know nothing don’t you!”

“You didn’t tell me we could do that!” San countered.

“You didn’t ask.” Seonghwa rolled his eyes.

“Is there anything else I should be aware of? Healing powers? What, can we also transform into anything we want?” San hissed and rubbed his wrist where they had grabbed him.

“You didn’t know?” Seonghwa rolled his eyes at him.

“Wait really?”

“No.” Seonghwa deadpanned and cackled at San’s angry pout.

“Hey hey hey! I’m here too!” Wooyoung joined pouting.

“Shut up. Did you finish your tasks or are you going to keep dallying. You’ll be getting less allowance from Hongjoong at this rate.”

“Nooo!”

“And you!” Seonghwa turned to face San. “Get back to your task and finish it otherwise you won’t get supper tonight!”

San and Wooyoung ran in the opposite direction to get back to the kitchen, but San suddenly stopped and turned around in the hallway.

“Seonghwa!”

Seonghwa didn’t respond but he sent a pointed look at them.

“Thanks!” San sent him a small smile. He didn’t miss the slight widening of Seonghwa’s eyes. “But honestly putting my hand in your mouth is pretty gross so please don’t do that again.” San and Wooyoung laughed as they raced back, ignoring the angry voice behind them.

They reached the kitchen quickly and San was about to push the door when he faced Wooyoung who stood besides him. San had made sure they maintained distance on their way back by instinct.

“You came by earlier, did you need me for anything?”

Wooyoung looked surprised and hesitated. “Oh uh...no it's nothing. Nevermind.” He laughed.

“Your scarf…” San mumbled. “I can wash that for you, but I don’t know if it’ll get the stains out.” He reached out to grab at the scarf in Wooyoung’s hand but Wooyoung flinched away.

“Ah no, it's okay. It’s already red anyway, it won’t show much. I’ll wash it myself though. I’m glad you’re okay.” He grinned as he walked away. San looked at him with a confused expression and shrugged. Entering the kitchen to return to Yunho who looked up from his potatoes.

“You’re back! Did you get treated!”

“Yeah, uh. Seonghwa treated me.” San mumbled showing his hand for proof. Yunho tilted his head in confusion and gaped when he saw that the cut was no longer there. “Yeah apparently we can heal to some extent? I don’t quite understand the conditions for it though.”

Yunho took his hand and examined it carefully. Sure enough there was nothing that even resembled a scar.

“How did he treat you?”

San hesitated and looked away from Yunho’s curious gaze.

“I’ll...i’ll uh tell you later.” He muttered.

The brunette looked at San with a pouting expression but quickly gave up. Returning to his station to continue peeling at the remaining potatoes. San looked at this station and began clearing away the bloodied potatoes to wash.

“You better…” He heard Yunho mumble and he chuckled to himself.

____________________________________________________________________________

Sure enough later that night in their chambers, after San had told Yunho about the incident earlier in the afternoon. The older was currently rolling in his hammock laughing and holding his sides.

“He on your finger? How is that even-” He choked before finishing his sentence and continued laughing.

San shrugged. “Hey I don’t know. I’m just telling you what he did and now there’s no longer any cut.”

“So if I get injured. I’ll have to ask you to spit on me?” Yunho cackled. “Gross! I’d rather die than that.”

“I am not going to let you ever die before me.” San rolled his eyes. “Even if I have to spit all over you.”

Yunho burst into an even louder laugh and San joined this time too. Both clenching their sides and wailing from imagining the disgusting scenario.

“San! I’ve been stabbed. Please.” Yunho let out a loud snort. “Please spit on me!” He laughed even harder when San puckered his lips towards him. After long minutes of trying to suppress their chuckling they finally calmed down and snuggled further into their hammocks, ready to turn in for the night.

“Yunho?”

“Hm?”

“I’m serious Yunho. I am not going to let you die before me...ever. I’ll make sure of that. You’re my family. I’ll protect you even if I have to die.”

Yunho was silent for a moment before finally responding. “We both won’t die. We’ll escape together. We made a promise, right?”

San grunted in response but that was all they needed to know to confirm how they felt.