I Got You (ooo wuu huu huu), Under My Scales
Title: I Got You (ooo wuu huu huu), Under My Scales
Author: clubotaku
Pairing: SehunxLuhan, BaekhyunxTao
Rating: PG13
Summary: Can be taken as a companion piece t http://clubotaku.livejournal.com/13924.htmlor read alone. Mermaid AU.
Sehun is very interested in inter-kingdom relationships.
On his right, Baekhyun is bobbing up and down but below Sehun’s level of course, no one should float higher than the Royal Family. The Ambassador of the South China Sea is still babbling on about inter-mermaid relations with their kingdom and Sehun tunes out immediately, eyes drifting to the window where his pet great white shark, Jongin, is chasing his namesake. Sehun thought it would be funny that when he called ‘Jongin’ both would respond and come running… And in Jongin’s case, subsequently running away from Jongin Jr. Outside Jongin is screaming profanities at both the shark and Sehun whilst the bumbling fool from the Royal Mews-Jinki? One of cousin Kibum’s charity cases-honestly their family was just so kind-tries to rein it in. Sehun cackles softly and Baekhyun raises one well combed eyebrow. He’s been learning grooming tips from Kibum no doubt; Sehun’s seen the copious amounts of squid ink stashed beneath his sand.
The Ambassador sweeps one tanned hand sideways, and what can only be described as a criminal-in-the-making swims forward. Dark shadows ring hooded eyes and black hair falls like a curtain on a fearsome face. If Sehun was a squid, he would have released a gallon of ink by now but no, a merman of his pedigree shows no fear. Baekhyun gasps beside him-yet another sign that differentiates their breeding.
“I present to you my son, Zitao, or Tao as he is known in our Kingdom.”
Tao gives a gummy smile that doesn’t quite match his features and Sehun feels for the can of sea-salt spray behind his throne.
“Oh my God,” whispers Baekhyun.
“I know, I know,” says Sehun in his most compassionate voice, “He’s from the South, he can’t help it. The pollution in those waters would kill even Chanyeol, and we know how much oxygen he ingested as a child”.
“He’s so… Dark,” says Baekhyun in wonder, tail waving in excitement, “So exotic.”
Sehun is appalled.
“Oh my God Baekhyun, you can’t just say someone is dark. Look at Jongin, he’s as tanned as an Earth rock and we’re still friends with him.”
“I think we should be friends,” continues Baekhyun, choosing to ignore Sehun, “Inter-kingdom relations and what not. That skill with the squid ink… Look at how nicely his eyes are lined Sehun!”
“Not all of us care about what the latest issue of Oceanpolitan says Baekhyun. Look at him; he could kill us in our sleep! Didn’t you hear his father say he’s a martial arts master? He’s one trident away from spearing us up the tail!”
Tao is currently cooing at a sea cucumber.
“I wouldn’t mind being speared up the tail,” mutters Baekhyun, blushing when Sehun throws him a look of disgust.
“You will wash your mouth out with sand!” hisses Sehun, “Show proper decorum in the Royal presence!”
“I’ve known you since you were a minnow, you can’t pull rank on me!” Baekhyun hisses back, “And who saves your tail every time you and Jongin get in trouble?”
It is true; Baekhyun does a great job of covering up for when he wishes to escape Royal Duties and Royal Lessons in Ruling. Baekhyun also cleans up Chanyeol’s (frequent) messes and his room, when no other (sane) mer-person dared enter the Jester’s ‘cave of delights’.
“No, fish you; I’m not making friends with my potential killer.”
“You’re 5th in line for the throne and nobody is going to kill Heechul anytime soon. Or Kibum. Or Narsha-noona. Your whole family is trident-happy (except Jaebum-hyung but I just pity him)!”
Sehun is offended. He is very important thankyouverymuch and has been stalked many times (and each time he sends Chanyeol to deal with them-fool proof plan). The Ambassador is saying something about someone and Sehun stops listening, watches as Baekhyun flashes a smile and a tail-shine at Creepy McMurder who smiles back. Sehun feels like he may spew a sponge. Suddenly the Ambassador is gesturing again and a second merman glides out, golden curls framing a heart-shaped face and inquisitive eyes.
“This is the Crown Prince of our humble kingdom, Luhan,” says the Ambassador respectfully, bowing. Creepy McMurder bows too, squeezing Luhan’s hand as he swims past. Sehun feels an unexplainable urge to throw a jellyfish at him.
“This is my son, the Prince Kibum, and my nephew, Prince Sehun,” replies the King, gesturing at both mermen. Kibum waves daintily like the mer-girl he is and Sehun feels his heart stop as brown eyes stare into his.
“I am honoured to meet you Prince Kibum and Prince… Sehun,” says Luhan, suddenly a shining light in the otherwise dark ocean, “I hope we can be friends.” He beams and the light catches on his iridescent scales and holymotherofmermaids Sehun is caught.
“So,” says Baekhyun, back beside and below him, “What was that about inter-kingdom relations?”
“It’s for King and country,” Sehun says resolutely, “My duty as Prince of the Kingdom.”
Baekhyun snorts, bubbles rising upwards.
“That should be Heechul-hyung’s duty or Kibum’s Royal cousin.”
Sehun glares. Baekhyun is sentenced into copying the Royal Family Tree for the next few days, and extra Chanyeol duty for a week.
“You know,” says Jongin, “You could just go and introduce yourself properly instead of stalking him behind sea-caves and seaweed.”
“Fish you Kim Jongin,” says Sehun, currently in disguise inside a clam shell, “Royalty does not stalk, we observe.”
“Your family is nuts.”
“Irrelevant to the situation at hand.”
“You’ve stalked him for a week and for what?”
“He likes to bit his lip when he’s nervous and his tail twitches to the right. Three times. The light catches on his shiny scales whenever he does and reflects the colours of the rainbow.”
Jongin stares.
“Ok that’s just creepy.”
“His favourite food is boiled sea-slug with seaweed dressing and fish flakes. He wears no makeup-unlike Creepy McMurder-and drinks black tea from the Indian Ocean every night before he sleeps.”
“You’ve watched him sleep?!”
“Meetings about politics bore him and he loves riding stingrays. Hates going into the deeper parts of the ocean, fears the deep. Has a cousin named Wufan from the North Pacific kingdom and a best friend called Yixing.”
“Ahh,” says Jongin in recognition, “The skinny one who dances like a dream and looks permanently high on oxygen.”
“Yes, yes.” Sehun waves his tail dismissively. “The brown haired one. Anyway as I was saying Luhan hates the deep. That’s ok though, I wouldn’t want to explore the nether regions of your origin anyway.”
Jongin flips him the tail and Sehun laughs. Laughs so hard that the clam shakes with the vibrations and closes itself and him inside it, squealing in a very undignified manner as his tail is caught, half in, half out and Jongin rolls around hysterically, tuning out what he guesses are curses coming out from the clam. Or not. When Baekhyun finally unlocks Sehun from his prison he shakes his head in mock-severity, waving one shark-dropping stained broom at him.
“On the bright side,” says Jongin, munching on seal jerky, “You got his attention.”
Sehun’s eyes turn to see Luhan staring at him in a mixture of amusement and pity, no doubt judging his disheveled state of un-Princeliness and peasantry. Kibum-hyung is shaking his head, mouthes ‘I’ll lend you my trident to stab yourself with if you like’, and waves at him to leave. Too late, Luhan is before him ohgloriouslightofmyseashineuponme and is gently touching-touching-Sehun’s royal tail fins, asking him if he’s ok and does it hurt?
“Our Sehunnie?” says Jongin, slapping him hard on the back, “Hurt? Never! His Royal Tailshaker has ridden his stingrays to the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean and sailed the salty seas! As if a little clam could hurt him!”
You will be hurt when Jongin Jr. bites a chunk out of your tail, thinks Sehun.
Soft hands run themselves over the bruised tail fin and he suppresses a shudder.
“You’re very brave,” says Luhan, smiling in what Sehun wants to take as admiration and not the oh-my-god-you-go-where-the-peasants-go look Sehun would give to someone else in this situation.
“Um,” is all his mouth manages to say, woefully out of sync with his brain.
“I’ll get Yixing to look at this bruise-he’s the best healer in our Kingdom!” says Luhan, proud.
“We are honoured,” says Baekhyun before he can reply, “Please enjoy the rest of your tour and Prince Sehun shall see you later. Do you need a guide to the Royal Chambers?”
“Oh no,” replies the prince of Sehun’s dry dreams, “Tao knows his way quite well around the palace.” He smiles at Baekhyun, who flushes. Sehun doesn’t know whether to be disgusted, delighted, or both. He settles for neither and goes into his standard poker-face mode.
“Thank you for your kindness Prince Luhan.”
Luhan’s fingers rub circles on his fin, brown eyes fixated on his with a brilliant smile that causes the sparkly-sparkly shiny-shiny thing that Sehun’s heard about to happen. He remains there, frozen, even after Kibum has led Luhan away to view his collection of human toys he’s collected, until Baekhyun has to start dragging him away and Jongin is poking his tail with the persistence of a crab.
“Please don’t spurt here, wait ‘til you’re back in the Royal Bed before you squirt. It would be so undignified for the 5th Prince to have a dry dream in public.”
Jongin is banished to the Royal Mews for ‘quality time’ with Jongin Jr. Sehun lets him out when Chanyeol reports Jongin Jr. is trying to mate with him.
“Shut up!” screams Sehun, “Don’t soil my mind with your sordid fantasies! I am a beacon of decorum for this kingdom!”
“Your beacon of something stained your bed this morning,” mutters Baekhyun.
“When is the stoned one coming here? Can’t Luhan come instead?”
Baekhyun sighs.
“Yixing is the Royal Healer in the South China Sea so I think it is better he comes. Perhaps he’ll diagnose you with the OCD (Obsessive Clam Disorder) that we all know you have.”
“You are all so ungrateful!” moans Sehun, draping himself over his chair. One rockfish tries to move and he flicks it back into place. Stupid chairs, so hard to find good rockfish these days.
“No, we’re sensible,” says Baekhyun, “And we go about courting in the normal way, not the retarded Royal way.”
“Inter-kingdom relationship building!”
“Look,” says his friend, “Does he do the sparkly-sparkly thing when you look at him? Does he shine as if the soul of the ocean is within him? Does he take your breath away and make you feel as if you’re drunk on oxygen and you want to sing the song of the sea on some godforsaken Earth-rock?”
“Yes to all those things apart from the Earth-rock,” says Sehun softly. Baekhyun looks smug.
“You like him.”
“It’s all for the good of the Kingdom.”
“You want to rub tails with him.”
“This is politics and networking.”
“You want him to throw a net around you and pound you like a killer whale.”
“What the fish!”
“You want him to lather mud all over your body and feed you sea-cucumbers.”
“Princes don’t do that!”
“You want him to chain you up like a stingray and bite you the way Jongin Jr. bites a fish-hard and hungry.”
“Your mind is so sick I don’t even know why we’re fri-”
“You want him to lick you like a saltypop under you squirt more ink than a giant squid and have you squealing like a dolphin.”
“WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME YOUR SEXUAL FANTASIES WITH CREEPY MCMURDER?!”
There’s a small cough in the doorway and both of them freeze, turn guiltily to the door of Sehun’s chamber which stands ajar. Luhan is bobbing there nervously; tail drawing messy patterns in the sand as he holds a jar of what looks like ointment. It’s like a dream and nightmare come true.
“Zitao is not that scary once you get to know him,” says the Prince of the South China Sea, “He’s really a nice merman once you get past his initial looks.
“Oh he is, he really is,” says Baekhyun eagerly and Sehun mentally glares at the traitor. “Anyway I shall excuse myself now because I think I can hear Chanyeol breaking something.” He bows to Luhan and swims quickly away.
“Do you want me to leave this here or…” Luhan bites his lip, unsure and Sehun resists the urge to hug him.
“No!” The word comes out louder than expected and Luhan takes one flipper backwards. “No… Please, stay, let’s talk… Um, get to know each other’s kingdoms better.”
What the fish, says his mind, He’s going to think you’re inbred!
Luhan is looking at him warily and he forces himself to smile until the other comes over to sit on his bed. Sehun thanks Baekhyun for changing the sheets.
“Tao is a really sweet boy,” says Luhan, “He wouldn’t hurt an anchovy.”
“Oh?” croaks Sehun, though his mind is thinking I don’t care about him, I want to know about you (well, more than what I already know).
Luhan nods in all seriousness, apparently determined to show Sehun the goodness in Tao. He continues praising the merman until Sehun winces in pain, his tail throbbing still from the nasty clamp the clam had on him earlier.
“Sorry I forgot!” says Luhan, immediately attending to his tail. “Tell me if it hurts.”
That calm, soothing feeling is back as Luhan’s nimble fingers work their magic and Sehun stifles a whimper as the ointment is rubbed over one particularly sore area. Luhan’s face is full of concentration as he applies the cream all over the bruised area, taking the time to rub it all over the sensitive area and ohmygodiwanttosquirt cries his mind, ohsweetMarlinyesrubmethere.
“Is this ok? Am I rubbing too hard?” asks Luhan cautiously, looking up through his golden locks.
NO RUB ME MORE AND RUB ME HARD UNTIL MY SCALES SHINE
“I’m fine, it just hurts.” Sehun gestures vaguely at the rest of his tail. Luhan looks concerned.
“Oh dear… You were hurt more badly than I thought. Jongin told me you have an affinity for clams.”
Kim Jongin must die.
“No… I was just trying to neuter it,” his mouth says all while he crawls into the cave in his mind.
“You… Neuter clams? Your kingdom is strange,” says Luhan, though not unkindly, “You must be an expert then.”
“Or not,” says Sehun drily, pointing at the bruise.
“So where else do you hurt?” asks Luhan, hand covered in ointment.
Everywhere, I hurt everywhere. Rub me everywhere.
“There… And there…” he says, “But I’ll survive.”
Luhan grins at him.
“I’m sure you will, brave explorer of the deep.”
He goes back to rubbing all the places Sehun pointed out. It becomes increasingly difficult for the Prince not to moan when a thumb rubs right there, right where he’s most sensitive. Somehow Sehun ends up lying on his back whilst the other massages his tail, making clucking noises here and there as he takes in the state of his tail. Luhan hands him a fishcake out of nowhere-ooh sea bass, my favourite- and hums some foreign song that lulls Sehun into a happy sleep. He dreams that Jongin is a flounder, being chased by Jongin Jr. who is screaming “MAXSTEEEEEEEEEEP” and wearing a hideous furry gold jacket, and Baekhyun is getting it on with a disgusting Earth creature that is black and white and chubby that brandishes a stick whilst Chanyeol is singing about sea-buffalos and his mother. Luhan swims into view in a chariot made of beautiful shells, driven by pink dolphins who croon some hideous pop tune, and extends a hand to Sehun who reaches out… And finds he can’t move. So he tries and tries but no, he cannot reach Luhan who is starting to fade out of his view and dream be damned, he’s a Prince of the Sea and can control his dreams but no, he still can’t move.
Luhan appears next to him, one slender hand running its way down his chest and Sehun can’t help the moan that escapes him. At least it’s just a dream.
“Having trouble Sehun-ah?” The Luhan in his dreams is teasing, taunting.
“Mmrgh,” is all he can reply, too distracted by the downward pattern the other merman’s hands are making.
“You’re so cute,” says Luhan, “Especially when you smile.”
Eyes closed as he tries to control himself, Sehun nods.
“Don’t you think it’s a little rude to ignore another Prince when he’s helping foster inter-kingdom relationships?”
Sehun’s eyes open. His room swims into view and he jumps at the sight of Luhan’s face hovering about his own.
“Prince Luhan oh my God I’m so sorry I-”
He can’t move. Sehun tries not to panic-that is beneath him-but his hands won’t move and there’s something hard around his wrists and holymotherofmermen he is chained to the bedposts with reins. Luhan clucks his tongue and Sehun feels his tail being caressed by another tail.
“Does it still hurt?” Luhan’s eyes sparkle… But it’s a different kind of sparkle. The type of sparkle that promises things, naughty things. Sehun likes.
“AJSHDBHJ hyung.”
The older Prince nods in understanding, one hand reaching down and Sehun gasps.
“Especially here?”
He flicks his wrist and Sehun bucks against his bindings, trying to wrap his tail around the other but Luhan just laughs, nuzzling him affectionately.
“We should really get to know each other more, for the sake of our Kingdoms and all,” says Sehun when his brain has managed to stop combusting.
“Don’t you already know a lot about me?” asks Luhan, “Stealth is not one of your skills you know.”
Oh.
“I already know some things about you… Your friend Jongin was most helpful.”
That’s it, thinks Sehun, He’s going to be banished forever to waste in the dungeons with the crab who won’t stop clicking.
Luhan leans forward, eyes dark, a pink tongue coming out to lick the side of his mouth and Sehun’s sure his heart will explode soon. Or maybe he’ll just squirt.
“Sehun-ah, a killer whale won’t pound you as hard as I will. Though you may have to be quieter than a dolphin because well,” Luhan looks positively wicked right now, “We’re Princes aren’t we? And Princes don’t squeal.”
“No,” says Sehun with the remnants of his composure, “We certainly do not.”
“That clam must have slammed you pretty hard for you not to be able to swim,” drawls Jongin, leering at the many bruises the Prince now sports.
“As hard as an iceberg,” says Luhan sunnily, “But Sehunnie enjoyed the mud rub I gave him.”
“This is for the good of our Kingdoms,” says Sehun weakly, waving a hand dismissively, “Getting to know each other and all.”
“So we may get more inbred babies after all? Royalty is all related and retarded now…”
Sehun takes Kibum’s place as most trident-happy in the Kingdom.
A/N: An EXO-fic in the mermaid AU! to accompany or be a stand alone with the Shinee one I wrote :D At first it was going to be Baekyeol but Tao swum his way into the fic and *boom* BaekTao. So sleep deprived..
Author: clubotaku
Pairing: SehunxLuhan, BaekhyunxTao
Rating: PG13
Summary: Can be taken as a companion piece t http://clubotaku.livejournal.com/13924.htmlor read alone. Mermaid AU.
Sehun is very interested in inter-kingdom relationships.
- There weren’t many things in the sea that could fascinate Sehun, not many things that could impress or shock him, few mer-people who interested him (Chanyeol amused him which is why he was kindly granted the position of Court Jester), and now was no exception. The golden chests filled with gleaming pearls, polished spearfish swords and coral jewelry were just so mundane, so normal, so expected, it took everything in him not to yawn. To his left, his cousin, the Royal Prince of the Eastern Sea, His Most Glorious Sparkle-Swimmer, Kim Kibum is admiring his reflection in one of the polished sea-shell mirrors being presented, fingers tapping out the tune of ‘Sea-shells are a mermaid’s best friend’ on his ever-present trident (Sehun is sure that if Kibum wasn’t a Prince, he would be a mass mer-murderer).
On his right, Baekhyun is bobbing up and down but below Sehun’s level of course, no one should float higher than the Royal Family. The Ambassador of the South China Sea is still babbling on about inter-mermaid relations with their kingdom and Sehun tunes out immediately, eyes drifting to the window where his pet great white shark, Jongin, is chasing his namesake. Sehun thought it would be funny that when he called ‘Jongin’ both would respond and come running… And in Jongin’s case, subsequently running away from Jongin Jr. Outside Jongin is screaming profanities at both the shark and Sehun whilst the bumbling fool from the Royal Mews-Jinki? One of cousin Kibum’s charity cases-honestly their family was just so kind-tries to rein it in. Sehun cackles softly and Baekhyun raises one well combed eyebrow. He’s been learning grooming tips from Kibum no doubt; Sehun’s seen the copious amounts of squid ink stashed beneath his sand.
The Ambassador sweeps one tanned hand sideways, and what can only be described as a criminal-in-the-making swims forward. Dark shadows ring hooded eyes and black hair falls like a curtain on a fearsome face. If Sehun was a squid, he would have released a gallon of ink by now but no, a merman of his pedigree shows no fear. Baekhyun gasps beside him-yet another sign that differentiates their breeding.
“I present to you my son, Zitao, or Tao as he is known in our Kingdom.”
Tao gives a gummy smile that doesn’t quite match his features and Sehun feels for the can of sea-salt spray behind his throne.
“Oh my God,” whispers Baekhyun.
“I know, I know,” says Sehun in his most compassionate voice, “He’s from the South, he can’t help it. The pollution in those waters would kill even Chanyeol, and we know how much oxygen he ingested as a child”.
“He’s so… Dark,” says Baekhyun in wonder, tail waving in excitement, “So exotic.”
Sehun is appalled.
“Oh my God Baekhyun, you can’t just say someone is dark. Look at Jongin, he’s as tanned as an Earth rock and we’re still friends with him.”
“I think we should be friends,” continues Baekhyun, choosing to ignore Sehun, “Inter-kingdom relations and what not. That skill with the squid ink… Look at how nicely his eyes are lined Sehun!”
“Not all of us care about what the latest issue of Oceanpolitan says Baekhyun. Look at him; he could kill us in our sleep! Didn’t you hear his father say he’s a martial arts master? He’s one trident away from spearing us up the tail!”
Tao is currently cooing at a sea cucumber.
“I wouldn’t mind being speared up the tail,” mutters Baekhyun, blushing when Sehun throws him a look of disgust.
“You will wash your mouth out with sand!” hisses Sehun, “Show proper decorum in the Royal presence!”
“I’ve known you since you were a minnow, you can’t pull rank on me!” Baekhyun hisses back, “And who saves your tail every time you and Jongin get in trouble?”
It is true; Baekhyun does a great job of covering up for when he wishes to escape Royal Duties and Royal Lessons in Ruling. Baekhyun also cleans up Chanyeol’s (frequent) messes and his room, when no other (sane) mer-person dared enter the Jester’s ‘cave of delights’.
“No, fish you; I’m not making friends with my potential killer.”
“You’re 5th in line for the throne and nobody is going to kill Heechul anytime soon. Or Kibum. Or Narsha-noona. Your whole family is trident-happy (except Jaebum-hyung but I just pity him)!”
Sehun is offended. He is very important thankyouverymuch and has been stalked many times (and each time he sends Chanyeol to deal with them-fool proof plan). The Ambassador is saying something about someone and Sehun stops listening, watches as Baekhyun flashes a smile and a tail-shine at Creepy McMurder who smiles back. Sehun feels like he may spew a sponge. Suddenly the Ambassador is gesturing again and a second merman glides out, golden curls framing a heart-shaped face and inquisitive eyes.
“This is the Crown Prince of our humble kingdom, Luhan,” says the Ambassador respectfully, bowing. Creepy McMurder bows too, squeezing Luhan’s hand as he swims past. Sehun feels an unexplainable urge to throw a jellyfish at him.
“This is my son, the Prince Kibum, and my nephew, Prince Sehun,” replies the King, gesturing at both mermen. Kibum waves daintily like the mer-girl he is and Sehun feels his heart stop as brown eyes stare into his.
“I am honoured to meet you Prince Kibum and Prince… Sehun,” says Luhan, suddenly a shining light in the otherwise dark ocean, “I hope we can be friends.” He beams and the light catches on his iridescent scales and holymotherofmermaids Sehun is caught.
“So,” says Baekhyun, back beside and below him, “What was that about inter-kingdom relations?”
“It’s for King and country,” Sehun says resolutely, “My duty as Prince of the Kingdom.”
Baekhyun snorts, bubbles rising upwards.
“That should be Heechul-hyung’s duty or Kibum’s Royal cousin.”
Sehun glares. Baekhyun is sentenced into copying the Royal Family Tree for the next few days, and extra Chanyeol duty for a week.
- As it is, Sehun hardly sees Luhan in the palace as the other is entertained by either Heechul-hyung or Kibum-hyung (Baekhyun never fails to remind him of his position as Prince) and he settles for catching glimpses of the Chinese mer-prince whenever he can.
“You know,” says Jongin, “You could just go and introduce yourself properly instead of stalking him behind sea-caves and seaweed.”
“Fish you Kim Jongin,” says Sehun, currently in disguise inside a clam shell, “Royalty does not stalk, we observe.”
“Your family is nuts.”
“Irrelevant to the situation at hand.”
“You’ve stalked him for a week and for what?”
“He likes to bit his lip when he’s nervous and his tail twitches to the right. Three times. The light catches on his shiny scales whenever he does and reflects the colours of the rainbow.”
Jongin stares.
“Ok that’s just creepy.”
“His favourite food is boiled sea-slug with seaweed dressing and fish flakes. He wears no makeup-unlike Creepy McMurder-and drinks black tea from the Indian Ocean every night before he sleeps.”
“You’ve watched him sleep?!”
“Meetings about politics bore him and he loves riding stingrays. Hates going into the deeper parts of the ocean, fears the deep. Has a cousin named Wufan from the North Pacific kingdom and a best friend called Yixing.”
“Ahh,” says Jongin in recognition, “The skinny one who dances like a dream and looks permanently high on oxygen.”
“Yes, yes.” Sehun waves his tail dismissively. “The brown haired one. Anyway as I was saying Luhan hates the deep. That’s ok though, I wouldn’t want to explore the nether regions of your origin anyway.”
Jongin flips him the tail and Sehun laughs. Laughs so hard that the clam shakes with the vibrations and closes itself and him inside it, squealing in a very undignified manner as his tail is caught, half in, half out and Jongin rolls around hysterically, tuning out what he guesses are curses coming out from the clam. Or not. When Baekhyun finally unlocks Sehun from his prison he shakes his head in mock-severity, waving one shark-dropping stained broom at him.
“On the bright side,” says Jongin, munching on seal jerky, “You got his attention.”
Sehun’s eyes turn to see Luhan staring at him in a mixture of amusement and pity, no doubt judging his disheveled state of un-Princeliness and peasantry. Kibum-hyung is shaking his head, mouthes ‘I’ll lend you my trident to stab yourself with if you like’, and waves at him to leave. Too late, Luhan is before him ohgloriouslightofmyseashineuponme and is gently touching-touching-Sehun’s royal tail fins, asking him if he’s ok and does it hurt?
“Our Sehunnie?” says Jongin, slapping him hard on the back, “Hurt? Never! His Royal Tailshaker has ridden his stingrays to the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean and sailed the salty seas! As if a little clam could hurt him!”
You will be hurt when Jongin Jr. bites a chunk out of your tail, thinks Sehun.
Soft hands run themselves over the bruised tail fin and he suppresses a shudder.
“You’re very brave,” says Luhan, smiling in what Sehun wants to take as admiration and not the oh-my-god-you-go-where-the-peasants-go look Sehun would give to someone else in this situation.
“Um,” is all his mouth manages to say, woefully out of sync with his brain.
“I’ll get Yixing to look at this bruise-he’s the best healer in our Kingdom!” says Luhan, proud.
“We are honoured,” says Baekhyun before he can reply, “Please enjoy the rest of your tour and Prince Sehun shall see you later. Do you need a guide to the Royal Chambers?”
“Oh no,” replies the prince of Sehun’s dry dreams, “Tao knows his way quite well around the palace.” He smiles at Baekhyun, who flushes. Sehun doesn’t know whether to be disgusted, delighted, or both. He settles for neither and goes into his standard poker-face mode.
“Thank you for your kindness Prince Luhan.”
Luhan’s fingers rub circles on his fin, brown eyes fixated on his with a brilliant smile that causes the sparkly-sparkly shiny-shiny thing that Sehun’s heard about to happen. He remains there, frozen, even after Kibum has led Luhan away to view his collection of human toys he’s collected, until Baekhyun has to start dragging him away and Jongin is poking his tail with the persistence of a crab.
“Please don’t spurt here, wait ‘til you’re back in the Royal Bed before you squirt. It would be so undignified for the 5th Prince to have a dry dream in public.”
Jongin is banished to the Royal Mews for ‘quality time’ with Jongin Jr. Sehun lets him out when Chanyeol reports Jongin Jr. is trying to mate with him.
- “Tao is so romantic Sehun-ah, we’ve taken so many long walks on the sea-bed together and my God, his hands are amazing, so quick and talented with his sword-you know, I don’t think I need the extra sea-cucumbers after all when we -”
“Shut up!” screams Sehun, “Don’t soil my mind with your sordid fantasies! I am a beacon of decorum for this kingdom!”
“Your beacon of something stained your bed this morning,” mutters Baekhyun.
“When is the stoned one coming here? Can’t Luhan come instead?”
Baekhyun sighs.
“Yixing is the Royal Healer in the South China Sea so I think it is better he comes. Perhaps he’ll diagnose you with the OCD (Obsessive Clam Disorder) that we all know you have.”
“You are all so ungrateful!” moans Sehun, draping himself over his chair. One rockfish tries to move and he flicks it back into place. Stupid chairs, so hard to find good rockfish these days.
“No, we’re sensible,” says Baekhyun, “And we go about courting in the normal way, not the retarded Royal way.”
“Inter-kingdom relationship building!”
“Look,” says his friend, “Does he do the sparkly-sparkly thing when you look at him? Does he shine as if the soul of the ocean is within him? Does he take your breath away and make you feel as if you’re drunk on oxygen and you want to sing the song of the sea on some godforsaken Earth-rock?”
“Yes to all those things apart from the Earth-rock,” says Sehun softly. Baekhyun looks smug.
“You like him.”
“It’s all for the good of the Kingdom.”
“You want to rub tails with him.”
“This is politics and networking.”
“You want him to throw a net around you and pound you like a killer whale.”
“What the fish!”
“You want him to lather mud all over your body and feed you sea-cucumbers.”
“Princes don’t do that!”
“You want him to chain you up like a stingray and bite you the way Jongin Jr. bites a fish-hard and hungry.”
“Your mind is so sick I don’t even know why we’re fri-”
“You want him to lick you like a saltypop under you squirt more ink than a giant squid and have you squealing like a dolphin.”
“WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME YOUR SEXUAL FANTASIES WITH CREEPY MCMURDER?!”
There’s a small cough in the doorway and both of them freeze, turn guiltily to the door of Sehun’s chamber which stands ajar. Luhan is bobbing there nervously; tail drawing messy patterns in the sand as he holds a jar of what looks like ointment. It’s like a dream and nightmare come true.
“Zitao is not that scary once you get to know him,” says the Prince of the South China Sea, “He’s really a nice merman once you get past his initial looks.
“Oh he is, he really is,” says Baekhyun eagerly and Sehun mentally glares at the traitor. “Anyway I shall excuse myself now because I think I can hear Chanyeol breaking something.” He bows to Luhan and swims quickly away.
“Do you want me to leave this here or…” Luhan bites his lip, unsure and Sehun resists the urge to hug him.
“No!” The word comes out louder than expected and Luhan takes one flipper backwards. “No… Please, stay, let’s talk… Um, get to know each other’s kingdoms better.”
What the fish, says his mind, He’s going to think you’re inbred!
Luhan is looking at him warily and he forces himself to smile until the other comes over to sit on his bed. Sehun thanks Baekhyun for changing the sheets.
“Tao is a really sweet boy,” says Luhan, “He wouldn’t hurt an anchovy.”
“Oh?” croaks Sehun, though his mind is thinking I don’t care about him, I want to know about you (well, more than what I already know).
Luhan nods in all seriousness, apparently determined to show Sehun the goodness in Tao. He continues praising the merman until Sehun winces in pain, his tail throbbing still from the nasty clamp the clam had on him earlier.
“Sorry I forgot!” says Luhan, immediately attending to his tail. “Tell me if it hurts.”
That calm, soothing feeling is back as Luhan’s nimble fingers work their magic and Sehun stifles a whimper as the ointment is rubbed over one particularly sore area. Luhan’s face is full of concentration as he applies the cream all over the bruised area, taking the time to rub it all over the sensitive area and ohmygodiwanttosquirt cries his mind, ohsweetMarlinyesrubmethere.
“Is this ok? Am I rubbing too hard?” asks Luhan cautiously, looking up through his golden locks.
NO RUB ME MORE AND RUB ME HARD UNTIL MY SCALES SHINE
“I’m fine, it just hurts.” Sehun gestures vaguely at the rest of his tail. Luhan looks concerned.
“Oh dear… You were hurt more badly than I thought. Jongin told me you have an affinity for clams.”
Kim Jongin must die.
“No… I was just trying to neuter it,” his mouth says all while he crawls into the cave in his mind.
“You… Neuter clams? Your kingdom is strange,” says Luhan, though not unkindly, “You must be an expert then.”
“Or not,” says Sehun drily, pointing at the bruise.
“So where else do you hurt?” asks Luhan, hand covered in ointment.
Everywhere, I hurt everywhere. Rub me everywhere.
“There… And there…” he says, “But I’ll survive.”
Luhan grins at him.
“I’m sure you will, brave explorer of the deep.”
He goes back to rubbing all the places Sehun pointed out. It becomes increasingly difficult for the Prince not to moan when a thumb rubs right there, right where he’s most sensitive. Somehow Sehun ends up lying on his back whilst the other massages his tail, making clucking noises here and there as he takes in the state of his tail. Luhan hands him a fishcake out of nowhere-ooh sea bass, my favourite- and hums some foreign song that lulls Sehun into a happy sleep. He dreams that Jongin is a flounder, being chased by Jongin Jr. who is screaming “MAXSTEEEEEEEEEEP” and wearing a hideous furry gold jacket, and Baekhyun is getting it on with a disgusting Earth creature that is black and white and chubby that brandishes a stick whilst Chanyeol is singing about sea-buffalos and his mother. Luhan swims into view in a chariot made of beautiful shells, driven by pink dolphins who croon some hideous pop tune, and extends a hand to Sehun who reaches out… And finds he can’t move. So he tries and tries but no, he cannot reach Luhan who is starting to fade out of his view and dream be damned, he’s a Prince of the Sea and can control his dreams but no, he still can’t move.
Luhan appears next to him, one slender hand running its way down his chest and Sehun can’t help the moan that escapes him. At least it’s just a dream.
“Having trouble Sehun-ah?” The Luhan in his dreams is teasing, taunting.
“Mmrgh,” is all he can reply, too distracted by the downward pattern the other merman’s hands are making.
“You’re so cute,” says Luhan, “Especially when you smile.”
Eyes closed as he tries to control himself, Sehun nods.
“Don’t you think it’s a little rude to ignore another Prince when he’s helping foster inter-kingdom relationships?”
Sehun’s eyes open. His room swims into view and he jumps at the sight of Luhan’s face hovering about his own.
“Prince Luhan oh my God I’m so sorry I-”
He can’t move. Sehun tries not to panic-that is beneath him-but his hands won’t move and there’s something hard around his wrists and holymotherofmermen he is chained to the bedposts with reins. Luhan clucks his tongue and Sehun feels his tail being caressed by another tail.
“Does it still hurt?” Luhan’s eyes sparkle… But it’s a different kind of sparkle. The type of sparkle that promises things, naughty things. Sehun likes.
“AJSHDBHJ hyung.”
The older Prince nods in understanding, one hand reaching down and Sehun gasps.
“Especially here?”
He flicks his wrist and Sehun bucks against his bindings, trying to wrap his tail around the other but Luhan just laughs, nuzzling him affectionately.
“We should really get to know each other more, for the sake of our Kingdoms and all,” says Sehun when his brain has managed to stop combusting.
“Don’t you already know a lot about me?” asks Luhan, “Stealth is not one of your skills you know.”
Oh.
“I already know some things about you… Your friend Jongin was most helpful.”
That’s it, thinks Sehun, He’s going to be banished forever to waste in the dungeons with the crab who won’t stop clicking.
Luhan leans forward, eyes dark, a pink tongue coming out to lick the side of his mouth and Sehun’s sure his heart will explode soon. Or maybe he’ll just squirt.
“Sehun-ah, a killer whale won’t pound you as hard as I will. Though you may have to be quieter than a dolphin because well,” Luhan looks positively wicked right now, “We’re Princes aren’t we? And Princes don’t squeal.”
“No,” says Sehun with the remnants of his composure, “We certainly do not.”
- “Inter-fostering relations huh?” says Baekhyun, smirking from where he floats by Sehun’s bedside.
“That clam must have slammed you pretty hard for you not to be able to swim,” drawls Jongin, leering at the many bruises the Prince now sports.
“As hard as an iceberg,” says Luhan sunnily, “But Sehunnie enjoyed the mud rub I gave him.”
“This is for the good of our Kingdoms,” says Sehun weakly, waving a hand dismissively, “Getting to know each other and all.”
“So we may get more inbred babies after all? Royalty is all related and retarded now…”
Sehun takes Kibum’s place as most trident-happy in the Kingdom.
A/N: An EXO-fic in the mermaid AU! to accompany or be a stand alone with the Shinee one I wrote :D At first it was going to be Baekyeol but Tao swum his way into the fic and *boom* BaekTao. So sleep deprived..