Both the story and art are by me!
Please no copying anywhere without credit!
Comments are loved and appreciated!

Sorry for not updating in a while. Work was kind of hectic, and things at home just got overwhelming and also holidays happened. Basically a lot of things kept me busy so I couldn't write for a while, but hopefully things are calming down and I can continue writing again. ^^

Please check out my artwork that I've personally done for this series!
Concept Art: Merman Seonghwa
https://imgur.com/a/9SPOTIV

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Yunho smiled weakly. His eyes were still shut and his lips still pale as they parted. “I’m here, San.”

“Yunho!” San cried as he slid next to Yunho’s body. The adrenaline in his body made him forget that his body was almost twice as heavy with his tail. Even covered in waterlogged sheets, he quickly rushed to reach Yunho's searching hands.

“You’re safe. I’m so glad you’re safe.” San sobbed into his hand, bringing it up to his cheek to feel the warmth of the other.

Yunho slowly cracked open his eyes to finally take in the span of the blue sky. “Looks like we got out of the storm.” He laughed before erupting into a coughing fit.

San helped Yunho sit up for him to cough the saltwater out of his lungs more comfortably. Wooyoung inspected him for any other injuries; monitoring the movement of his chest for any abnormalities. The crew gathered from a distance to check up on the situation but they didn’t bother approaching. He heard a loud splash in the background and looked over to see Seonghwa ascending onto the ship as well. When Seonghwa’s head came into his view, he flashed a genuine look of relief and gratitude at the other.

“He safe?” Was Seonghwa’s only response. San nodded as he watched Seonghwa wrap himself further in sheets like a cocoon. Hongjoong had appeared and lifted Seonghwa out of the longboat and walked towards San and Yunho.

San leaned over and hugged Yunho, squishing his cheek into the span of Yunho’s back. Ignoring the stares and small giggles of Wooyoung from behind. “I thought I was going to lose you.”

“Did you-?” Yunho started but San quickly shook his head.

“No I found you but Seonghwa was the one who swam the fastest to get you to the boat. If it wasn’t for him, I’m not sure if I would’ve made it.”

Yunho smiled at Seonghwa who was walked over by Hongjoong, the shorter man placing the merman down besides him. Seonghwa reached a tentative hand out to pat Yunho on the head.

“You better be grateful brat.” Seonghwa sneered but his voice was vacant of any malice as he angrily ruffled his hair. “We all almost had a heart attack because of you.”

“Thanks...for saving me Seonghwa.” Yunho smiled into his touch, appreciating the warmth of his hand. His eyes fluttered, his body exhausted from swimming and trying to still recover from what had just happened.

“I- I only did it because we swore we would protect you according to our deal. Hongjoong would be put in a bad position, if we lost you.” Seonghwa took his hand away in embarrassment. Yunho simply smiled.

“Shut it Seonghwa, we all know you jumped in because you wanted to save him.” Wooyoung laughed as he finished inspecting Yunho over. “Doesn’t seem like you have any external injuries. Your breathing looks fine so I don’t think I cracked a rib.” He joked.

Around them the crowd began dispersing back to their roles after confirming that there were no major injuries to them. They began unfurling the sails that they tied up and checking for damage sustained during the storm.

“San! You’re needed in the medbay!” Came a cry from one of the men, breaking San’s attention away.

“But-!” San started but was shushed by Hongjoong. He looked down at Yunho who struggled to just keep awake.

“He needs to rest. We’ll get some men to help him. Go get changed and hurry along.” He urged San. “I’ve got Seonghwa. Wooyoung, Yeosang get them.”

Wooyoung bent slightly to help San but stiffened. Adjusting his angle so that he was now facing Yunho and bracing his armpit with the help of another crew. San and Yeosang both noticed and Yeosang leaned in towards San.

“Wooyoung, take the bigger one.” Yeosang said. San felt himself being tugged up with surprising strength, hoisted easily into Yeosang’s thin arms.

“Got him?” Yeosang mumbled hoisting San’s arm over his shawl covered shoulders peering over at Yunho who was supported by Wooyoung and another crew member. He stared suspiciously at the ornamental knife swaying by Yunho’s neck before turning around and leading them back down towards the storage rooms and cabins.

“Thanks,” San mumbled as he began feeling his legs come back to him as he transformed back still under damp sheets.

“You’re very light. Are you even eating?” Yeosang threw him a sarcastic glance that was short lived as he propped open their room door. San didn’t even have a chance to retort. He was placed unceremoniously on the floor of their room.

Wooyoung sheepishly handed San back his trousers and then proceeded to strip albeit with difficulty, Yunho’s soaked body, of his clothes with the help of the other crewmate. San covered his eyes to protect what little Yunho’s dignity he still had. His wet clothes discarded into a corner of a room. They wrapped him in his dry blanket and with much effort settled him into his hammock. Grunts complaining of how big he was and how heavy an unconscious body was, echoed throughout the room until with a final push they managed to throw him in somewhat roughly.

No words were exchanged and San clutched the trousers to his chest watching the other three slowly leaving the room. Yeosang cast one last glance at them before he mouthed, medbay. San simply grunted in response, peeling off his damp sheets and slipped into his trousers once they had finally left. He peeled his wet shirt off and swapped it for a spare he had been given earlier that week. He casted a worried look at Yunho who rested in his hammock.

He hoped he didn’t have much to do on the ship today. He honestly wanted to just ditch his duties and make sure Yunho was okay, but he struggled because he knew he was needed elsewhere. He let out a defeated sigh as he finished changing and quietly exited the room. He would just have to finish quickly, he thought as he ran towards the medbay.

The medbay had been quite filled more than normal. Doc was tending to a person who had a scrape on his hands from rope burn, liberally smearing some salve over it when San walked in. He scanned the room to see two more who had been waiting behind Doc. One didn’t have an apparent injury, the other….San gulped, arm was severely bleeding and almost hanging by half. His arm was tourniqueted tightly above the site, the area purple and filled with blood.

Treating priority, he had to remind himself, stopping himself from staring incredulously at Doc who had just finished wrapping the patient with rope burn. The crew members knew this and simply waited without complaint. San willed himself to look away and check the other person who didn’t have any visible issues.

“Ankle.” The man said and San bent down to grab at his foot. It was purple and swollen but the responsiveness and malleability suggested it was only a sprain rather than broken. He quickly grabbed a bandage from the cabinet and began addressing it right away. After finishing and dismissing him, San looked up to see Doc strapping the other man down to the center table, angling his arm horizontally away from his body. The man grimaced as his arm was lifted gently and set back down on the table.

“San get the rag to gag him.” Doc ordered and San rushed to grab more things from the cabinet; Bandages to wrap the wound, a rag to gag him, a bottle of strong alcohol and a small cup, a torch and some flint, and a salve to help with burns. “Hurry.” He said as he rummaged through his tools.

San set the stuff on the table and quickly poured the alcohol into the small cup, handing it to the man to chug down; he continued to pour a few drops onto the torch. He passed the cloth to the man who gladly clamped down and quickly began to rub the pieces of flint together furiously, his own record time of two minutes to create enough of a spark and lit the torch. The Doc produced a wielding axe from his tools and walked over to San. He took the torch from San’s hand and held it to heat up and sterilize the axe. Taking the torch back, San breath hitched as he watched the Doc steady the man’s arm below the now searing hot axe.

“Ready.” Doc commanded the room.

The patient just nodded with a serious expression and San closed his eyes waiting for the impact. And with a quick thud, the arm was amputated. San willed himself to not gag at the smell of singed flesh and opened his eyes. Doc quickly removed the severed limb and axe from the table, pulling it out to show another cut into the table adding to the several other deep cuts scattered over the table. San leapt in to quickly begin administering the salve over the freshly cauterized area, the man who had been calm until now began whimpering as San cautiously and liberally applied the substance. He backed off to allow Doc to expertly wrap the bandages around the now severed area and looked worryingly at the severed limb hastily wrapped in a cloth discarded to the other side of the table.

“San!” Doc broke San’s distraction by calling his name, San lifted his head in time to see the man with the fresh amputation wave a casual hand before leaving. “You had to see one of the more serious injuries early on.” Doc laughed as he capped the empty salve on the table. “Hope you’re doing okay.” He gave a reassuring smile.

He realized he had yet to utter a single room since he entered the room. “It was okay.” He lied, the smell of burning flesh in the air still made him nauseous. He desperately hoped he could leave.

Doc had a patient smile but he seemed to see behind San’s facade. “I’ll clean up here. You can go.”

San let out a sigh of relief.

“Just one more thing,” Doc said as he wrapped the arm in a cloth bundle and tied it tightly. “Can you deliver this to one of the four? They know what to do with it.” Passing it into San’s hesitant arms, he accepted and tucked it under his arm.

San bid Doc goodbye and proceeded down the hallway to get to the deck where he’d be able to check if Yeosang was located in the Crow’s nest or in the briefing room where he usually was, he doubted Yeosang was back in his quarters already for the day. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed that his quarter’s door was slightly ajar. He froze for a moment...didn’t he close it on his way out.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously. He slowly approached the door and cursed as the door creaked when he pushed it open. A slight yelp was heard.

“Eep!”

“Wooyoung?” San stared at the similar height boy who had been leaning over Yunho’s hammock. “What...what are you doing here. Didn’t you leave?”

“Oh...I was just checking up on him.” He smiled sheepishly.

San couldn’t help the glare that spread across his face. “Why?”

“I was worried. Usually people who fly off the ship...don’t usually make it. I just wanted to check up on his health because it might get worse. Sometimes infection in the lungs can happen if there’s water in them or he might come down with a fever-” He trailed off and put on a small sad smile. Backing away from hammock to let San approach Yunho’s resting form. “Sorry, I'll leave you guys to yourselves. Hongjoong said to let you guys rest up.”

Seeing Wooyoung being so suddenly conscious of him made San’s chest feel stuffy. The glare on his face melted towards a mere cautious expression. As the pirate trodded towards the door, San called out.

“Wait.”

Wooyoung froze and whipped his head around, his still slightly damp hair framed his face in a way that almost took San’s breath away.

“I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier.” San muttered. “I’ve just always been on edge trying to hide my identity from people. I’m just not used to people or anyone. It wasn’t your fault and it’s...it’s not you. I don’t actually find you gross or anything.”

Wooyoung was uncharacteristically quiet and San pried his eyes from the floor to stare at Wooyoung’s face, who was just sweetly smiling in silence.

“A-anyway, that’s all I had to say. Thanks for coming in to check on Yunho.” He trailed off looking away from the other. “Oh and this.” He held up the wrapped arm doc had handed him. “I was told to give this to one of you.”

Wooyoung approached him to take it away but paused and reached his arm out to take it from a distance. “Sorry..”

San noted he still seemed hesitant to come near him. He peeled back the cloth slightly to get a look at it before re-tucking it back in.

“Thanks.” He flashed a smile and San felt himself take a step forward to approach Wooyoung.

“No thank you...for saving Yunho. I can’t thank you enough. If you didn’t come, I don’t know what would have happened. He’s all I have…” He reached a cautious hand out to tug at Wooyoung’s sleeve.

Wooyoung let out a small chuckle as they brushed hands against each other. “It was no problem, San. You’re one of us now so we have to look out for each other, right.”

He waved the bundle in his hand as he walked away, leaving San with Yunho alone in the room illuminated by a small candlelight.

____________________________________________________________________________

To San’s dismay, Yunho was actually bedridden for two days. His fever had flared up after the first night, sending San into a panicked mess so much so that Hongjoong allowed his duties to be distributed to everyone else so that San could personally nurse Yunho back to health.

Wooyoung, Seonghwa and Yeosang often knocked on their door bringing them meals and fresh clothes. San really only excused himself from Yunho’s side to relieve himself or when he needed some fresh air. He felt worse for Yunho, being confined to their room and not having the strength to even go outside for some fresh air probably inhibited Yunho’s recovery even more.

A knock at his door and he opened it and was greeted by Seonghwa. The older man looked softly over at Yunho from the doorway.

“How is he?”

“His fever finally broke but he’s still resting.” San smiled. Seonghwa had really become a figure he could look up to, especially after saving Yunho. Seonghwa reached up to ruffle San’s hair.

“Can you pop out for a few minutes, we got a meeting up on deck.”

San nodded and took a quick glance back at Yunho before following Seonghwa back up the stairs.

“Glad you could come.” Hongjoong had a tired smile on his face, Yeosang stood by his side with a serious expression. Wooyoung was settled on the deck floor surrounded by the rest of the crew, San noted everyone’s eyes flashing nervously at him. “We’re having a meeting to discuss our next plan of action.”

San nodded and sat down next to John, Seonghwa continued to walk until he stood by Hongjoong’s side; opposite from Yeosang.

“We’re going to have to dock soon in order to restock. We’ll set up a schedule so that everyone who wants to head out into town can do so, while also performing our routine maintenance.”

Hongjoong continued to talk and delegate roles towards everyone. Assigning different things for people to either retrieve or tend to on the ship while they would be docked. But San felt his heart thundering in his chest that drowned out his other senses.

They had decided to make their grand escape when they would dock next, but with Yunho in his condition San was unsure if Yunho was even well enough to slip away unnoticed. He couldn’t very well support Yunho himself while avoiding the attention of the others.

“San!”

San’s head shot up at the sound of his own name.

“You alright with that?”

“Yeah, sure! Yes.” He sputtered out, not realizing what had actually been addressed to him.

Hongjoong raised an eye but laughed it off and continued delegating roles and eventually all of them had been assigned and they were dismissed. San stoof and brushed off his trousers of dust, sensing a shadow before him.

“So you’re cool with it?” San rose to meet Wooyoung’s eyes. “With me, I mean.”

“Huh?”

“We’re going into town to load up on salves and herbs, right? If Yunho’s feeling any better he’ll be with us as well. We also have to grab a few other things as well.”

San laughed nervously, trying to keep his expression calm. He was going to make a joke about how it was surprising how pirates actually contributed to the economy rather than just stealing but he held himself back. “Yeah, it’s fine. I said it a few days ago, but I don’t actually have a problem with you. I was just snappy that day, you don’t have to avoid me.”

Internally he was cursing himself for agreeing. , he cursed as they would basically be chaperoned and his chances of slipping away were further decreased now.

But his face betrayed him because he could tell from Wooyoung’s sad expression and how the other simply nodded and walked away. He felt somewhat guilty because after snapping at the other a few days ago and apologizing for it, Wooyoung still kept his distance from the other. San could feel his efforts in decreasing skinship with him and while San was somewhat relieved he kind of missed the physical contact of someone else. Seonghwa, Hongjoong and Yeosang were watching with curious eyes but looked away.

San returned to his room and realized that he had been holding his breath the entire time. He let out a shaky sigh as he sank to the floor exhausted.

“San?” Yunho’s weak voice whispered from his hammock and San rushed to his feet. “Water..”

San helped Yunho out of his hammock and sat him down on the floor offering him some water and some dried fruit.

“How do you feel?”

“I feel like .” Yunho laughed.

“Do you remember what happened?”

“I remember a storm. And a big lurch of the ship and I hit the railing, before I could even process everything I was already sinking in the water. I don’t remember much but when I came to, I was surrounded by everyone again.”

“Seonghwa and Wooyoung saved you. They leapt into action the quickest.”

Yunho let out a tired laugh. “Guess i’ll have to thank them later.”

“Doc said you got an infection in your lungs from all the water that got in them. That’s why you had a fever for almost two days fighting it off.” San mumbled, taking a wet towel to wipe at Yunho’s grimy sweaty body.

“Explains why...how long have I been out?”

“Almost two days. How do you feel?”

“Could be better but not too terrible. If it’s been two days…what about?”

San nodded. “We’re docking in two days to restock. Do you think you’ll be okay to-?”

“Yeah, I’ll be in shape by then.” Yunho chuckled as he weakly gripped his hands. “How have you been holding up while I was unconscious?”

San hesitated. To be truthfully honest, the last two days he had felt mixed about their grand plan to escape the ship because of how well the crew treated him.

Seonghwa was the closest thing he ever had to a biological family and truthfully he felt himself bonding with the other quite a lot these past two days. It felt like at least Seonghwa and several others cared for his presence on this ship, and it was a feeling he never felt back at home. Always feeling ostracized because he was just so afraid of being exposed and risked getting his family slaughtered just because of his existence.

He logically understood that they were definitely using him for a plan of theirs, and knew that a pirate life was no easy lifestyle either. But he’d catch himself dreaming of a lifestyle where...where he could finally feel accepted for his identity.

“It’s been okay.” He forced out the words. “They let me nurse you so it hasn’t been too bad.”

“San.” Yunho’s eyes suddenly looked uncharacteristically serious.

“What?” San shrunk back nervously.

“Your eyes, they’re wavering.” Yunho smiled but his expression was complicated. “I know this’ll be hard but San.” He placed a hand on San’s shoulder and San felt an overwhelming sense of shame fill his body.

“They’re pirates.” Yunho whispered. “And after this incident I now understand that this lifestyle is too dangerous. Even if you’re a merman and you can swim, they’ll probably go through a lot more than just some rough seas. And...and I don’t want you to to go through what I did.”

San nodded. He felt ridiculous thinking about potentially joining pirates after spending only a few weeks with them. He scolded himself in his head.

“They’re nice guys.” Yunho continued. “They’re not savages like any other pirates but both you and I know they still have their secrets they haven’t told us. They don’t trust us. And as much as it , we both know they’re using you. They’re not interested in you San, they’re interested in you the merman. They would’ve never bothered treating you this well if it weren’t for what you were.”

San felt a lump in his throat.

“I just want the best for you San. You know that right?” Yunho pulled San into a hug and pressed San’s head into his shoulder.

____________________________________________________________________________

San sat up in the Crow’s nest watching the stars. He was on guard duty for the night shift tonight. After Yunho had woken up, Hongjoong had told San to resume his duties on the ship.

San had informed Yunho of the situation. Now that Yunho was awake, he’d be able to accompany them onto land and they wouldn’t have to escape separately. The main issue was trying to come up with a plan to divert Wooyoung’s attention enough for them to slip away. Neither were sure of how good the pirate was at chasing them down. Wooyoung was smaller than Yunho and slightly smaller than San but considering his physical ability they had seen previously, they had decided against taking him on directly.

They were tasked with picking up several items from the market; including things like herbs, salves, bandages. Since Yunho was bigger and probably would be noticed if he was missing. They had planned that he could lie about bringing back the materials to the ship first while slipping away. Yunho had built enough of a reputable reputation with the crew so that he was pretty trusted. They hoped that being on their best behavior would make any suspicions on them easier.

San would stay to distract Wooyoung enough and when he found the chance, he would also slip away as well. Their plan hinged on only Wooyoung being with them and San honestly felt terrible about lying to Wooyoung.

They would dock tomorrow morning. San could see a mist rolling in from the distance. He shivered as the beginning wisps of the cold front nipped at his nose and rubbed his arms for warmth.

He felt a piece of cloth wrap around his shoulders and he spun his head around.

“Yunho?”

But he was greeted with a familiar sight of red cloth and silky black hair. It was Wooyoung, standing there with a pair of blankets.

“Hey San.” His name danced off his lips and San felt his heart wrench even more. “Can I join you?”