When Sehun wakes up on the fourth day, he finds himself breathing in the sweet scent of lemons, soft tufts of blond hair tickling his nose and chin. His arms are wrapped tightly around a warm body, legs tangled with another pair of slimmer ones, toes somehow weaved together, like their fingers. It takes him a moment to realize, that during his sleep, he had unconsciously grabbed onto the smaller body beside of him, bringing him in for a warm embrace. It takes him another moment before he actually processes the scene, panicking instantly and pulling his arms from under Luhan’s still-sleeping figure, jumping off the bed. There were small rustling sounds as Luhan shuffled slightly, turning to sleep on his other side as he rubs his face into the pillow with a small whimper. Miraculously, the blond did not awaken, and Sehun sighs in relief.

“Cute,” Sehun thinks to himself, gazing affectionately at the blonde merman (it was still a little weird thinking of him as such) on his bed. “Wait, not cute… And there’s no meaning behind that position that I woke up in… I was just cold, that’s all.”  After repeating it to himself like a mantra, he might have started believing it, but even his heart knew that he was in denial. In denial of what though, he wasn’t sure just yet.

Luhan didn’t take long to wake up, padding up to the deck, much like the first day they met. Luckily for him though, he wasn’t met with a dagger to his throat when he called out for Sehun.

“Sleep well?” the younger asks out of courtesy, keeping his gaze on the calm seas instead of the Luhan, who looked like he was sleepwalking with the way his eyes scrunched up under the bright sunlight, his hair tussled from sleep.

“Mhm… It was getting cold though, so I woke up,” he replies, shivering slightly in Sehun’s thin shirt. The wind had picked up since Sehun first came up, but he had nothing to offer since he never really felt the chill that came and didn’t see the need of bringing extra clothes. “I felt alright last night though, like I was sleeping next to a toasty heater,” he added contently, but made no sign to indicate that he knew it was Sehun that was in fact the human ‘heater’.

After eating a meagre breakfast of fish that Sehun managed to catch while the older was sleeping, the two decided to just sit on the deck, appreciating the serene weather that brought calmness to their minds.

“Can I ask you something?” says Sehun carefully, glancing at the man in front of him. He had a few, well, a lot of questions. And there wasn’t much time left for the merman to answer them. Even if it meant that he would forget, he wants to sate his curiousity, even if it was temporary.

“Sure, anything.” Luhan’s face brightened, turning to face Sehun with a small smile.

“You- Uhm- You remember everything right?” Luhan nods slowly, understanding what Sehun was trying to ask.

“You want to know what happened whenever you came, am I right?” he guesses with a light tone, although anyone could see that it broke his heart to know that Sehun didn’t remember their time together. But he didn’t know that Sehun remembers glimpses and flashes, and this was his way of trying to figure out if Luhan was telling the truth.

“Yeah. I’m just curious about the time I spent with you, I mean, it comes to over ten weeks, if we count a week for each year we came,” calculated Sehun, his voice adopting a tone of wonder as he realized just how much time he had forgotten about, or at least mostly.

“Well I guess I’ll start from the first time we ever met. You were much smaller then, smaller than me even!” begins Luhan with a chuckle. “But look at you now, at least a head taller than your hyung. You used to call me that, Lu-hyung,” reminisces Luhan with a small smile. Sehun feels warmth spreading through his veins at the fondness with which Luhan speaks, it makes him believe the man so much easier. “The first time we met, you pointed at me from the boat, shouting to your father that you had seen another boy, that you were so lonely and you wanted someone your own age to play with. I remember feeling so giddy, excited that I too would have someone to play with, without having to explain- well, you never asked me what I was.” Luhan takes a breath, his grin faltering for a second. “It was always tough on me as a child, doing what I had to do.”

“Which is?” blurted Sehun, but the look on Luhan’s face stopped him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s okay… I just- I just don’t want you to know what I go through,” he explains sadly. A silence blankets them before Luhan sighs, picking up his story.

“The next few years went by in a pretty similar way. You would spot me, and beg your father to let me aboard so that you would have company. You always told me how lonely you were, how none of the other kids would play with you…” Luhan trails off, pensive all of the sudden.

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. I’ve always been a lone wolf, nothing has changed much,” admits Sehun, slightly embarrassed as he realized how trule alone he was.

“I don’t see it though,” counters Luhan. “Whenever you came, you were the most adorable little person I could ever call a friend, and I had the best times of my life with you.” His cheeks started to colour, and Sehun too could feel his cheeks burning up. An awkward feeling settled, but it was a good kind of awkward, the kind that opened up doors for more personal moments.

“You know, I remember things, like flashes that I see in dreams,” confesses Sehun. Hope flickers in the blond’s eyes, as he looks up to meet the younger’s gaze. “Like yesterday night, I dreamt of- I dreamt of playing with you. Looking up at the clouds, making shapes and stories, stargazing on the nights that weren’t too cold.”

“You did love the stars, said that they were second only to the ocean. That made me happy, knowing that you loved my home as much as I did, even if you never realized the significance it held to me.”

“Things changed when you came alone though.” Sehun noticed that Luhan suddenly sounded depressed, the innocence of childhood no longer lingering. “At the age of sixteen, I’m sure you remember, you had come alone. I was surprised, and I realized that your father had passed away. You didn’t see me that year, so I had to call out for you. But when I did, you were so suspicious of me, and I was scared.” Sehun was about to open his mouth, to apologize, to say something. But Luhan held up a hand to stop him. “But I understood. You were probably just as scared as I was, maybe even more, since you didn’t have me in your memories. So I told you the truth, for the first time ever.”

“How did I react?” asks Sehun, afraid of his own reaction (which was weird to think of, since someone else knew more about himself than he did).

“Like you did this time, but without the dagger,” replies Luhan with a dry laugh. “I actually gave you that, that very year as a means of protection. It seemed to give you strength, so I was happy to give away a family heirloom, even if it meant that I had to face my father scolding me for the next year,” he adds with a happier grin.

“Wait, so this is from you?” Sehun takes out the dagger from his side, looking at it closely as he shook his head in awe.

“Yes, the gems on the hilt were collected from under the sea, which is why they’re such a beautiful blue and sparkle under the sun so brightly,” explains Luhan, pride evident in his voice. Sehun breaths out in appreciation.

“Thank you. But I can’t believe I used it against you!” groans Sehun in exasperation, hiding his face in his hands.

“For the past five years,” quips Luhan teasingly, reaching over to ruffle the younger’s hair. “But like I said, I understand. The whole purpose was for you to use it in self-defence, and at the time, that’s what you thought you were doing.”

“After that, it was always the same, but you took a little less time to convince yourself that I was telling the truth as the years went on. This year was surprisingly quick, yesterday was only the third day whereas usually, it was only on the last day, maybe the second last if I was lucky. It didn’t leave much time to befriend you. Or- I mean, that’s it I guess,” ends Luhan, but something in his tone said that it wasn’t everything.

“Is there something else?” prompts Sehun, nudging Luhan on the shoulder.

“No, I mean, maybe I’ll tell you tomorrow,” sighs Luhan. “It’s getting dark, we’ve been talking for a long time.” And he was right, Sehun had barely noticed, but the skies were losing their colour, a dark grey colouring them.

“Oh okay. Promise?”

“Promise.”