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Chapter Text

Lan Xichen knew about the merfolk, of course.

You couldn't study the ocean without taking at least a semester on the underwater dwellers, and while Lan Xichen was far past his college years, he still kept up to date on research papers. The mer were a fiercely reclusive civilization, and even the rare few who interacted with humans never gave much insight into the species as a whole.

Well. Except maybe the one that Wangji had met as a boy, but he refused to tell Lan Xichen anything, because the mer had made him promise and because his brother was awful.

(Wangji was not awful. Even thinking it made Lan Xichen feel guilty.)

Still, even knowing of the mer, and having been a marine biologist for over a decade, Lan Xichen had not expected to actually meet one.

"And what does this do?" the mer asked, playing with Lan Xichen's watch, which was thankfully waterproof and also apparently easy to steal.

"It keeps track of time," he replied, sitting down on the concrete next to the quarantine pool. When the mer had popped up at the side of his boat and asked for help he had not screamed, definitely, but in the time it took him and his team to get the injured mer back to their facilities for treatment, at least his heart rate had gone down a little bit.

The mer had introduced himself as Huaisang from the Qinghe-Nie pod--and Lan Xichen hadn't even known the merfolk had named, distinct factions--and requested help with a shredded caudal fin.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

Huaisang hummed, a low vibrating sound that was almost like a purr. He continued to poke and prod at the watch, turning the dials and looking pleased when the hands moved accordingly.

"Better," he replied cheerfully, wiggling his tail in the water to demonstrate. He had vertical fins like a shark, and scales that glittered golden green; the anatomy didn't match that of other mer that had been documented, but then none of them had been the same either. One spotted off the coast of India had a brightly colored tail that resembled a lionfish; another seen near Australia had looked like a dolphin's.

According to Wangji, the one he met had long flowing fins like a betta, inky black limned in vibrant red.

Huaisang's certainly had taken a beating--he'd needed a long row of stitches to close a gash in the dorsal part of his caudal fin, another few on his ventral, and the tip at the bottom had been hacked roughly off. It looked like propeller damage--as if he had gotten too close to a boat, like other ocean mammals sometimes did.

They usually had the disadvantage of not knowing any better, though. And by the keen look in the mer's eyes, Lan Xichen did not think Huaisang was at all unintelligent.

"I don't know how long it takes for you to heal," he said apologetically, "So I can't say how long the stitches need to stay in. We can take you back to the ocean now, if you like, and you can come back when they need removing."

Huaisang waved one webbed hand.

"I'll just stay here until I'm ready," he decided, like he wasn't taking up an entire research tank, like he knew they wouldn't deny him.

(They wouldn't. They absolutely would not. Lan Xichen was prepared to take the mer to his own bathtub if Huaisang wanted to stay on land longer, he refused to lose this chance to speak with one of the merfolk.

Also Huaisang was rather endearing, in a wide-eyed, excitable kid kind of a way, and the simple delight he took in playing with human things reminded Lan Xichen of Wangji when he was a child.)

"Is there anything we can do to make you more comfortable?" he asked. "I'm afraid we don't really know much about..."

'Your species' would sound incredibly rude, wouldn't it?

"Well, I usually eat three or four fish a day, about this size." Huaisang held his hands apart by about a foot. "Anything local, doesn't really matter. But--"

And here the mer's eyes gleamed.

"--I would be more than happy to try whatever human food you think might work. And then I can tell you more about myself!"

Lan Xichen stared at Huaisang's bright smile and understood, suddenly, what the legends meant when they spoke of sirens.

"...let me get some takeout menus."

Lan Xichen very quickly became the most envied researcher in the facility.

"Why does he only want to talk to you?" Lan Jingyi complained, depositing a massive bag of takeout onto Lan Xichen's desk. It was dim sum, this time, a bunch of different boxes stacked on top of each other, and it smelled amazing.

"I don't know," Lan Xichen admitted. He saved the notes he'd been working on, leaning back from his computer and stretching the ache out of his shoulders. "Maybe because I was the one who treated him? It might be an attachment thing."

Lan Jingyi grunted, unconvinced, and fished a crumpled receipt out of his pocket to drop into Lan Xichen's lap. The teen was working as an intern over the summer, Lan Xichen happily putting in a good word for his distant cousin, but he felt bad that Lan Jingyi was mostly relegated to fetch jobs.

"Did you get something for yourself?" he asked. "It's on the department's tab."

"I'm not dumb enough to turn down free food," Lan Jingyi sniffed, pulling out a couple of the boxes and a pair of chopsticks.

After a moment of hesitation he ducked his head and dug into his pocket again, coming up with a cheap plastic yo-yo.

"I got this from one of the gacha machines," he muttered, tossing it next to the receipt. "I thought he might like it."

Lan Xichen smiled.

Aside from inhaling food with his delicate, razor-sharp teeth, Huaisang had also proven to be absolutely insatiable when it came to all things human. He had eventually given back Lan Xichen's watch, but only after trading it for a fidget cube from one of the other researchers. That was swapped out for the metal Hanayama puzzles Lan Xichen kept in his desk, and those for a swiss army knife, and that for a rattle drum.

Eventually someone had just brought in a box of random things (half of them children's toys, conveniently waterproof), and watching one of the mysterious merfolk play delightedly with a wind-up submarine had to be one of the best things Lan Xichen had witnessed in his life, ever.

"I'm sure he'll like it."

Jingyi nodded and scuttled off, clutching his food like the perpetually-hungry teenager that he was, and Lan Xichen picked up the bag to head to the quarantine tank.

He found Huaisang drawing on the floor to the side of the pool. There was a compact mirror propped up next to him, and the likeness of himself was actually pretty detailed, for all that it was done on concrete with bathtub markers.

"We don't have this kind of art down there," Huaisang said as he approached, not even looking up. "Most of it's carvings and sculpture, stuff that can withstand the currents. The things you have, like paint and canvas, where you can add depth simply because the layers have time to dry..."

He glanced at Lan Xichen with a small, wistful smile.

"It's really nice up here, you know?"

Lan Xichen settled down in a patch of dry area, contemplating the young mer as he unpacked lunch. He opened up boxes and set them and the yo-yo in a neat row along the side of the pool, waiting until Huaisang floated over before he spoke.

"I don't know if it's safe for you to stay," he said quietly, honestly, and felt his heart clench at the disappointed--but not surprised--expression that stole over Huaisang's features.

Despite the fact that he'd gathered an enormous amount of data over the past couple days, despite the fact that he would love to keep Huaisang as a guest for as long as the mer wanted--Lan Xichen was not a fool. The staff at the facility were fiercely loyal, but there was only so long you could keep secret that they had one of the merfolk in residence. The media frenzy it would create aside, laws regarding the mer were ambiguous due to their rare interactions with humans, and there would always be greedy people in the world looking to claim a rarity for themselves.

Lan Xichen hadn't even reported Huaisang's presence to his administrative superiors; he'd registered him into the system as an injured dolphin. Even if the board didn't have the kind of people that would force Huaisang into scientific research against his will, the mysticism around mer was still widespread, and anything to do with merfolk could sell for thousands of dollars.

It was far, far too tempting for the ones in charge of their underfunded lab.

Huaisang sighed, poking dispiritedly through the boxes of dim sum. He bit into a piece of pork bao, and that at least seemed to cheer him up a bit.

"How long do you think I have?"

"Another week, at most."

Huaisang nodded and continued sampling from the assorted boxes, his mood lightening as he discovered the har gow and fried squid. He picked up the yo-yo and unspooled the string, chewing absently as it got tangled around the tips of his fingers.

"I think that'll be long enough," he said.

Lan Xichen tilted his head curiously.

Long enough to heal? Long enough to sate his curiosity of the human world? Whatever had compelled Huaisang to break from the merfolk's conventional policy of isolation, it didn't seem that he was satisfied with its progress.

Lan Xichen didn't ask, but he did hope that the young mer could find at least some kind of fulfillment in his visit to the surface.

Two nights later, he woke to singing.

He'd started sleeping in his office over the past few days, partly to be on hand in case Huaisang needed anything and partly because he just had so much information to organize. There was a futon in the back that was supposed to be for all-nighters, but he usually fell asleep at his desk anyway.

Lan Xichen blinked blearily as he sat back in his chair, pulling a sticky note off his cheek as his brain stirred sluggishly to awareness.

The song was wordless--or, at least, it wasn't in any kind of human tongue. It echoed hauntingly through the empty halls, longing and questioning and curious. It made Lan Xichen taste salt on his tongue; made his breath catch in as if it had been stolen. He shivered as he pulled up the security feeds on his computer, flipping to the quarantine tanks.

Huaisang had his hands planted firmly on the edge of the pool, most of his upper body lifted out of the water. His head was thrown back, long hair a dark ribbon draped down his spine and over his dorsal fins. He swayed gently as he sang, eyes closed, a small smile on his lips.

It was painfully beautiful, and for a long while Lan Xichen just sat there with his eyes closed, letting the sound wash over him, letting it resonate in his bones like whalesong.

And then, abruptly, it ended.

A quiet sigh escaped Lan Xichen's lungs; he took a moment to center himself before opening his eyes. There was an indescribable feeling in his heart, and he rubbed his chest for a moment before looking back at the security feeds to see if there was a reason Huaisang had stopped.

Five seconds later he was bolting out of his office at a full-tilt run.

The quarantine pools weren't that far away. It was unlikely something would happen before he got there. But there had been someone standing at the edge of Huaisang's tank, and as the only person who should be at the facility, Lan Xichen didn't dare waste a moment getting there.

He burst through the doors, nearly braining himself as his shoes slipped across wet concrete.

"Huaisang!"

Lan Xichen grabbed the nearest weapon-shaped object and bounded over to the pool, standing opposite the tall figure, who was far too close to the young mer for comfort.

"Huaisang, come over here, quick."

"You know his name?"

Lan Xichen paused, frowning at the man, who was...painfully attractive, actually.

He had long braided black hair and fierce features, his brows furrowed as he glanced between Lan Xichen and Huaisang, standing with his arms crossed over his--bare--chest with absolutely no indication of alarm. There was a gossamer-thin vest over his broad shoulders, a strand of shells and shark teeth hanging from his neck, and his pants had the same texture as seal skin. His feet were bare.

Lan Xichen felt a sudden, hysterical foreboding rise in his chest.

"Huaisang," the man said, "Why does the human know your name?"

Lan Xichen dropped the squeegee.

"Brother," Huaisang wheedled, in the same tone of voice he'd used to convince Lan Xichen to order deep-fried rice cakes, "It would be rude not to! Of course I told him my name."

"Brother," Lan Xichen repeated numbly.

"You shouldn't even be here in the first place!" Huaisang's brother snapped. "Do you know how hard it's been to convince Zonghui not to banish himself to the abyss for losing track of you? Why did you take so long to call me?"

Ah. The singing.

"I was having fun," Huaisang admitted without a hint of repentance. His brother's eye twitched. "Besides, look who I found!"

Huaisang swam over to Lan Xichen, who tried to take a hasty step backward because he was not prepared to get in the middle of a merfolk family dispute, but the young mer grabbed his wrist in a merciless grip and dragged him along the side of the pool toward his brother.

Up close, the man--the mer--was even more stunning, and Lan Xichen could see the family resemblance. He could also see the way he went pale--and then, bewilderingly, red.

"Huaisang," the mer hissed.

Still holding onto his wrist, Huaisang tugged until Lan Xichen looked down at him, beaming bright and guileless in a way that Lan Xichen now knew was an absolute filthy lie.

"Mingjue's been in love with you for ages."

Lan Xichen's brain, very inconveniently, decided to stop working.

"Huaisang!" Mingjue roared, lunging for his brother, who squeaked and darted hastily away.

Lan Xichen watched dumbly as Mingjue hit the water, his skin shimmering, his lower body melting into scarred fins and glittering green scales that cut through the water like a knife. With only a few powerful strokes of his tail he had the younger mer pinned against the side of the pool, a hand--now webbed and taloned--covering Huaisang's mouth.

"I am going to kill you," Mingjue seethed. "I am going to destroy all of your shells and sculptures and feed you to the abyss-damned shrimp--"

"Um," Lan Xichen said.

Mingjue froze. Huaisang wiggled under his brother's body, making muffled sounds against his palm, and didn't look the least bit concerned about the death threats.

"I...have questions," Lan Xichen admitted plaintively.

Mingjue closed his eyes with the kind of resigned expression that reminded Lan Xichen of when Wangji was particularly exhausted from his boyfriend's poor decision-making.

"Very well. You may ask."

How do you turn into a human? Lan Xichen's brain screamed. How did no one ever discover this? Can all mer do it? Are there limitations? Restrictions? Is it painful? How does that even work when it comes to the conservation of mass?

"I don't remember meeting you," is what he said instead.

Mingjue grimaced. Huaisang squirmed around and this time was allowed to escape, ducking under his brother's half-hearted swat to drift back in Lan Xichen's direction.

"Do you remember the school of sharks you helped in the cove just south of here?" he asked.

Lan Xichen blinked.

He did, actually: it was the first large-scale rescue operation he participated in after moving into town to work at the facility. Coastal flooding caused by heavy storms had given the sharks access to a usually-inaccessible bay, and after the water levels went back to normal, they'd gotten trapped behind the shoals. A few had been injured, and the threat displays when anyone went close to them had locals debating if they should just be culled instead of relocated.

There had been one in particular of concern: a larger male shark that the others had clearly been protecting, but in the end was actually the first to allow the rescue team to approach.

Lan Xichen looked at Mingjue, who was very studiously not looking at him.

"That was you?" he blurted.

"He was escorting them to our hunting grounds when they got caught in the storm," Huaisang supplied happily, swimming over to his stash of snack foods on the edge of the pool. He rummaged around before coming up with a bag of kit-kats, which he proceeded to examine with the same amount of focus in opening that Lan Xichen saw in bored cephalopods.

"Were they all...?"

Huaisang pointedly turned his back, focusing further on the wrappers that Lan Xichen had seen him open quite easily just a day ago.

Mingjue huffed and shot his brother a mutinous look.

"No," he said after a few stubborn moments of silence. "I was the only mer. Most of us can't take other forms like that."

"Big brother is special," Huaisang piped up, casting a beaming smile over his shoulder before returning to his treats. Mingjue snorted.

"You could do it if you worked on your cultivation and actually studied."

But Mingjue did look at Lan Xichen, then, and whatever he saw on his face made him duck his head.

"You were very gentle," he said, quiet and honest. "And your hands were kind."

"I... Thank you," Lan Xichen breathed. He sank to the ground with what was probably an entirely ungraceful thud, scooting as close as he could to the pool, his shoes hanging just over the water.

And he held his breath when, hesitantly, Mingjue swam nearer.

"Usually humans see us as mysteries to be solved," the mer said, studying Lan Xichen closely, as if he was drinking in every inch of him, "Or creatures to be examined. Our interactions with you are...stilted."

Lan Xichen glanced away. He wouldn't take on the misdeeds of others, but he knew full well the complicated--and often tragic--interactions that humans had with merfolk. He wasn't responsible but he still felt it, a shame that soured his stomach.

Cool fingers brushed against his jaw.

He snapped his head up, wide-eyed, staring at Mingjue's face now so close. The mer offered him a wry smile, his hand--no longer webbed, no longer taloned--cupping Lan Xichen's cheek in his palm.

"Most of our lesser kin are seen as merely food, or sport," Mingjue said quietly. "But you took care of them. You saw them injured and faced their teeth and you still wanted to help. I could not leave them to their deaths--but neither could you."

Lan Xichen swallowed hard and stubbornly ignored the wetness that gathered in the corners of his eyes. There was a distinction between hoping you made a difference--tending to injured animals, letting them go back to the wild, telling yourself to believe they would be fine--and having it confirmed. Having someone with authority tell you that, yes, you did something good. You helped.

He didn't realize the tears were falling until Mingjue brushed them away, a gentle expression softening the mer's face.

"Look," he murmured, balancing the salty droplets on his fingers. "You've always had the sea in you."

Lan Xichen hiccuped a laugh, and leaned down to rest their foreheads together, and smiled.

"Yes," he said, "I suppose I have."

Chapter Text

Huaisang was insufferably smug about the whole thing, of course.

Which made it worse that he was also the best resource Mingjue could ask for when it came to courting a human.

"Just talk about yourself," Huaisang advised, draped over a half-rotted wooden desk, his tail flicking idly behind him. "Or our people in general. He was really interested in even the little stuff, like our migration habits and what we eat. It was kind of boring, honestly."

Mingjue shot him a narrow-eyed look and was not at all jealous that his little brother got to talk to his human before he did.

But something must have shown on his face, because Huaisang winced and waved him hastily toward a crate in the corner.

"Try in there, that's where I keep the stuff that humans like."

He grunted and swam over to the indicated container.

This wreck was one of Huaisang's more pristine finds: an old merchant ship nestled in the sea floor, mostly untouched due to the depth. Whenever they moved locations, he always found some sunken human detritus to make into his 'workshop'--which basically just amounted to a place he could store his random crap, or hide in when he was avoiding lessons, or go off to sulk when he got into a mood.

Mingjue was not particularly approving of his workshops.

But they also hadn't relocated for the last two years, and while the rest of the pod were content enough so long as they still had space and hunting grounds, Huaisang knew exactly why they were staying. It gave him an absolutely unforgiving advantage when he wanted to get his way, and if allowing him a space to fuss over human-related rubbish let Mingjue avoid his little brother's offensively knowing eyes, it was worth letting it slide.

The crate wasn't filled with human garbage, surprisingly. Instead it held things from the sea: strings of predator teeth and handfuls of pearls, chunks of raw gemstones and delicate shells. Mingjue poked through the piles with a little more hope until he came across a lump of fucking ambergris.

"Why do you even have this?"

His brother stirred, floating closer to look over his shoulder.

"What? Humans put a lot of value on that stuff."

"I am not giving Xichen whale shit."

Huaisang rolled his eyes.

"Give him something else, then. Look, he's a human in love with the sea, and you can answer literally any question he has. Do you think he's ever been to the deep ocean floor? Swam with dolphins? Fought a dolphin?"

"Dolphins are assholes," Mingjue agreed contemplatively.

"See!" Huaisang exclaimed, poking him in the arm. "How's he supposed to know that? He probably thinks they're beautiful and majestic, or something. He loves the ocean, but he doesn't know it. Not like we do."

Mingjue considered the words.

He hadn't been able to spend much time talking to Lan Xichen that night he went to retrieve Huaisang. Dawn had been approaching, the cover of darkness fading away, and while Huaisang might be able to get away with disappearing for a few days, Mingjue could not. He'd had to yell at Zonghui just to keep him from coming close to shore with him; if he'd taken any longer out of the water, there would have been consequences, and he was not prepared for a full-out war against humans.

But he had gotten Lan Xichen to promise to meet him, later, once Huaisang had been returned to the ocean and suitably punished.

(Huaisang had not been punished, to Mingjue's eternal self-annoyance. He'd been too giddily pleased that he finally got to meet his lovely human to be strict, which he knew his brother had counted on from the start.

Honestly, he was getting far too predictable.)

But he was going to spend time with the human he'd been pining after for years: he was going to walk with him and talk with him and do...whatever it was that humans did for dates. Lan Xichen had mentioned something about the boardwalk. It was going to be great and wonderful and Mingjue was not going to fuck it up by showing up empty-handed.

He reached into the crate and pulled out an oval-shaped pearl the size of his fist.

"I'm going to give him this," he said decisively.

Huaisang dragged a hand across his face, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

"Okay, brother. You give him that."

Pleased, Mingjue hefted the pearl and headed toward the surface.

"You can't give me this!"

Mingjue did not pout, because pouting was for Huaisang and people who didn't get their way, but he did frown. Just a little bit.

"Why not?"

Lan Xichen cradled the pearl in his hands like it was either something precious or something on the verge of detonating. His eyes were wide, which was very cute, but he also looked kind of horrified, which was less so.

"It's far too much," he exclaimed.

Mingjue eyed the pearl dubiously. He'd seen some almost quadruple its size, and even those just ended up as materials for Huaisang's art pieces. But he couldn't say that his gift was effectively worthless.

(He should have just hunted down a trophy like he wanted to. An orca, maybe, or a giant squid. That would have taken skill, and been far more worthy of Lan Xichen than something you could find just by smacking open a few oysters.

Huaisang's ideas were the worst.)

"I'm sorry?" he offered. "I thought you would like it. Huaisang said your people value them."

"No, we do," Lan Xichen admitted. He looked down at the pearl, and then back up at Mingjue, and finally his expression softened into something less distressed, if still a little pained. "I... Thank you. It's a lovely gift, really."

Mingjue nodded stiffly. He scuffed a sandal across the wooden slats of the dock as Lan Xichen tucked the pearl away.

Huaisang had checked over his attire for his trip to the surface, but surprisingly hadn't changed too much: there was just the addition of the footwear, and some fiddly buttons to keep the front of his seasilk vest closed. He still wore his braids and his trophy necklace, and was mostly just grateful that his little brother hadn't tried to stuff him into human clothing.

Not that he was necessarily against human clothing--at least when it was Lan Xichen wearing it.

(He would also like Lan Xichen to not be wearing it, but that was a thought for another time, in a more private place.)

Before this, Mingjue had never seen him in anything other than simple loose clothes, meant to be worked in. Now Lan Xichen was resplendent, jeans wrapped snug around long legs, a pale blue button-up shirt stretched over lean muscle. When he smiled it was bright, unrestrained, and Mingjue's useless human lungs seemed to think that that was a signal for them to stop functioning.

"I didn't bring you anything," Lan Xichen admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

Mingjue shrugged easily.

"I don't have any human currency," he said, "So I imagine you'll have to pay for things for me."

Lan Xichen's eyes went suddenly keen, an interest sparking in them that was entirely absent when he was gifted the pearl.

"Does that mean that there is mer currency?"

Mingjue blinked at the intensity on the man's face, at the excitement and eagerness for knowledge of the sea, and mentally smothered a sigh.

He hated when Huaisang was right.

"Not as such," he admitted, falling into step at Lan Xichen's side as they walked up the dock towards the beach. "We mostly use a barter system to exchange supplies, or pass on locations for good hunting or safe living. Pods are almost entirely self-sufficient, but there are times when extra assistance is required, and we do not forget our debts."

Not that Qinghe-Nie owed many. Mingjue prided himself on taking care of his people, on being known as a pod that had the strength to offer sanctuary instead of needing it. One of the reasons they had grown so large was because he never turned away anyone who needed help, and the mer often stayed afterward.

They walked along the sand for a while, Mingjue helplessly charmed by Lan Xichen's eager questions, eventually managing to ask some of his own when he mustered enough confidence to do so. Being on land threw him off, made him uneasy so out of his element, but it was hard to stay reticent in the face of his companion's bright eyes and easy laughter.

When they turned to head toward the buildings at the edge of the beach, Lan Xichen reached over to take his hand--warm, wonderful, breathtakingly intimate--and offered him a worried look.

"Will it be okay, being around so many people?"

The beach wasn't overly crowded, but there were a myriad of shops and stands set up alongside it, throngs of humans shuffling between them with loud voices and grasping hands.

"It's fine," Mingjue assured him. He paused for a moment, weighing learned wariness against his trusting heart. "I usually come on land when the pod moves to a new location, to make sure it's safe. I'm used to blending in with humans."

Lan Xichen glanced at him sharply, and something in Mingjue relaxed at the shock on his human's handsome features. For all that Lan Xichen wanted to know more about the sea, he had not pushed to ask questions about merfolk magic or practices, understanding that there were things Mingjue would not reveal to keep his people safe.

Looking at the soft smile that curved Lan Xichen's lips, at the gratified understanding in his eyes of the privilege of knowledge he'd been given, Mingjue found himself wanting to tell him everything anyway.

And humans thought that mer were sirens.

A few months into their courtship--a few wonderful, blissful months, and Mingjue was even starting to enjoy the feel of sand between his weirdly-delicate human toes--Lan Xichen met him at the docks with a hesitant, uncertain expression.

A thousand worst case scenarios immediately flashed through Mingjue's head.

Lan Xichen wanted to stop seeing him. He was going to move away from the sea, back to the mountains he came from. He had gotten caught for hiding Huaisang from his superiors, he was dying, he never wanted to see Mingjue again--

"Would you like to meet my brother?"

Mingjue blinked.

"I know it's kind of a surprise." Lan Xichen smiled apologetically. "But he and his boyfriend are in town, and I've been talking about you, and Wangji knows I don't really have that many friends, much less people I date--"

Mingjue blinked again, struggling very hard to balance the adrenalin-filled pounding of his heart with the massive wave of utter relief that crashed over him.

"I didn't tell him about what you are, of course!" Lan Xichen reassured him hurriedly. He grabbed Mingjue's hands, looking at him with wide imploring eyes that just further incapacitated his higher mental functions. "I would never, I swear--"

"Xichen," Mingjue wheezed, and honestly, why did human lungs never work right? "I know you wouldn't. It's okay. I would like to meet him."

Lan Xichen stopped, looking at him searchingly.

"Are you sure? I know this is sudden. I didn't even know they were coming until yesterday."

Yesterday, when Mingjue was busy herding the stupidest fucking pair of sunfish out of the territory of a particularly dickish colony of sea lions, which took hours longer than expected and thus made him miss their scheduled meeting time. They didn't manage to meet every day, Mingjue busy with his pod and Lan Xichen busy with his work, but unless arrangements had been made for other trips, they would try to at least see each other at the dock around sundown.

"It's fine," Mingjue said firmly. "He's your family; family is important. And what is important to you is important to me."

Lan Xichen gave him that look, the one full of wonder and adoration that made warmth rush unfailingly to Mingjue's traitorous cheeks. He smiled, dazzlingly bright, and Mingjue allowed himself to be pulled toward the boardwalk with what he was certain was an idiotic grin on his face.

He'd been to Lan Xichen's apartment quite a few times by now; he even had some human clothes stored there, once he had gotten used to the feel of them. Occasionally new pieces would show up between his visits--a shirt, sandals, a pair of jeans--and while Mingjue didn't quite understand the pleasure Lan Xichen got out of it, he always looked so delighted when Mingjue wore them that he didn't even mind donning the constricting cloth.

(Except for shoes. Shoes were still, in Mingjue's entirely correct opinion, completely awful.)

They arrived before the brother and the brother's boyfriend, which gave Mingjue time to shed his seasilk for more appropriate cotton and denim, and were lounging in front of the television--an excellent human invention--when a knock sounded on the door.

Mingjue was not nervous, when Lan Xichen went to open the door. He was the leader of the Qinghe-Nie pod; he'd protected his territory and his people for decades, fought off human poachers and deep-ocean creatures that defied description, and he was not nervous to face the beloved little brother of the man he had fallen for.

He was actually quite agitated, because when Lan Xichen led his guests to the living room, one of them was distinctly not human.

Lan Xichen's lovely mouth, which had been open in what was likely an introduction, let out a surprised yelp instead when Mingjue grabbed him by the arm and yanked him away from the two newcomers. The one that had to be Lan Wangji--he looked far too similar to Lan Xichen to be anything but--narrowed his eyes in fury, but his companion looked appropriately unsettled.

Dark eyes shimmered unnaturally when they caught the light. They darted between the necklace around Mingjue's neck and the intricate braiding that coiled through his hair, and widened.

"Chifeng-Zun?" the not-human blurted. At Mingjue's protective hiss he stepped hastily to the side, letting go of Lan Wangji's hand to drop into a deep bow.

"Wei Ying?" Lan Wangji asked worriedly.

"My deepest apologies, Chifeng-Zun," his companion said, not lifting his head. "I wasn't aware that Qinghe-Nie was active here, or I would have sent word of my imposition. I am Wuxian, of the Yiling-Sanren pod."

Some of the tension in Mingjue's shoulders eased. The Yiling-Sanren pod was an honorable one, if a bit eccentric due to their intensely reclusive nature. They were also entirely nomadic, never staying in one place more than a few days, so he usually only interacted with them by chance.

Wuxian glanced up at him; Mingjue inclined his head grudgingly, and the other mer straightened with a relieved look.

"I really am sorry," he said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, the required formalities seen to. "Especially since...well, I know that Lan Zhan hasn't--"

"Wangji," Lan Xichen gasped, sounding scandalized. Mingjue turned toward him and was confused to find unbridled delight curving the man's mouth. "Is this why you changed your major to oceanography?"

The worried, uncertain expression on Lan Wangji's face shifted very abruptly to something far more flustered.

"I was interested," he denied stiffly, and even Mingjue's poorly-developed skills at reading human facial expressions could tell that he was lying through his teeth. "It allowed me to travel to many different locations."

"You spent three years studying a major you hated just so you could find your childhood crush."

"Brother," Lan Wangji hissed, but the damage was already done. Wuxian's eyes lit up in unholy glee, bright and dancing as he draped himself across his boyfriend's shoulders.

"Aww, Lan Zhan," he crooned, "That is so sweet."

The tips of Lan Wangji's ears flushed bright pink. Lan Xichen finally seemed to take pity on his brother; he chuckled and steered the conversation in a slightly different direction.

"You told me you met at a charity event."

"Oh, we did," Wuxian replied cheerfully. "It was one of the Jiang Foundation's annual fundraisers. Since they kind-of adopted me when I made land, I always try to help out at events."

Mingjue hummed in understanding. That made sense, if Wuxian had really spent so long amongst humans. The Jiang Foundation was one of the top contributors to wildlife conservation, and one of the only groups of humans that had regular, sanctioned contact with mer. They were sworn to secrecy, vows of silence dating back centuries, and if Wuxian had been determined to live on land, they would have been the best ones to facilitate the transition.

"Brother," Lan Wangji asked, his hesitance from before resurfacing, "Are you not angry that I never told you?"

Lan Xichen's eyes softened. He glanced at Mingjue, warm and fond, and Mingjue gazed back at the human he believed he could trust with both his life and his secrets. At the incredible, beautiful man who had, entirely unknowingly, stolen his heart from the sea.

"No," Lan Xichen replied with a quiet smile. "No, I understand completely."

Huaisang was plotting something.

(Huaisang was always plotting something.)

But Huaisang was plotting something with Lan Xichen, and no matter how much Mingjue threatened or cajoled, neither of them would tell him anything.

"You'll like it," Huaisang promised, flitting ahead through the towers of coral. Mingjue swam grumpily behind, occasionally catching a flailing crab or mollusc tossed his direction as Huaisang plucked them delicately from the ocean floor. He shoved them into the woven kelp bag at his side, scowling at the back of his little brother's fins.

"If I'll like it, why do you need to keep it a secret?" he groused.

The questioning was mostly rote, at this point: Huaisang and Lan Xichen had already been conspiring together for weeks. What initially had been Huaisang just wanting to tag along on one of his visits had somehow turned into clandestine meetings that Mingjue wasn't invited to, which usually took place when he was distracted with pod business.

Huaisang brightly said that it was nice to have a new friend. Lan Xichen gently admonished Mingjue for not spending enough time with his little brother, as he'd been so distracted with what the surface had to offer.

(Lan Xichen. That was the only interesting thing the surface had to offer. Lan Xichen and, occasionally, chocolate.)

And Mingjue knew he was being manipulated--they weren't even trying to be subtle--but the words weren't necessarily untrue, which is why he was allowing himself to be dragged along on Huaisang's hunt for snacks and nacre.

"Because it's more exciting if it's a surprise!" Huaisang chirped.

Mingjue grunted doubtfully.

A tangled mass of giant kelp smacked him in the face.

"Ah, there it is!" Huaisang exclaimed as Mingjue sputtered. He let his talons slash through the bundle of seaweed with what was probably a little too much satisfaction, batting the remnants aside as he scowled at his brother.

Who was swimming eagerly toward the surface, following the line of an anchor to a boat floating above them.

"Huaisang!" Mingjue shouted, fear coursing ice-cold through his veins. Huaisang knew better, should know better, even if he was always so curious, even if Mingjue was right there to protect him he shouldn't risk--

Huaisang breached the surface and Mingjue surged upward. The water churned around him as he barreled straight up, as he watched in horror as Huaisang's fins disappeared out of view, as his baby brother was taken out of the sea--

Mingjue threw himself out of the water, teeth and talons bared, ready to eviscerate whatever dared touch his brother--

Lan Xichen's bright, pleased smile morphed into something a lot more alarmed when Mingjue landed heavily on the deck, 400 pounds of muscle and thrashing tail making the boat rock dangerously until he managed to hastily shift into a more compact human form.

Huaisang was sitting in a jacuzzi under a wide cloth awning, one eyebrow lifted as Mingjue fought to squash down the residual panic. Lan Xichen was at his side in an instant, rubbing a soothing hand down his back.

"This," Mingjue growled. "This is why I hate surprises."

Huaisang stuck out his lower lip in a pout but Mingjue was not having it, and the only things that kept him from going over and smacking some sense into his idiot baby brother were Lan Xichen's strong hands helping him stand up.

"We're sorry," Lan Xichen said, because apparently he had already fallen into the trap of defending Huaisang when the little shit didn't need it, "We thought it would be a nice gift."

Mingjue scrubbed a hand over his face, resettling himself, calming his mind, before letting out an even breath and meeting his human's lovely eyes.

"What gift?" he asked.

Lan Xichen motioned around them, an adorable, hopeful smile on his lips.

"This."

Mingjue blinked. He looked around a little more closely, taking in his surroundings without the icy frosting of fear. The deck was spacious and boasted the jacuzzi Huaisang was currently splashing around in, with stairs leading both up to the bridge and down further into the boat. There were lounge chairs set up facing out to sea, and in one of the windows, he spotted the rope of seashells he'd gifted Lan Xichen swaying gently with the rocking of the waves.

This wasn't just a ship, it was--

"A houseboat?" Mingjue asked wonderingly. "Yours?"

"Ours," Lan Xichen corrected, ducking his head shyly. "If you want it to be. You could stay here whenever you want, however you want--you wouldn't have to change your form anymore. And--and the jacuzzi is seawater, too, and I put UV patterning on the bottom of the hull so you can always find it--"

Mingjue grabbed Lan Xichen and hauled him into a kiss, and they didn't come up for air for a very, very long time.