The Crown Prince Sehun of the Merpeople of the Korean Peninsula was late. He was supposed to attend a concert with his father (King Soo-man of the Korean Peninsula) at three o’ clock precisely. It was 4:35. Sehun swam as fast as he possibly could to the amphitheater where six visiting mermaid sopranos were supposed to sing songs from the kingdom of Atlantica. To be honest Sehun hardly cared for mer-music anymore, but he had to go to ‘fulfill his duties as the Crown Prince’ as his father so eloquently said.

Sehun made it to the amphitheater in under ten minutes but he frowned as he saw merfolk spilling out of the structure, chatting and going on about the performance. Sehun quickly ducked behind a rock formation nearby. He was no doubt majorly in trouble for this incident but now he had to decide if he would try to seek his father inside the theater (where he would be congratulating the performers and be less likely to reprimand him) or to swim straight back to the palace and avoid the disproving looks of the crowd.

“Your father has already returned to the palace with the singers.” Sehun flinched and spun around to see who had surprised him, but immediately exhaled as he saw who it was.

“Joonmyeon-hyung,” he exhaled in relief. “Thank you, I’ll-”

“Please address me appropriately Crown Prince, we are in public,” he said, bowing his head.

Sehun’s frown deepened, he hated addressing the king’s aid and his friend in such a way. “Joonmyeon the Deformed One,” he gritted out. “Thank you for informing me, I’ll go straight back.”

“My apologies Crown Prince, but I am to you to the throne room myself. No detours.”

Sehun nodded and allowed Joonmyeon ‘the Deformed One’ (Sehun internally scoffed at the name) to lead him back home. Sehun stared at Joonmyeon’s profile from behind. Joonmyeon was called the ‘Deformed One’ because of his misshapen spine and tail which curved like a swimming eel which made him ‘slow’ and ‘unsightly’. It was so unsightly that his own mother abandoned him in an orphanage. It was by a of brilliant luck that on a visit to said orphanage, Sehun claimed Joonmyeon as his new hyung and demanded he be brought to the palace. At that time Sehun was two and Joonmyeon was five. Joonmyeon was assigned as Sehun’s butler and later (when he showed that he was a fast learner and competent worker) as the King’s aid where he took care of anything the king needed. However, his palace life came at a price. Upon his arrival his body was ridiculed by nobles and servants alike. They called him names like ‘Eel-tail’ and ‘Devil’s Back’ and eventually ‘the Deformed One’ stuck as a pitiful title and reminder. Even worse, when he began his service to the king, that same title became official, he was forbidden from looking in mirrors, and was required to wear a cloak at all times to cover his back and tail. Sehun had been furious when his father made that decree but Joonmyeon accepted it with a sad smile. “If I can be useful to the King, then I don’t mind the name calling or the cloak. Besides, he gave me a new life. Had you not come upon me that day, I doubt I would be alive now.” Joonmyeon was 13 when he said those words and eight years later, he still wore one. Even with the cloak, people still looked at him with distaste and Sehun couldn’t remember anyone but himself treating Joonmyeon kindly. He pretended the words didn’t affect him, but Sehun saw years of sadness in his eyes every time a serving lady spat at his tail or a page boy jeered at his full black cloak.

Sehun was so lost in his thoughts that he nearly ran into Joonmyeon’s back when he stopped, waiting for the guards to open the gates for them. Joonmyeon took this opportunity to pull up the hood of his cloak. Sehun’s eyes burned into that hood, angry that his friend had to hide himself. The hood was added after Joonmyeon outgrew his first cloak. According to the king, it was to ‘cover that unsightly seaweed upon his head’. Joonmyeon was not allowed a knife to cut his hair, thus it grew out, long and dark to the middle of his back. Sehun’s own locks were black but were only long enough to cover his eyebrows. Sehun’s eyes refocused to the gates which were now wide open for them to pass through. Before he could enter though, Joonmyeon grabbed his arm.

“What is it?” He left out his hyung’s name on purpose so he wouldn’t have to say the whole ‘title’.

“I told the king you had a headache today and stayed behind. When he asked for you I told him I thought you went to the theater to catch the last moments of the performance.” Sehun’s lips twitched upwards a bit and he patted Joonmyeon’s arm in thanks and to allow Joonmyeon a bit more time to recover from their swim. When Joonmyeon nodded, they hurried to the throne room where the king was lounging in his throne, laughing at a joke one of the sopranos had told.

“Father, I am here,” Sehun announced as he entered. He and Joonmyeon placed their right fists over their hearts and then let that hand drop as they bowed their heads. This bow was appropriate for greeting anyone, although if a peasant had visited the king, they would have needed to use both hands to cover their heart to show proper respect. “I apologize for my absence, I must have missed you when I went out,” he said as he swam to his seat to the right of the king. Usually the Queen sat to the right of the king, but she had been gone since Sehun’s birth and since being named Crown Prince, it was his right to sit on this side of his father. Joonmyeon was not royalty, thus sat on the steps of the platform that elevated the king and prince from the rest of the room. From an inside pocket of his cloak he pulled out his fish-bone pen and some seaweed paper to take notes.

The king’s smile dimmed a little at their entrance, though the sopranos hardly noticed since they now had the opportunity to stare at the handsome prince. “Crown Prince! So nice of you to join us. May I present the ‘Six Sirens’, Adella, Andrina, Alana, Aquata, Arista, and Attina. My dears this is my son, Crown Prince Sehun of the Korean Peninsula and Joonmyeon the Deformed One, my aid.” Both boys bowed as did the ladies who smiled pleasantly at the prince, but looked at the aid with distaste.

“A pleasure to meet you all,” Sehun said, realizing there was no way in hell he would remember who was who. Their skin was tan in comparison to his own alabaster skin and all of them seemed to sit a little taller, as if the additional height would impress the prince. Sehun knew he was considered an ideal match for any mermaid princess. His torso was long, as was his tail which was a beautiful deep turquoise, his arms and bare chest were toned (though not quite broad, yet), and his face resembled that of his mothers, making him one of the most attractive merpeople in the region. Besides his outstanding looks, he was well versed in reading, writing, and speaking in several languages, he was a fast swimmer, he could spear a guppy from 150 , he rode dolphins well, and could play and sing all the traditional instruments of the kingdom. He was often told that he was very eligible, he just never realized how much he was as he saw the six girls give each other dirty looks and bat their eyelashes at him. He sighed, it would be a long afternoon.

*          *          *

Sehun was absolutely bored out of his mind. He knew he had entered the throne room about 4:50 and he could tell from the sun’s (or rather the moon’s) rays shining through the windows that it was almost 8. In the entire time since he arrived he had only said five whole sentences, seven ‘yess’, and twelve ‘nos’. His father had dominated the conversation with occasional interjections of the girls including several girlish giggles as well as hair twirling and playful pushes at each other. Each girl alternated between paying attention to the king and staring at him with varying degrees of possessiveness, lust, mock-shyness, and interest. Sehun was hungry and his fins were going numb from not being used.

Just as he was debating on whether or not to take a nap, Joonmyeon’s voice rang through the hall. “Sire, I have been informed that dinner is ready in the dining hal-”

“Ah! Perfect. Shall we go there now ladies?” As soon as he swam down from the throne, all of the girls swarmed to his arms in attempt to be led in on the arms of royalty. Sehun was luckily forgotten about until he felt a tap on his shoulder. Sehun sighed in relief as he realized it was only Joonmyeon.

The aid wasted no time pressing a paper into his palm. “These are some notes I took, good luck.”

“Thanks hyung,” Sehun said with a smile. Joonmyeon returned the smile and swam away to have dinner in his room (since the servants refused to eat with him). Sehun sighed, envious of his escape. He quickly opened the piece of paper and smiled at the ‘notes’ his hyung took.

Adella- brown, green shells, brown tail, jealous type

Andrina- blonde, purple shells + fin, largest vocal range

Alana- black, purple shells + fin, makne, stares at you most

Aquata- brown, l. blue shells + fin, oldest, never smiles

Arista- white, red shells + fin, should be an alto

Attina- l. brown, red/orange shells + fin, nasal voice and plays pipes

“Thank the gods for Joonmyeon.” He quickly swam to the dining room only to mentally groan. Of course they were having a dinner with the rest of the nobles, so of course there were more than fifty people he would have to meet, so naturally his cousin Jongdae would be there too. Jongdae was two years older than him and was next in line to the throne…until Sehun was born. Although he knew Jongdae would never admit it, Sehun was positive that it was a sore point for the older boy. Furthermore, Jongdae was an annoying prankster who always took his jokes a little too far and then later insisted that he ‘didn’t mean for it to happen’. Plus he up to the king and badmouthed him when Sehun wasn’t around. Sehun did his best to avoid him, but it was hard seeing as they both lived in the palace and were often forced to study together. He was pleasantly surprised however to find that Jongdae was not sitting next to him, nor was he in the room at all.

Sehun sat down next to his uncle with a smile. “Kangta-samcheon, where is Jongdae-hyung?”

“He said he wasn’t feeling well so I let him rest. I sent a guard to him,” he added, seeing Sehun’s skeptical face. As his father, he was well aware what mischief his son would get into and made a point of actively preventing and punishing his son and his pranks. Sehun nodded and relaxed. As long as there was a guard, Jongdae surely wouldn’t try anything stupid.

*          *          *

Sehun prayed through dinner that his father would forget about his tardiness, but he knew he was out of luck when he was summoned to the king’s chambers after dinner. “Where were you?”

“I wasn’t feeling well so-”

“DO NOT LIE TO ME! I know the Deformed One was lying for you, so where were you really?” Sehun again clenched his jaw at that name, but the king took it as an insult. “Don’t you dare glare at me, this was YOUR fault for being late! You’re the Crown Prince, you need to be responsible for the image of the next king and I will NOT have you making me look foolish!”

Sehun bowed his head and nodded at the king in his lounge. “I was exploring a new shipwreck father. The storm last week sunk a fifty-foot sailing vessel, so I was looking into it to see if we needed to get rid of any bodies.” That was only partially true. One of his ‘princely duties’ was to make sure that no human knew about their existence, thus he was required to search any sunken vessel for suspicious items that related to mermaids. Additionally, he was required to get rid of any bodies so that the area would be safe from sharks. That was what he was supposed to do…if there was a sunken ship. He hoped his father wouldn’t notice the lie and ask what he was really doing.

After a couple of tense moments his father nodded. “I see. Next time inform me before you go off doing other duties, is that clear?” Sehun nodded. “Go to your chambers then, you need to be present for a meeting with the prime minister tomorrow at 8.” Sehun bowed and quickly left.

*          *          *

Sehun flopped onto his bed, exhausted from the day he had. If his father knew, he would have a fit and definitely disown him.

Sehun went to the surface.

Going to the surface wasn’t exactly forbidden, in fact royal astronomers did it frequently to chart out the night skies. No, Sehun would have gotten in trouble for what he had seen on the surface, which went by the name of Luhan. Sehun had snuck to the surface for the first time when he was 14 and Luhan was 18. Back then, Sehun had gotten his tail stuck in between two rocks and was marooned for hours. Luhan had been passing by when he heard Sehun crying and helped him get his tail free. The older boy had been shocked at first when he realized the tail was not a costume and insisted that he be repaid with visits from Sehun. And so started probably the strangest friendship ever.

~Flashback~

“So…all I have to do is visit you every Saturday and just talk to you?”

“Yup.” Sehun looked at the other boy apprehensively. The boy (or man? He couldn’t tell.) was taller than him, but he was skinny and had delicate features. All in all he was not a scary human like his father had told him or like the storybooks in the library. “I just moved here from China, do you know where China is? Anyway, I just moved here so I don’t know anyone and I thought I should make friends before I start classes and-”

“You do realize we can’t be friends? And I do know where China is,” Sehun said with an eyeroll.

“Why not? I’m not gonna tell anyone about you and you probably won’t tell anyone about me, so what’s it matter? Look at me, I’m probably less threatening than…than uh…a baby octopus!” Sehun actually snorted at that. “Ya, don’t snort at your hyung! Wait, do you actually use hyung?”

“Yes, we use ‘hyung’. Although I doubt you’re older than me, by the human Julian calendar, I turned 14 on April 12^th,” he said proudly. His pride was cut short however, when Luhan squeezed his nose until he squeaked. “What was that for?!”

“Tch! By the ‘human Julian calendar’ I turned 18 on April 20^th so ha!”

“No way! You liar!”

“I do not lie!”

~End Flashback~

Sehun chuckled, remembering their first meeting. Four years later, they still met every Saturday to hang out for the entire day, talking about their lives, likes, dislikes, and just about anything. He learned that Luhan had just moved from China to Korea with his mother since he got a full ride to college for Nursing. He learned that Luhan only lived about five minutes away and that his mom ran a hostel to earn money. He learned that Luhan’s father had died when he was eight, that his mom never remarried, and that he had a sort-of brother/former neighbor named Yixing who lived with them now and was brilliant. (“I mean, he finished high school when he was 15 and he’s studying to be a surgeon!” “What’s a ‘high school’?”)

Probably the best thing he learned though, was about humans and their technology. Luhan was eager to show him anything and everything, so after a month of meeting with him, Luhan produced a journal for him. “So you can write down what you learned about humans for the day!” Sehun and Luhan both learned fast. By Luhan’s 19^th birthday he had finished almost a quarter of the royal library and Sehun could easily navigate a computer and an early generation smart phone. They taught each other the best (and worst) things about their lives, including reproduction (“How do mermaids even reproduce?” “…I’ll bring you a book for that…”), geography (“No one goes to the deep parts of the ocean, sea witches live there!”), swearing (“No, not ‘tuck’, with an F! !”), holidays (“We only celebrate birthdays and feast days of various gods and goddesses.” “Oh, like Greek Mythology?” “Is that the thing with a guy named Zooz?”), fashion (“Mermen don’t wear clothing, only the women wear seashells.” “Up here, everyone has to wear a top. And pants.”), culture (“Do mermaids read and write? What language do you do that in?” “We use the Korean hangul since we live in the Peninsula waters. All mermaids read, write, and speak the same language as the human dwellers of the closest land mass.”), music (“Damn, this k-pop stuff is awesome, what’s this band called again?” “EXO, I think…”), and family (“Man, if I hadn’t known Yixing since he was a kid and his grandmother, rest her soul I would have punched him for being such an today!”).

Luhan knew everything about him. He knew about Joonmyeon, he knew Sehun was a prince (boy what a fun conversation that was), and he knew about Sehun’s dislike for his own father. Sehun sighed again. Today he had to cut his visit with Luhan short. They had been watching a movie on Luhan’s laptop, lost track of time, and thus caused Sehun to be late. He wasn’t too sad though, Luhan didn’t have a shift at the hospital tomorrow and he didn’t have a lot of homework so Sehun could sneak away and visit him all day tomorrow. Sehun didn’t have any friends (since he was the Crown Prince) so he wouldn’t be terribly missed. Sehun actually couldn’t remember the last time he spoke with someone who wasn’t his father, his relative, the staff, or Joonmyeon.

Speaking of Joonmyeon, the door slammed open and the older boy was at the door, breathing heavily, his eyes wide and scared. Sehun immediately froze seeing the state of the other; he wasn’t wearing his cloak. 

A/N: So it starts! I'm taking a lot of creative freedom with my version of mermaids, but I'll explain as the story goes on. I'll try to update weekly or every 2 weeks.