“Daddy, daddy!” A six year old Taemin shouted excitedly as he nearly flung himself into his “mother’s” arms.

“Hey, baby!” The king smiled at his beloved son.

“Daddy, guess what!” The boy smiled widely.

“What?” His father laughed at his son’s enthusiasm.

“I beat Appa in a race!” Taemin shouted, clearly proud of himself.

“Really? Good job, baby!” The king kissed his son’s cheek earning a giggle from his baby.

“Yes, really. The little squirt is getting fast.” King Jonghyun laughed as he swam towards the two most important people in his life.

“I’m not a squirt, Appa!” Taemin stuck his tongue out at his father.

“Whatever you say kiddo.” His father gave both the king and his son a kiss.

*******************************************

“So let me get this straight; you can ‘call’ your parents through telepathy?!” Onew asked in total fascination.

“Yes, all children can. It’s a survival technique.” Taemin answered.

In the week that Taemin had been in Minho’s pool, and in that week not once had Minho asked any questions of Taemin. Taemin however, observed Minho from a distance while answering Onew’s (whom he had learned was really named Lee Jinki and Onew was just a nickname) questions. He appreciated the distractions but he also longed for home and Minho’s quietness was making him feel uneasy.  

“So, you could like, call your parents right now if you wanted to?” Onew asked.

“Yes, in fact, I have called for my Appa.” Taemin replied, munching eagerly on the shrimp Onew had given him.

“You have?! When?”
“Um, I called the first time while I was on the boat, then when you brought me here, and most recently, on Wednesday.”

“You called him three days ago?!” Onew gasped. “, what if he comes here? Oh God, Minho we’re gonna be so ed!”

“Calm down, Jinki.” Minho scoffed in his deep voice. Taemin was shocked that Minho had even spoken. “We’re on land and in case you didn’t notice, fish can’t walk on land. No offence.”

“None taken.” Taemin whispered softly. “But you are wrong about one thing. We can walk on land. We have the ability to grow ‘legs’ as you call them.”

“You can grow legs?!” Onew asked, fascinated.

“Well of course. How else do you expect us to mate?” Taemin rolled his eyes and Minho snorted.

“So, you  can grow everything?”

“Yes? Why wouldn’t we?” Taemin giggled at Onew’s sudden shyness.

Suddenly, without any warning, the door to the pool slammed open, surprising the three boys. Onew squealed a less than manly squeal, Minho jumped up in surprise, and Taemin immediately dove into the water, hiding himself from the view of whoever had just entered the room.

*****************************************************************

“Where is he?!” A loud voice echoed through the room. Minho could tell that the man standing before him meant business.

“Where is who?” Minho asked, genuinely confused.

“You know who!” The man roared in a mix of frustration and anger. He was in no mood to be playing games with the boy in front of him.

“Do you mean, Taemin?” Onew asked almost inaudibly.

“Yes,” The man’s features softened slightly at the mention of Taemin’s name. “Now where is he?!”

“I’m sorry, sir, but we can’t tell you that.” Minho said.

“Why the hell not?!” The angry man shouted.

“To protect him. You clearly mean no good.”

“What did you say to me, boy?!” The man quickly stalked over to Minho and grabbed him by the collar. Though the man was a several inches shorter than Minho, he was still much stronger.

“Minho!” Onew shouted in a mix of shock and fear but Minho waved him off.

“I can’t let you have him. I’m sorry.” Minho said, looking into the man’s eyes. He noted that they looked similar to that of a puppy’s.

“Why the hell not?! Do you know who I am? I am-” The man began.

“APPA?!” Taemin’s voice rang out through the room.   

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A/N:

Sorry it took me so long to get this uploaded :( Life has been really crazy the past few weeks with my senior project (E/N: And I was literally forced to go back to my college against my will, so school has been running my life). My goal is to hopefully upload more frequently once things settle down and Bre gets back into the swing of things (E/N: I've also been sick so I'm still trying to get over that -_-). Hopefully the next chapter will be up here in the next few days or so since I've already started working on it. Sorry for the wait though :( I feel like a bad author (E/N: SHAME ON YOU!!)

Thank you to everyone supporting our story!! You guys rock! Don't forget to leave a lovely comment below :)

PICTA SPAM TIME!!!!