The Treasure of Maroon Bay

by fenaly

Summary:

This is the tale of Captain Lan Wangji and his first merman encounter.

Notes:

Here it is! The pirate/merman AU which originally appeared as a threadfic on my twitter, now as a full story.

I recalled a line: "A little mermaid flopped up on the deck and told them the whole story!" (in POTC) and thus the story was born.

This is set in a fantasy land and not in any specific place on earth. It is not historically accurate. Mostly everything is made up, but there are some references to certain movies/games.

Enjoy!

Find me on twitter at nsfweiying

 

 

— Prologue —

 

 

 

One could say that Lan Wangji is a peculiar pirate. 

 

He sails with pure ivory sails, puffed out by the winds like clouds in the horizon, yellowed by the sun and saltwater. With golden and navy blue layers of cracked paint all over his ship, some might speculate that it is quite too luxurious to be even considered a pirate ship.

 

However, to many of the ones who criticize him, he is untouchable. Some might say he could not be even called a pirate—though what else would he be? 

 

Lan Wangji sails under no one except his own, all black flag with a dark gray embroidered cloud symbol on it. His ship is one that he had with force taken along with him when he had escaped to the seas. Ever since, not too many ports have become familiar with his ship. 

 

He is one of those captains with a little magic around their story. He is said to be cold as ice, brutal and cruel, and that his ship has a speed that no one could match. Yet, it does not seem that he has taken that many human lives. He often avoids battling, or so they have heard, and this is why there are very little stories with actual sightings of him.

 

People do not bear a grudge towards Lan Wangji. It is Lan Wangji who bears a grudge towards people.

 

Little do they understand how hard he has fought for it. So much that his ship has become hope itself to those who have been wronged or oppressed. 

 

Lan Wangji’s ship is a cloud in the vast sky—and the very bane of its existence is freedom.

 

 

 

— Part 1 —

 

 

 

Muffled cries carry through the water. Wei Wuxian rouses from his sleep, the little red fin extensions of his ears perking up to better catch the sound.

 

“Help! Please, help!”

 

He opens his eyes and takes in his surroundings. He could be considered a predator, or so the humans would usually insist, so his senses are sharp and quick. It does not take long for him to calculate where the screams have come from. 

 

He curses as he dashes quickly out of the cave he’s habiting, swimming past the overgrown kelps and leaving in his trail a current that makes the sand stir. 

 

They live deep down, in the multiple caves of this system of chained archipelago. He has to swim up quite far before he makes it to the edge of the reef. Fortunately, he is probably one of the fastest swimmers in this area.

 

When he reaches the edge he sees the gruesome sight in front of him. The very thing that he has been afraid of.

 

“Wei Wuxian—you’re here! Please, help! They’re attacking us!” says a mermaid with a purple tail. Her voice carries through the water from somewhere next to him. He recognizes her, a friend of Wei Wuxian’s sister and she’s hiding behind a rock, holding her child who seems to be curled up and hugging her waist.

 

Fury makes the fins of Wei Wuxian’s back stiffen. “Who is?”

 

“I don’t know! Humans! There’s a ship—ah, actually, there are two! They want to kill us, don’t they?”

 

Wei Wuxian toughens his expression. “Please go down to the caves and protect yourself and him,” he gestures at the child, “and alert everyone! We need everyone who is able to fight to come up!”

 

“Yes!” she says. Before leaving she tells him, “please be careful!”

 

“You too!”

 

Wei Wuxian dashes forward. He is getting very close to the surface now, and the thought of that kind of scares him. He has not been this close to it in a long time.

 

When the reef opens up ahead of him, he sees the two hulls. How come there are two ships here now, who have both arrived without any of them noticing? The bigger one is in the middle of the bay, above the colour-dulled reefs with nets in its wake.

 

Hang on, nets? How do they even know to hunt here? The merfolk of this particular area have been silent for years, keeping a low profile from possible hunters. How had they found out about them?

 

Wei Wuxian swims right in. He goes into where the multiple nets and long spikes are—do they call them harpoons?—that the humans are shooting down into the water. Their aim is not that accurate, but when one of those things manages to land a hit, Wei Wuxian knows it is bad. 

 

In his gills he can faintly taste that there is some kind of poison floating around in the water. Maybe they have poisoned the harpoons.

 

Wei Wuxian braces himself. He can do this, he tells himself. The only way the humans could hit him is with pure guessing. This time they’re just not foolish enough to dive right into the water with them.

 

He hears more shouting and screaming a small distance away. It’s right below the hull of the ship, on the other side, a merman tangled in one of the nets. One of his kind has been caught. He is probably the partner of the mermaid from earlier.

 

“Help!” he screams. It pains to hear a voice so broken.

 

“I’m coming to help you!” yells Wei Wuxian back. 

 

With a quick flick of his black, red-tipped tail he gives himself a boost, and with his darkened claws and spotted wrists he grabs the thick rope that the net has been made out of and tries to frantically scrape and bite away. It is not working at all. His stomach sinks.

 

“What are they made out of these days! What the hell is this?!” he shouts, mostly to himself, and he sees that the net is already moving up. The humans know they have a catch. 

 

A harpoon goes right past his shoulder. He jolts away to the left and looks down where it has landed on the reef, following the rope up where it has come from. He makes a rash decision to grab the rope and with all his might he pulls. 

 

Surprisingly, the rope gives way. A splash happens at the surface, which means that a human has fallen in. He takes one glimpse at his friend caught in the net—he knows he can’t get him out. 

 

“Go!! Kill them!” the caught merman shouts at him. 

 

Blinded by his anger Wei Wuxian makes up his mind. He nods and swims right up to him and grabs the fallen man’s leg. He pulls him down while the human's limbs thrash and bubbles escape his mouth. The human screams in agony, but his screams get muffled by the water. He’s wearing a uniform, a very formal one, so Wei Wuxian knows he is an officer of some sort—so, it is not a pirate ship. 

 

When he’s deep enough with his victim he goes to find the dropped harpoon. He grabs it and pierces the sharp spike right through the man’s foot, hard into the reef beneath. That holds him in place as he tries to see and swim back up. Wei Wuxian leaves him there and gets back to the net.

 

“Don’t worry! Fight them with all you got!” he yells to the caught merman. At the side of his field of vision he sees many purple and green tails getting closer. He turns his gaze back. “The others have come! We’ll get you out!” 

 

It’s a desperate promise they both know might not become true. Yet, hearing it becomes the fuel they need to fight. 

 

Another splash comes from the surface and Wei Wuxian reacts to the sound, having to let go of the net and swim right underneath the hull where the harpoons wont reach.

 

“Everyone! Use the rocks from the seafloor to break a hole in this ship!” he shouts at the others who have just arrived.

 

“Yes!”

 

The group dive down to find rocks that they can use to break the wooden surface of the hull. There’s screaming and yelling, exchanges of names and what they’ve found and which spot they should hit. It gets interrupted by one of the younger ones. 

 

“There’s another ship right there!”

 

“There is?!” One of the green tailed ones turns around to look, and yes indeed, there is another right on the opposite side of the bay. Right, Wei Wuxian had not warned them about that.

 

“Are they attacking too?”

 

“But there are no nets?” 

 

“Focus on this one!” orders Wei Wuxian, and they return their attention to it. Time is running out.

 

By now, the net from earlier has been almost fully raised. There is another big one on the other side, dangerously close to where Wei Wuxian is and also one at the back of the ship. He doesn’t understand how they manage to move all of them around, but he keeps his distance. 

 

Right as he’s about to go take one last grab at the raising net and the extended hand of his friend, there is a loud bang. The whole ship beside them vibrates with it and stuns them for a while. Lightweight wooden debris falls down into the water and then another bang comes, catching the attention of those who had been trying to scrape and hit rocks at the hull.

 

“That’s cannonfire! From the other ship!”

 

“It’s too dangerous to continue!"

 

The net is no longer in the water.

 

“But they got him! We have to sink this ship!”

 

Wei Wuxian tries to make sense of what he’s witnessing. “Where the hell is Jiang Cheng?!”

 

More of their kind arrive now, strong swimmers like him with orange tails, but none of them understand what’s going on.

 

Wei Wuxian looks at them while pointing around. “Stay away from the nets! They can’t get us from underneath, but don’t make a crowd. You, come with me, try to pull them down when they’re shooting!”

 

“What about the other ship?” shouts one of the green tailed ones.

 

“It’s too far away!” a purple one responds.

 

Another loud series of bangs. This time, it’s three of them, almost at once. Then it dawns on Wei Wuxian. “It’s not attacking us! It’s attacking them!” he yells. “Just focus on this one!”

 

That makes a bit more sense. They get themselves organized after that. 

 

They manage to pull down a few more humans. Unlike Wei Wuxian, the orange tailed ones go straight at their necks with their sharpened teeth. Where the bodies sink, a trail of blood floats around in their wake, having a lot of resemblance to red seaweed that extends up from the depths of the seafloor.

 

Wei Wuxian only dares to get closer to the surface then. The net is hanging on the side of the ship, casting a shadow underneath. With skill he dives down, only to turn abruptly and dash back up. He breaches the surface with a splash, using this chance to grab a hold on the net. He hangs his whole weight on it as he tries to see what’s going on above. He sees some humans staring down at him.

 

“There’s one hanging on the net!” one of them shouts. Wei Wuxian retreats. He lets go and lets himself fall back in the water. He knows he has their attention on that side now, so he dives down fast. 

 

“They’ve seen me, so they will be shooting at this side! Let them shoot and then pull them down!”

 

The orange ones shout in unison. “Yes!”

 

Wei Wuxian then swims to the other side, around the big net which is still hanging down. He goes a bit further and then carefully swims up to the surface. He rises his head above it and takes a careful look.

 

He sees the two ships. Right then, a new set of cannons fire from the one further away, and they seem to be facing his way. Startled, Wei Wuxian dives back down again, his escape being followed by the sounds of cannonballs hitting the ship with the nets. So, they are really attacking them!

 

He goes back to his friends, cutting time which causes his tail to brace at one of the nets at the back of the ship. He flinches at the contact. 

 

When he’s there, he sees the moment when they manage to punch a hole through the hull.

 

“That’s it! Good job! Now, get out of here!” he tries to tell them, but they are too excited by their success to leave.

 

“We have to make it bigger!”

 

“Yes! We can do it!” And they are back hitting the hull with the heavy rocks. 

 

Wei Wuxian is about to yell commands again, but he gets interrupted by a familiar voice.

 

“Do as he says!” 

 

It’s Jiang Cheng! With his vibrant, purple tail and black fins, he looks like he’s ready for battle. Wei Wuxian’s relief is visible.

 

“Wei Wuxian, what is going on?” asks Jiang Cheng, tone harsh. They’re brothers, but Jiang Cheng is their community leader and Wei Wuxian is basically under his command.

 

“This ship—oh,” he says as he dodges another harpoon, “this ship is attacking us, as you can see, but there’s another ship over there, who is attacking them!”

 

Jiang Cheng looks perplexed. 

 

“I know! It’s odd! But this ship has caught one of us, and we’re trying to figure out what to do next! Currently they’ve managed to create a hole in it, but it won’t be big enough to sink the ship yet.”

 

Jiang Cheng only has to think for a second. He nods. “Alright.” His hands curl into fists. “I’ll go with the group below. You go with them,” he tells Wei Wuxian, gesturing to the direction of the orange tailed mermen. Wei Wuxian nods. The two of them separate.

 

As he goes up, a harpoon gets shot right in front of him. He gasps as he abruptly changes course—his tail must’ve reflected light, he reasons. 

 

There’s only the thrill of fight in his blood as he grabs at the rope and tightly yanks at it. After the human falls there’s a new round of cannonfire. This one causes the whole ship to tilt. A big creak sound follows after. 

 

In the midst of clawing at the man’s arm, Wei Wuxian sees the looming shadow appear above them. The harpoon floats around them along with the rope. The man desperately reaches for it.

 

“Everyone, get out of the way!” someone from behind Wei Wuxian screams.

 

For some reason everything happens too fast. There’s a terrible sting at his tail. 

 

Jiang Cheng is too late. “Wei Wuxian!”

 

Wei Wuxian has no time to get out of the way. The mast is falling with the heavy sails still on them, and he has been stunned in place. The next thing he knows is that there’s a heavy hit on his head, and his senses get cut off.

 

—

 

Lan Wangji looks down at the wooden debris floating around all over Maroon Bay. To his usual manner, his right hand rests at the small of his back. On his left hip rests a sword named Bichen.

 

He’s wearing high waisted ivory pants, black boots and a washed out puff-sleeved shirt with lace-ruffles at the wrists. His jacket on top is gorgeously decorated, a vibrant shade of light blue and a mixture of gold and white flower-inspired patterns that gleam in the sun as the light kisses the silk. The jacket has been snatched at the waist and there are long hems behind it, as well as a neatly folded collar. He wears his long hair styled, the top part of it gathered into a bun at the top back, the bangs at his temples also loosely attached to it.

 

He grits his teeth as he looks at the sunken ship. The mast in the middle has fallen, but the two on the sides of it are still peeking at the surface. There is no flag left. The water around is blue and clear. 

 

There are people still alive in the water, clinging to the surviving masts, but there seems to be chaos in the water that does not let them rest. Lan Wangji can’t see clearly exactly what it is, but he suspects them to be aquatic creatures. Around the destroyed ship floats a lot of brown rope tangled in dead knots, and Lan Wangji thinks that those are probably their nets.

 

A voice at the back of his mind puts it into words what he’s thinking. Serves them right.

 

It’s almost comical, something straight out of a tale he used to hear as a kid, but nothing in this situation to him is actually funny. He usually does not mind others’ disputes. Having been caught up in this weird battle of three sides had not been one of his plans.

 

He had successfully sunken the ship with multiple rounds of cannonfire. The cost of that had been the lives of two men from his crew and the damages to his own ship. They would need to stay here to do repairs and find the bodies, but the safety of the bay must have been compromised. Most likely they had disturbed the aquatic peace.

 

At first he had not understood what had been happening. Looking at the ruined sails of righteousness now as he once had seen them, it seems to make sense. They had appeared so out of nowhere and lowered their nets in the bay. Lan Wangji had looked at them, thinking they might as well be fishing, but then he had asked himself—why would a ship originating from the fleet go fishing at a location like this?

 

There had to have been something in the water he had not been aware of. He had heard stories of the treasure hidden somewhere in this bay, but it had not been the reason he had come here, so he had not looked into it. He had doubted that such a thing would even exist. Had he been wrong? Is it something he should've gone for?

 

They had discussed the situation then. With the help of his crew, dressed in ivory white like their captain, they all had quickly figured out that the ship which had arrived after them had not recognized Lan Wangji’s ship. That had been the thing that had given Lan Wangji his opportunity.

 

A headache threatens to take over at his temples. The afternoon sunlight today is harsh, and the stress of the sudden battle has taken its toll. He descends the stairs from the platform with the helm and walks off to the side of the main deck. 

 

One of his deckhands comes up to him. “Sir, it looks like it’s over. They’re all dead. What should we do?”

 

“The noise has stopped?” asks Lan Wangji. He gets a nod in response. 

 

Lan Wangji does not hesitate. “Send two boats to search for the bodies. We must get them back.”

 

“Yes, sir. Anything else?”

 

“Keep a lookout on whether there are any survivors from that ship. They might try to swim ashore or float until they think it is safe to move again." If they haven’t already been devoured by whatever is in the water, that is.

 

“Yes, sir.” The youngster says. He turns to leave, but before he goes he hesitantly speaks, “Sir, do you.. do you know why they attacked? What they attacked?”

 

Lan Wangji sighs. “I am not sure. I have a hunch. We will see,” he tells him, and the man nods once more. “Now, go. We cannot waste time.” 

 

The man excuses himself. He goes and Lan Wangji is left staring at the aftermath once more. 

 

He could not have picked a worse island to rest at, he thinks to himself. 

 

—

 

They do not manage to salvage the bodies.

 

Lan Wangji sits in the chair at his chart table. He has a compass in his hand that he holds with care, caresses the surface of with his thumb. 

 

“They have sunken already,” he tells the same deckhand from before. “In the next few days they will reappear. The currents here are not strong, and the bodies will float eventually.”

 

The deckhand hums. 

 

What they find during the afternoon catches the attention of the whole crew. It comes to Lan Wangji as commotion from the deck. 

 

When he hears the loud conversation take place right outside the doors, he abandons the compass and stands up. Together with his deckhand they exit the chart room and he walks his way out, through the crowd that has gathered on deck.

 

“What is it?” he asks. The commotion dies down abruptly and silence falls upon the whole crew.

 

They say nothing as they make room for their captain to see, revealing a sight that Lan Wangji would have never thought he’d witness ever in this lifetime. He sees it, and he sees him. This merman—who looks unreal. Lan Wangji has never actually seen one before.

 

He’s unconscious, but breathing rapidly and shallowly, similarly to a very tiny animal that has been caught sick in the rain. He's gaping through his parted mouth, the small slits of gills at his neck closed. Lan Wangji, who has appreciation for all things that originate from nature, freezes on his tracks momentarily. This whole ordeal, without him knowing, is probably a big mistake. 

 

So, this is who the ship had attacked? There must be more. Where are the rest of them? 

 

Without a second thought he kneels down next to the merman. He feels something stir inside him—the stories Lan Wangji has heard do have some truth to them after all.

 

He really is quite beautiful. His tail is big and gorgeous, the main body of it black. The ends of the tail are fiery red, as are the fins on the sides and at the back, as well as behind his ears. In water he must look magnificent, but now on his dry deck he appears quite sad-looking. He looks pale and he’s bleeding. He’s limp and wet, maybe a bit slimy, his hair tangled. The scales on his body are reflecting all sorts of colours in the sunlight, and—

 

Sunlight. A merman.

 

He makes the decision. “Get him out of the sunlight,” he orders, “and find that glass coffin. Fill it with saltwater and bring him in.”

 

“S-sir! Are you sure? That coffin is—”

 

“I am very sure. Make sure it does not leak, and do not let the water on him evaporate in any circumstance.”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

The crew scrambles off.

 

Lan Wangji stands up.

 

When the merman has been brought inside Lan Wangji’s cabin and gently lowered down into the low glass coffin on his left side, Lan Wangji notices it looks very uncomfortable. He doesn’t know if he should keep the merman’s head underwater or not.

 

He makes the adjustments. After the merman’s head has been supported with a flat pillow against the edge—with Lan Wangji’s specific instructions—together with a youngster called Wen Yuan and a few other younger crew members they get to work. They assess and clean the merman’s wounds carefully. There seems to be nothing major except for the cut at his back and the stab wound on his tail—which doesn’t even fit into the coffin in its entirety. The divided end of it rests on the carpet.

 

Lan Wangji, skilled in medicine although he rarely mentions it carefully cleans the wounds and avoids touching the line of spiked fins that go down the merman’s spine. Wen Yuan helps him and offers him clean strips of gauze. Lan Wangji accepts them and wonders if the spikes are poisonous or if that’s just one of the tales.

 

Maybe he should test it. Maybe he should not.

 

“I wonder..” he speaks up without meaning to. Wen Yuan looks at him.

 

Although Lan Wangji tries, he cannot fight his curiosity. He takes a slow look at Wen Yuan before carefully bringing one of his own fingers to gently brush at one of the fins. It’s cool to the touch. It doesn’t flinch, something that tells him that the merman is deeply unconscious.

 

He feels the bone from the root up all the way to the red sharp tip. He doesn’t push down. It doesn’t seem like it’s sharp enough to get caught on the skin of his finger. It’s just fish bone.

 

“I believe these are not poisonous, but please be careful still.”

 

Wen Yuan nods.

 

He also wonders where the wounds had come from, and it’s Wen Yuan who gives him the answer when they work at his tail.

 

“This looks like a harpoon stab. This is… really awful, captain.”

 

Lan Wangji’s breath hitches. He is right. It is. It’s not a normal stab. It’s filled with black goo, probably some kind of clogged blood, which would indicate that the harpoons had been poisoned. 

 

Lan Wangji asks for Wen Yuan to rinse the wound thoroughly. It doesn’t seem to have gone deep. It’s only a half a digit that he can push inside. Whatever circumstances the merman had been stabbed in, it looks more like a desperate cut made by hand. If the harpoon had been shot it would have gone through almost all the way and the spike would’ve lodged itself in tightly. The returning hook had not even cut the flesh in this wound.

 

Lan Wangji dedicates his time to it.

 

After the blood has been cleaned—and oh, they do bleed blood like humans—they move him to lay down and float on his back in the coffin. Lan Wangji takes a rag, gently wetting it in the water. He brings it to the end of the tail, squeezes all the excess water on top of it and smears it around with his hands. He had thought that he might have to do it often to keep it wet, but then he feels the residue stick to his fingers. It really is a bit slimy. Is this how merfolk keep their bodies wet if they get on dry land? It probably will not last.

 

He goes to wash his hands. During this Lan Wangji thinks about the situation, coming to a conclusion eventually.

 

The ship must have attacked the merfolk. They must have been after something they possess, like their bodies or the things they could produce. Lan Wangji does not know a lot about that, except for the few legends about crystallized tears that are worth a fortune and scales that allow a man to dive deeper, but he thinks there might be some truth behind it. Humans have always been greedy and selfish.

 

This one had been unfortunate enough to get injured in the battle. He had been found tangled under the fallen mast, his crew had told him. Lan Wangji feels a bit guilty about that, but he reminds himself of the fact that he had been victorious and he is quite sure none of the merfolk had been captured on the sunken ship. If they had been, they probably had gotten out on their own after the crew had been killed.

 

The situation appears to be alright for now. Lan Wangji will just take care of the wounds and hope that the merman wakes up. Then he shall release him.

 

—

 

Jiang Cheng grits his teeth. “Have you found him yet?”

 

“I’m sorry! No!”

 

“He can’t be far! He got hit when the mast fell! Keep looking!”

 

“We are!”

 

A figure swims towards them. They had been on the lookout for the other ship. Jiang Cheng notices the arrival, but does not bother with kind words.

 

“Well? Any news?”

 

“It’s terrible! Wei Wuxian—! He,” the merman exclaims, “Wei Wuxian has been captured!”

 

He can’t believe what he’s hearing. “What?!”

 

“I saw them drag him out of the water onto that ship!”

 

Jiang Cheng sees red. He swears he will personally skin the crew of that ship alive and find a colony of barracudas to feed them to.

 

“Gather those who have not been injured and have them start preparing for a new battle. Those who cannot fight shall rest. Form a group of four that will monitor the ship’s movements, try to see what their next move is. Wei Wuxian might still be alive. We will have to think of a plan, but at first we need to collect the fallen harpoons and go through all this garbage on the reef.”

 

“Yes!”

 

—

 

When Wei Wuxian wakes up, it’s—well, it’s hell, to say the least. After abruptly regaining consciousness, he takes in the room he’s in, the weird smell of it and the strain in his neck. 

 

When he realizes he’s no longer underwater he panics. He writhes and the water of the coffin he is in splashes around the edges all over to the carpets. His tail makes a slap sound as it hits the floor. 

 

The two crew members that have been keeping an eye on the merman exchange glances before the other one runs out. Lan Wangji is called in.

 

When Lan Wangji arrives mere seconds later his expression hardens. “Everybody, out!”

 

The crew follows his lead and closes the door, leaving Lan Wangji alone with the merman. Raising his voice might have been a mistake, he realizes now, because he’s met with eyes that fear him endlessly. 

 

Wei Wuxian looks like a feral animal—the fins of his tail up in toughened spikes, the sharp teeth of his mouth exposed and the hiss that he lets out when Lan Wangji tries to step closer. He has sat up in the coffin and grabbed the edges of it with his blackened claws. It makes a nasty sound as the nails drag against the surface.

 

There’s a second when Lan Wangji stills. 

 

Wei Wuxian knows he needs to escape. To him it’s an animalistic need, but he knows he can’t because he still has a tail. He has been kept in the water. Cursed humans, how dare they use that to his advantage, how dare they—!

 

Lan Wangji doesn’t go too close. He doesn’t know where to start, but he starts talking. “Hello.” 

 

As he crouches Wei Wuxian lets out another sharp hiss. 

 

Lan Wangji settles down on the floor, sitting neatly and cross legged. “I am not going to hurt you.” He raises his hands and shows them to the merman, who takes the gesture as something akin to coming to grab him. His eyes widen and there’s more writhing.

 

Lan Wangji lowers his hands. The things they do amongst people will not make sense to a merman, he supposes. 

 

He is gentle when he continues. “You are on a ship. You got injured in the battle. We have treated your wounds.”

 

Wei Wuxian stops hissing. He listens to him, looks at him, but stays wary. 

 

Lan Wangji does not move. “You are…free to go, if you so wish, but you have to calm down first.” He waits before he continues, studying the way the merman stays tense. “You are probably thinking we captured you, but…we were looking for the bodies of our crew members. You were unconscious when we picked you up. We thought you were dead, but you were not.”

 

That might have been too much information at once. He is not sure how much of it registers in the merman’s mind.

 

He still tries. “I want to make sure the injuries have been treated properly before you go back into the water.” 

 

What he does not realize is the amount of panic the merman is actually in. Wei Wuxian trembles as he listens to this stranger talk. He’s so afraid, so freaking afraid that it feels like he has been nailed in place. Old memories of getting caught are resurfacing as he looks at the human in front of him—a human! The worst of them all!

 

Lan Wangji waits it out. He takes deep breaths as he sits. On purpose he directs his gaze elsewhere that is not the merman’s eyes. He has heard that if you look at an animal in the eyes, they get threatened and anxious. Maybe it is the same case with merfolk, a similar effect. He makes sure to not bare his teeth.

 

He doesn’t know it, but Wei Wuxian does react to the little submissive acts. Something in this stranger’s aura is very convincingly calm. At the moment he does not seem threatening at all, unlike before when he was commanding his people. That makes the hold Wei Wuxian has on the coffin’s edge lighten a bit. He doesn’t feel the need to hiss anymore, but his teeth are still there.

 

After a long while of that and avoiding eye contact Lan Wangji speaks again. “Do you…” he starts carefully, “I mean to ask, are you hungry? Do you need..food?” He steals a shy glance at him before focusing on the patterns of the carpet. “I am a bit embarrassed because I do not know what merfolk eat. I have never met one before.” 

 

Wei Wuxian does not answer. He merely glares at the stranger. All this time he has kept his eyes on the man, sensitive to any sudden movements he might do. 

 

He recalls an attack, and the fact that there had been two ships. All the memories he has from before getting hit in the head are hazy, mixed together. Hadn’t the ships attacked them? Now this stranger is saying that they had saved him. Is this just a bluff? Wei Wuxian is lost—he doesn't know what he should believe.

 

“In order to get energy for healing, it would be good if you ate. We have lots of different kinds of edible options on this ship, but I am not sure if any of those are to your tastes.” Lan Wangji does not ramble. He talks in a very calm, controlled manner, but he has never spoken this many words out loud at once, probably closest to rambling he will ever get. The pressure he feels is immense. Do not go off-track.

 

For the next bit he does lock eyes with the merman. “I will not touch you or get too close. I will not restrain you either.” Then he looks away again.

 

Wei Wuxian slowly calms down. The stranger is trying hard to not scare him. Maybe he will not harm him if Wei Wuxian also acts nice? Or is it just to make him lower his guard?

 

When Lan Wangji gives him a list of things they have on the ship—things like bread, potatoes, carrots—Wei Wuxian understands none of it. Lan Wangji feels his spirit deflate a bit. He slowly starts to lose hope in the fact that the merman would be able to understand him. He almost asks.

 

Wei Wuxian thinks and thinks and thinks. He tries hard to recollect the events of the battle, but he can’t remember. His head hurts, his back hurts, his tail hurts. He can’t focus properly on his thinking, but the mention of possible food has made his subconscious react, and his stomach growls. Is this stranger really going to offer him food? Is he not going to kill him, cut off his fins or something?

 

Wei Wuxian studies him. The human is still showcasing submission.

 

In a passing moment he feels brave. 

 

“...Fish.”

 

Lan Wangji’s eyes perk up. Huh? Without meaning to, he looks at the merman before he remembers himself.

 

Wei Wuxian elaborates, “We eat fish. And seaweed.”

 

Lan Wangji raises his eyebrows. To think that the merman has actually replied, and he understands him! He is almost too surprised to contain it. Stay calm, stay calm.

 

“Alright,” he says, as if having the most casual conversation. “What would you like me to get for you?” he asks, trying to sound as normal as possible.

 

Wei Wuxian squints his eyes a little. When another minute passes his body slowly relaxes itself, letting it sink back more into the water. The human stays absolutely still.

 

“Squid,” he says simply. “Squid is good for healing,” and he’s kidding, making it up because squid is very difficult to hunt and it is the most unreasonable request he can come up with currently. He also really is craving for squid meat, but that is not a fact he will admit.

 

“Okay,” Lan Wangji replies.

 

Wei Wuxian frowns. Is he lying to fake comfort? Is he dumb? 

 

“Thank you for telling me.”

 

As if this human could find one so easily. Wei Wuxian is a bit baffled—would this man really believe that? If so, then he could be manipulated, but at the same time if he sees through his lie he would prove to be at least somewhat intelligent. The last option is that he could be also going along with whatever Wei Wuxian is saying, and that thought alone makes Wei Wuxian furious. Does he think I am dumb?

 

...But if he really goes out his way to actually fetch a squid for him—then… then what?

 

Lan Wangji slowly stands up to leave. He turns his back on Wei Wuxian and walks to the door.

 

Wei Wuxian almost stops him because what the hell, are you stupid, but he doesn’t get the chance before Lan Wangji talks, voice careful and soft, “It could take a while, but… If it helps, then I will try my best. Please wait here. Do not go out. You will be safe here.”

 

Then, he leaves and closes the door. The glass panes rumble. 

 

Wei Wuxian’s idea had been to buy some time for himself. Now the man has actually left.

 

When the shadow of the stranger’s back has disappeared from view, Wei Wuxian immediately starts moving. He heaves himself out of the uncomfortable coffin, almost scratching his heavy tail at the corner when it slides over along with his body. He drags his whole weight along with him as he flops towards the corner where an elevated surface stands with a lot of colourful fabrics on it.

 

Fabric to him means absorption of water, he knows that much. When he has made his way across the room he takes a wild grab at anything he can reach, pulling all of the fabrics down in a desperate fashion. He feels breathless with the effort of it and trying to endure the stinging he feels at his injuries.

 

With another yank he manages to drag blankets—is that what they call them?—on the floor with him. He rolls around in them, pulling his body above them in order to dry himself. His hair is already dry because it has been kept away from the water so long. 

 

The rest of his body is still damp. Frantic, heart beating madly in his chest, he writhes to get the water droplets off. 

 

He does notice that the fabrics smell quite nice, but that’s as far as it goes.

 

It takes a long time to dry everything completely. He can’t exactly reach the end of his tail himself, but he manages to flap it against the edge of the elevated area—which he now recalls humans call the bed. 

 

Eventually he succeeds.

 

When he’s dry enough he feels what he hasn’t felt in years. The dread of turning into a human is suffocating. His tail, slowly shrinking and disappearing, not fully comprehensible to himself why and how that happens. His mind gives up on trying to make sense of it. 

 

When he comes back after an overwhelming amount of strain and pain—groaning and clawing at the blankets and the blackening of his eyesight—his tail is gone and he’s left with bare legs that have not walked in a decade. At least.

 

That was not nearly as easy as he recalls it to be. 

 

He reminds himself that he has no other choice. He tries to pull himself up with his hands, but it turns out that he had not thought this out very carefully. When he tries to stand up he just flops down in a mess of naked limbs. He hisses again out of habit, but it doesn’t come out as aggressive as usual since his anatomy has changed so drastically.

 

Keeping a hold on the side of the bed he tries to even his breathing. It still hurts. Now, even more. There are tears at the corners of his eyes. 

 

How embarrassing.

 

A breeze lands on the bare skin of his legs. He feels a shiver go down his whole body, and the sensation is odd.

 

He misses his sister. He misses his brother. How are they doing? Has anyone else gotten injured? 

 

With the uncertainty scraping at his heart he is seriously considering the option where he could just give up and lay down on the floor until someone comes back. Maybe the man from before. Maybe he can pretend to be dead.

 

A small voice of a boy echoes in his head. Wei Wuxian is a survivor and a fighter!  

 

...Is he? 

 

He recalls the day when he had escaped from a similar situation for the first time. This is nothing like that—he will get out of here.

 

He tries again, and again, and again.

 

Eventually he has to resort to weirdly dragging himself to the door. The carpet burns at the skin on his hip as he moves and the crumpled, embroidered fancy sheets follow in his trail. 

 

When he reaches the door he grabs the doorknob for support. He looks out, eyes trying to get used to the bright sunlight. There are a lot of white-clothed humans working around the ship. They’re banging tools on some bits and collecting ropes. Wei Wuxian is so afraid.

 

He has not opened a door ever in his life. He knows how they look like in sunken ships, but the ones that have been locked, he has never been able to open one without breaking. He braces himself, ready to twist the knob hard enough that it should give out, because that’s how he thinks they work.

 

It’s right when he’s about to push when he sees the familiar stranger’s figure appear back on deck. He’s coming this way—he’s coming back.

 

Wei Wuxian stumbles backwards. He tries to get back to the coffin, but Lan Wangji is quicker. 

 

He opens the door. What greets him is a sight of the merman—now human?—laying on the floor, legs limp behind him as he looks over his shoulder at the intruder. The same desperate look is back on his face. The fins are gone, the teeth are gone and he looks so vulnerable.

 

Lan Wangji gasps. Before Wei Wuxian can say anything, Lan Wangji turns to close the door with a slam, leaving the person trailing after him standing outside. He gestures for him to come back later. He only wants to protect the merman and does not want anyone else to see him like that, but his movement is too rough.

 

The harsh sound of the door has startled Wei Wuxian even more. He is now finally convinced that he is done for. He had tried to escape, hadn’t he? So naturally his capturer would get extremely mad. He is going to be punished, he is going to be killed, he is going to die in this awful human form—

 

Lan Wangji clears his throat. “You,” he starts. His face is flushed from the sight. Has he ever actually seen such a scene before?

 

Wei Wuxian is frozen on the floor as his instincts kick in. He’s waiting for a moment to flee and escape, but he knows it won’t come. He can’t run. He feels cold.

 

Lan Wangji walks up to one of his wardrobes. He takes out the very best thing he can think of: some high waisted black trousers and a white, long, puffy sleeved silk shirt with strings at the neck to tie it. 

 

He averts his gaze as he brings them to the merman, forgetting his pace. He goes a bit too fast so Wei Wuxian visibly jumps when Lan Wangji reaches down to leave the clothes on the floor next to him. 

 

The reaction makes him still.

 

Then, an awkward pause as they lock eyes. The merman has such pretty eyes, Lan Wangji thinks.

 

“Ah,” Lan Wangji apologizes and gets up. Except, well, it’s an apology inside his head. He actually forgets to say it. 

 

“I mean, I apologize. Please wear the clothes. I did not think—did not think you could turn into a human.”

 

Wei Wuxian looks at him. It’s an understatement to say that he is confused. Isn’t this stranger going to do anything? Now that Wei Wuxian is even weaker? Why?

 

Lan Wangji, with his little knowledge of reasonable human interaction and even less of the one between humans and merfolk, looks away. He shows the merman his backside at the same time, which to predators is basically the same as asking to be attacked—and what Wei Wuxian still can't do.

 

"Why?" asks Wei Wuxian. Is there some kind of a trick with the clothing?

 

Lan Wangji looks at him. His ears are tinted pink. "You.. You are indecent."

 

Wei Wuxian has no concept of what humans consider being indecent. Wei Wuxian and his like do not wear clothing underwater, but he knows humans do, for whatever reason. He eyes him for a while, in his usual manner when he’s calculating his opponent.

 

The worse thing is that Wei Wuxian isn't exactly sure how to wear clothes. Maybe—maybe he can try, if this will please the human enough for him to let him go. If this means that he is allowed outside like the rest of the crew, because they are all wearing clothes, aren't they? How odd.

 

He reaches a hand to touch the material. It is smooth, very pleasant. He draws his hand back out of the foreign sensation. He has only touched clothing underwater before, when it is all floaty and light. Now it is folded on the floor. Should he..open them?

 

"Are they safe?" he dares to ask.

 

Lan Wangji, now averting his gaze, nods. "Yes. I would not hurt you."

 

Wei Wuxian is still very skeptical. "That's usually the only thing you humans do. Why should I believe you?"

 

Lan Wangji does not budge. "We saved you. You were wounded, and we happened to pick you up.” He is repeating the same things from before, but he figures that getting so much information at once must not have registered. He patiently tries again. “We treated your wounds. You were stabbed with a harpoon.”

 

That causes a tug at Wei Wuxian’s gut. Had he really been hit with a harpoon? Those assholes. No wonder his tail—no, leg—hurts so much.

 

Lan Wangji figures he would still need to do a bit more convincing. “Those clothes.. They are mine. I would not wear something that would hurt me."

 

Hm.

 

The intensity of the silence makes the urge to talk worse. “Trust me, please. I simply...cannot have you here without clothing.” He absolutely does not want to have this conversation.

 

It’s a human thing, Wei Wuxian deduces. His devious mind gives him an idea to keep the human occupied.  “I am not sure how to."

 

A brilliant idea. By now he has figured out that this is probably the captain of the ship. There must not be anyone higher ranking than him. The others will probably not come in now that he has sent them away, and, if the human really reacts like this when Wei Wuxian appears indecent in front of him, then is it not his best weapon against him? This way the human will not be able to surprise him with an attack when he undoubtedly will get confused with the clothing.

 

Lan Wangji barely knows how to react. He lets out a very wary sigh as he braces himself to look.

 

"Are you sure? I said I would not touch you," he says. Yes, Lan Wangji, a grown man, a ship captain, is trying to talk his way out of this.

 

Wei Wuxian judges him for a second. If he’s bold enough to admit it, he partly even revels in it. 

 

"You can," he says, but that was not what he had meant to say. "I mean, you have to. Because you have to help me. I can't even stand up,” and shit, that’s way too many words for someone who is supposed to appear threatening.

 

Lan Wangji nods. If this is a plot to lure him in closer so the merman can attack and bite him, he does take that into consideration. However, it does not stop him. He swallows dryly. He is a capable man—or so he tells himself—and he will get through this. 

 

Lan Wangji takes two careful steps towards the merman. This is the closest he has gotten to him while he has been awake. 

 

Two more steps, now even closer. He wants to ask again, are you sure, but decides that the less he talks now, the less nervous he will appear.

 

The merman, still bare in front of him sits on the floor with his legs on the side as if he would still have a tail where the legs lay. Lan Wangji can’t help but wonder how smooth his skin is and how his thighs have a slight shimmer to them—how peculiar is that—and how delicate his features are. He feels shy at the thought of touching him now.

 

He had been there when they had treated his injuries, the wounds at his back and tail, but he had treated him as a patient, as someone to save. Now it's entirely different, especially with this physical human form. The merman's legs are thin, most likely from not using them, but… they are very slender, very pretty.

 

Dear lord.  

 

Merfolk are pretty. This is a fact Lan Wangji believes now. 

 

No wonder they could lure sailors so easily into the depths of the sea—is that even what they do?—and make death by a suffocating kiss seem wonderful, a concept so enchanting that any poor sailor who thinks there is nothing else to live for could want it. To experience that kind of kiss and play with the thought of what if—what if they actually bring them to some wondrous place where all of their worries would disappear, and what if they actually could make it out alive?

 

This merman is no exception. There has to be a spell of some sort, because that’s how it feels like when Lan Wangji stares at him. His eyes are gray and clear, his hair long and dark, his skin pale and unmarked except for the few cuts and bruises from the battle. The wound that had been on his tail is now transferred and visible on his calf. It looks much worse on human skin.

 

For a moment Wei Wuxian does a bit of acting to appear more defenseless. Lan Wangji doesn't know him, but he can kind of guess that by now, judging by the way he bats his eyelashes and purses his lips. What. Is he really going to try and...enchant him? Or is he overthinking it?

 

Lan Wangji lets the merman believe he buys the act. Someone with a big tail like that must have the strength to swim and fight so he is not completely helpless.

 

Lan Wangji has to force himself out of the daze. He breathes in deep before bending down.

 

He starts with the pants first. With shaky fingers he takes them and shows them to the merman, instructing him on how to wear them. He points to the long parts. “These are for your legs. I am sure you have seen us wear them. This one is for the right one and this for the left one,” he explains, keeping his tone kind.

 

Wei Wuxian has seen humans wear them. Lan Wangji is wearing them, but Wei Wuxian doesn’t really know how they know which way they are supposed to go. "How do you differentiate?"

 

"There is an opening in the front." Lan Wangji shows him and lays the pants flat on the floor. The ship's wood creaks around them as the merman stares at the garment in silence.

 

Lan Wangji points at it. "Put your right leg in there, and then the left leg there."

 

Well. Wei Wuxian has to admit—at least he is not being ridiculed for it. The patience Lan Wangji has does bear results. Wei Wuxian does as told while eyeing him.

 

When he grabs the upper hem, it dawns on Lan Wangji that he had not given him underwear. He struggles to articulate that with words.

 

“You should—Yes. Like that,” and the moment is lost. It is too late now. He knows the fabric is soft, so maybe it will not bother the merman that much, but good attempt, he tells himself. 

 

"Then.. lay down, lift up your hips as you pull them up to your waist."

 

Wei Wuxian finds that he is able to follow the instructions quite well. His legs still lack strength, but after an awkward bounce of human-genitalia and some wriggling, he's done and seated again. After that it gets much easier for this human to look at him. So, that’s what it is about?

 

Then, the shirt. "Your arms go into the sleeves. Your head goes through here,” Lan Wangji gestures to him. 

 

Wei Wuxian struggles to find the correct holes at first, but he eventually gets it. He wants to ask for confirmation if he has done it right, but the small tug of a smile at the corner of the human’s mouth tells him that he probably doesn’t want to.

 

“Is it wrong?” he asks. Is he being laughted at?

 

Lan Wangji shakes his head. “No. I am sorry if I let you believe that. You got it surprisingly quickly, that is all.” And the clothes are actually perfect for him.

 

Wei Wuxian studies him for a while. Their eyes meet and Lan Wangji notices he has forgotten to pull out his hair, so he struggles to decide whether he should help him with it or just let it be. He doesn't want to startle him. He had promised he would not touch him.

 

He will just say it. "...Your hair." 

 

Wei Wuxian fails to understand. "Huh?"

 

"Get it out of the shirt,” says Lan Wangji simply.

 

"Oh."

 

Wei Wuxian does so, completely having forgotten what life is like with dry hair.

 

After having seen this human up close, his facial expressions and gestures, Wei Wuxian does kind of believe that maybe this captain is a kind man. They’re already positioned so close, and he has not hurt him so far. He had even left him in the room alone, come back to find him escaping, and yet only offered him clothing. 

 

Maybe he is not dangerous. Maybe he is telling the truth. 

 

Lan Wangji is very pleased at the outcome. He wants to tell him so. “Good. Now you can fit in—” and he bites the inside of his cheek—he had not meant to say it like that, “temporarily, of course.”

 

Wei Wuxian looks at him. Every time the human has talked, Wei Wuxian has noticed that the man’s voice never falters. It's pleasantly low and comforting. He must be a very patient man.

 

"That is a lot of steps,” he comments, “how difficult.”

 

Lan Wangji grows fond. "It really is not." He seems to think about it, “but you won't be needing them for too long, I suppose."

 

The merman’s tone turns flat. "Really."

 

"Mm." 

 

Lan Wangji is still crouched down in front of him. His eyes travel down on the merman's frame and he thinks he could ask if he wanted to try walking. Wouldn't that be a good idea? To prove to the merman that he will not lock him up and is only trying to help? He looks back up. He should ask. "Do you..."

 

The moment gets ruined when there's an enthusiastic knock at the door.

 

Wei Wuxian gets startled by the abrupt sound. He reprimands himself for not noticing that, but then again he has lost the fins on his ears that help with his hearing. It's a reflex when he jumps like he would've done whilst in water. Only, he lands flat on the floor.

 

Lan Wangji’s breath hitches. Oh no— 

 

"I—please, do not be afraid.” He almost reaches for the merman with his hands, but then remembers that he’s still not supposed to touch him, as it would just scare him more. “They will not come in. I will go," he tells him before slowly walking to the door. 

 

It pains him to leave the merman laying on the floor like that, scared and out in the open, but what can he do?

 

He takes one last glance at him before grabbing the doorknob. "It's okay,” he tells him.

 

Wei Wuxian, with his now-clawless human hands curled in fists and his now-weak human body trembling, stays still. 

 

Lan Wangji opens the door. It is one of his crew members, dressed similarly like the captain. It is the same one from before, who had walked behind him and tried to enter. The man gives him a wooden bucket before leaving. Lan Wangji takes it and brings it inside, closing the door gently this time with his foot.

 

"He is gone." He waits for a bit before slowly walking further into the room while holding the bucket. "Here is your.. ah—" he eyes the contents of the bucket, one purple-white tentacle extending over the edge, "your squid."

 

Wei Wuxian suddenly forgets his fear. A what?

 

This man—! He had actually—a squid?

 

"How?" asks Wei Wuxian. It should have taken at least a full day. If Wei Wuxian, as a merman has a hard time catching them, then how did a mere human manage to find—

 

“My crew is capable. Of fishing. I hope it is okay." Lan Wangji really prays to the gods that this isn't like...a fish friend of the merman’s.

 

Offering it in a bucket seems very ridiculous to him. Does he need to cook it? He probably doesn't. Merfolk do not have fire underwater, do they? Or plates. Do they eat their food raw? They probably do. Maybe it is better to ask?

 

"I am afraid I must ask you—how do you eat?" It sounds silly as it comes out of his mouth.

 

Wei Wuxian still stares at him, dumbfounded. He is not sure whether he should act horrified or scared. Or something else. Lan Wangji’s eyes are curious, and he seems very honestly...lost.

 

Wei Wuxian mentally pieces himself back together. "Show it to me," he tells him. He does not believe it before he sees it. 

 

Lan Wangji brings the bucket over, places it on the floor with a thud.

 

Wei Wuxian looks inside and—it looks good. Very good in fact. It is a very juicy squid with its tentacles still moving. It has been taken out of the water, so it has lost its shape that it holds in the water, appearing now as a pitiful slimy blob with no bones. Wei Wuxian’s mouth waters.

 

Squids do not actually possess a healing effect, but it is his favourite kind of food especially in the waters around this island. He is not sure if he should reveal this to the captain since it would be a bit awkward now, but then his stomach growls in anticipation and he no longer cares. 

 

He grabs the squid with his hands and lifts it up. It's quite heavy now that he's holding it—definitely not how it behaves in water. Defenseless, an easy catch.

 

Before Lan Wangji realizes how exactly his question has been ignored—answered?—the merman is already opening his mouth. His sharp teeth have come back, and Lan Wangji is about to say something right as he hears the sound of him biting into it. There’s a moist squelch.

 

He's... Yeah. Raw food. He's going to make a mess.

 

"Please—um. I do not know your name. But please try to keep the mess inside the bucket."

 

Wei Wuxian takes a note of this, and with his already slimy hands leans over the bucket to do his best. In water it doesn't matter where you eat because everything will just float, but on dry land they do not, and humans seem to care. So he tries for the sake of his own survival. 

 

It tastes very good. There’s a lot of meat to eat, and the taste is delicious. Should he thank the human, he wonders? Or something else?

 

In the midst of his rather graphic eating Wei Wuxian mumbles out two words. 

 

Lan Wangji doesn't quite catch that. He tries to not focus on the display and instead goes to gather the messed up sheets. "What is it?" he asks.

 

"Wei Wuxian."

 

Oh?

 

The merman swallows down a big chunk of raw squid meat. "Now that you have given me food, which I did not think you would ever do—or even be able to do within less than a day—I think I can give you my name." Maybe if he tries to be friendly with this stranger he can get away sooner.

 

To Lan Wangji it feels like a victory. It is more rewarding than any ship battle. It is a nice feeling. He doesn't really know why, but he hopes he really is gaining trust here.

 

"Lan Wangji. The captain of this ship." 

 

If Wei Wuxian acknowledges that Lan Wangji does not see it. The latter folds the sheets in his arms. They're still damp, and they also have a lot of slimy residue on them, probably from Wei Wuxian’s tail. There’s also a few of his translucent, red scales. He figures Wei Wuxian has used the sheets to dry himself. He admires his quick thinking, if it can be called that. If only his legs had worked, then he would have been able to run out and jump in the water.

 

When Lan Wangji has wasted enough time looking like he's doing something important, Wei Wuxian lets out a very content sound.

 

Lan Wangji turns to look. The merman’s hands and his mouth are all black with ink. He looks a bit baffled with how it's sticking to him and not being washed away like usual. "Um.”

 

Yeah, the mess.

 

Wei Wuxian looks at his hands, now without his usual black claws but instead with just ink all over them. When he turns to look at Lan Wangji another idea strikes him. He starts sucking on his own fingers and licking them clean. 

 

Lan Wangji at first looks terrified until he sighs. He has a new question—do merfolk need to drink clear water? Actually, do they drink at all? Should he ask the merman to wash his hands?

 

"I will go fetch water," he says without asking. For a moment Wei Wuxian is left to wonder what his plan is.

 

He leaves the rest for interpretation. Wasting their precious freshwater supply, he gets a generous bucketful of it and returns after a minute.

 

Only after coming back does he realize that—

 

"Will you turn if you touch this?" he asks.

 

Wei Wuxian hadn't turned when he had held the squid, but it had been taken out of the water. That could be why. He thinks about it for a while. "I know freshwater and saltwater act the same."

 

Well. Then. It is useless, isn't it? Lan Wangji tries to figure out where to place the bucket. "Well.. still, clean your face, please."

 

"Why?"

 

"The ink will stain the clothes."

 

When Wei Wuxian looks down he notices that there are black dots of ink all over his white silk shirt. He doesn't understand the meaning of it, or why Lan Wangji seems to have lost a piece of his soul seeing that, but he feels a bit apologetic. Only a bit, though.

 

Lan Wangji inhales through his nose. His favourite shirt.

 

He struggles to forgive him. "I… It's…” 

 

He knows he has to. “Do not mind it. Just—pick something else for your next meal." He mentally detaches himself from the shirt he has regarded as one of his most comfortable sleepwear. He still has other shirts. The priority here is to gain the merman’s trust, and not let him run around the ship naked.

 

Wei Wuxian smiles at that, and that is captivating.

 

The glory of it only lasts for a second before getting ruined when he starts cleaning his face with the fingers in his mouth. "So, there is a next meal?" he asks, belly full and a sly expression on his face.

 

Lan Wangji picks a spot on the wall to stare at. "If you require." 

 

Wei Wuxian thinks he is starting to like him.

 

Lan Wangji is not mad, but he also doesn't know how to react to any of this. He really does like that shirt, but he's not going to scold a merman for ruining this said shirt, which he himself has made him wear. He counts to ten to calm himself.

 

After Wei Wuxian has practically licked himself clean, Lan Wangji has to get the messy bucket out and the remnants of the poor squid. He trusts his crew with the task and returns.

 

He starts thinking how he should help Wei Wuxian move. He can't just stay on the floor, but there are no extra seats, other than the dining chairs, so...the bed?

 

He looks around the room and lastly at the merman, who seems to have relaxed at least a little in his company. That eases him a little.

 

"What are you thinking, Lan Wangji?"

 

The usage of his name sends a small shiver down his spine. Lan Wangji thinks he can confirm that he doesn't sound afraid anymore. He appears to be rather...playful.

 

Lan Wangji wants to be honest. "A lot of things actually."

 

Wei Wuxian huffs in amusement. "You can ask. I’m not going anywhere, and I think you know this already. I actually have no idea what to do now. I can't move—I'm totally at your mercy. Are you going to let me go? Or did you change your mind already?”

 

So many words. So he does speak. A lot.

 

"I know we have a lot of things you humans desire. You must have heard about them, have you not?" He almost purrs. Maybe he is trying to lure Lan Wangji in.

 

Lan Wangji tenses. "I have." He looks at Wei Wuxian, "but it is not why—" he doesn't know how to say it, "please believe me. Those sailors we fought, they wanted...whatever those things are. We just happened to be caught in the crossfire. We had no intention to attack you and currently, I simply do not want you to be laying down on the floor. So I would like to ask...if you would prefer to be on the bed instead?"

 

Wei Wuxian tilts his head. "How long was I asleep for?" he decides to ask.

 

"Only for one night."

 

"And you want me to stay for another?"

 

Lan Wangji flushes. That phrase probably has a lot more meaning behind it to him than to Wei Wuxian. Maybe it was not a good idea to ask. "Your wounds...could get infected in the water. I wish to make sure and check them before you go. Tomorrow."

 

"Do we not get wounds underwater too?" Wei Wuxian asks.

 

Then Lan Wangji glances—really glances at him. He’s right, but he feels defensive. "How would I know?"

 

There is a long stretch of silence. Lan Wangji is about to apologize, because Wei Wuxian has a point and Lan Wangji is keeping him here against his will. “I apologize. The offer must seem odd to you,” he says.

 

"It does,” Wei Wuxian admits.

 

Lan Wangji swallows the last remnants of his pride. “But, what I mean to say is that the bed would be much more comfortable to be on than the floor. At least for the time being. It would be better for you to rest there.”

 

Wei Wuxian does know what a bed is. He knows that's where humans sleep, but he has never actually seen one quite wide as the one in this room, and if he has understood correctly Lan Wangji wants him to...sleep in it? For the night? How can he sleep, when all he can think about is being killed in his sleep? Why else would the human be so insistent in keeping him here?

 

It almost feels like they're now talking in different languages. 

 

"You really don't mean to kill me in my sleep?"

 

Lan Wangji looks almost offended by the fact that Wei Wuxian still doubts him. He can’t blame Wei Wuxian for it though. 

 

"Do you often sleep fearing that?" The question might seem a bit humorous, but it carries truth in it. "I would not do that. Our ship is stuck on this island currently. And I do not want to cause any more chaos here than I already have. I really am just concerned—about you," he admits, "and I want to bring you back safely."

 

Well, he had not thought admitting it would be so easy.

 

Wei Wuxian huffs. "You're weird."

 

Lan Wangji knows that’s probably the most reasonable response. He could at any moment give in and throw Wei Wuxian in the water, but in his defense, he really had not meant this day to play out like this, for the merman in his room to wake up so soon, for him to be so...lively.

 

And, yes, the wounds—he keeps telling Wei Wuxian and himself.

 

The latter thinks about his words for a long time before replying, "Fine, but you should know that my friends probably think you've caught me. Or killed me. I don't know, actually. And they might attack you for it soon."

 

Lan Wangji has to admit he has had a small inkling. "That makes sense. I would not blame them."

 

"You'd risk it?" Wei Wuxian asks.

 

"If you are of great importance to them—which you seem to be—then I believe returning you safely to them is the best I can do."

 

Fair point, Wei Wuxian thinks. 

 

Lan Wangji continues. "But now, hearing this, I understand if you really wish to go. They must be worried. However, I do not want to be blamed for whatever the sailors have done, and I will ask you one favor. Please tell them that."

 

Wei Wuxian shifts on his spot. He tries to mimic the way Lan Wangji had sat earlier. "..I have already said fine."

 

Lan Wangji is stunned. Had he?

 

"Or are you going back on your offer?" Wei Wuxian asks, having almost figured out how sitting cross legged works. It’s tough work.

 

Lan Wangji mentally slaps himself. So much for paying attention, so much for his attempt at diplomacy between him and this merman. He really hates interaction, he decides.

 

"The offer still stands."

 

Wei Wuxian gives him a smirk. "Well, I will take it, but tomorrow if you do not let me go, I will make sure to scream so loudly even the bottom of the ocean hears it."

 

Somehow Lan Wangji has no reason to not believe that. He nods. "I will sleep elsewhere."

 

The atmosphere turns frigid. The idea of being left alone tugs at Wei Wuxian’s gut. "No."

 

"No?"

 

"You will stay here—and guard me."

 

Lan Wangji looks at him, a question evident on his face. 

 

Alright. Wei Wuxian decides to be bold. “Given the circumstances currently, I do trust you, even if it is just a tiny amount—so don’t get cocky—but that does not mean I trust your crew who have seen me while I was unconscious.” He thinks this room might just be the safest place on the ship. If Lan Wangji will keep the others out, then Wei Wuxian might be able to actually close his eyes. His human body is weaker and he is tired.

 

Lan Wangji appears to be baffled, but what can he do, say no? He will not.

 

"Okay."

 

And that is how it's settled.

 

That is how Lan Wangji finds himself helping the merman to walk when he demands to be moved, to be given his fair share of the deal they have made. Unfortunately and fortunately to him this also means holding the merman’s hands, which on his human scale feel surprisingly warm. He is not feverish, is he? Maybe their body temperature is just higher.

 

At first Wei Wuxian tries it by himself. He has been in his human form twice before, on both instances having been brought to land against his will. This is now his third, and it is on a ship. It does not bring back good memories, but he tells himself to trust the situation and give this captain what he wants. He mostly plays along, thinking that if the human teaches him to walk, he could have a chance of escaping if he decides to go back on their agreement.

 

It does not look promising though. He fails to stand and his knees buckle from underneath him a couple of times. Wei Wuxian does not see it, but Lan Wangji frowns at that. By now, Wei Wuxian knows how to get on his knees, but the part after is not easy for him.

 

Lan Wangji instructs him like he had done with the clothing. One knee and one leg at a time. He is very patient, but it really does seem hopeless.

 

A slightly awkward chuckle comes out of Wei Wuxian’s mouth. "This is more difficult than I remember.” Still, he tries, as he always does.

 

At one point Lan Wangji voices out his frustration. "Do you.. wish to get your tail back instead?"

 

Wei Wuxian snorts. "And sleep in that aquarium, is that what you call it?" 

 

"Well, coffin," Lan Wangji corrects.

 

"What is a coffin?"

 

"...But also an aquarium, yes."

 

Wei Wuxian doesn't think more of it. "Well, whatever it is. No. It's very uncomfortable. I want to go on the bed."

 

Lan Wangji thinks if he's a cat after all, wanting to go in when they want to go out and the other way around.

 

Wei Wuxian will not lie. He is kind of excited by that offer he has been given. The promise of knowing what a bed would feel like. Now that he's been able to orient himself to the situation, he figures he could have a little bit of fun. He has been curious about the human world, so maybe now would be a chance. If he does not die, that is.

 

"No aquariums, then," says Lan Wangji, and proceeds to hold Wei Wuxian’s hands tighter.

 

After having gotten his feeling back to what seems like a normal level to a human body Wei Wuxian manages to get into a kneeling position and stay there. This excites him as he exclaims, "Pull me!" a bit more excitedly than intended.

 

He has no time to overthink it when Lan Wangji does as told and helps him on his feet.

 

This time he somehow gets it. He does not fall down. He wobbles, but with support he's able to stand. His expression widens into a big grin, and he lets out a delighted laugh. What a weird feeling!

 

"Woah." He can feel the soles of his feet!

 

Lan Wangji tries to stay very, very still. "Yes. Woah,” he mimics him, “well done."

 

"What do I do now?" Wei Wuxian asks.

 

"Take steps."

 

"How?"

 

"One leg in front of the other. Put weight on it."

 

He stumbles a bit as he tries it, but surprisingly manages it.

 

His core strength and sense of balance help a lot. He starts by taking tiny, unsure steps, but with the support from Lan Wangji he trusts himself more. Lan Wangji manages to count about ten steps before Wei Wuxian’s legs suddenly give out, losing their rigidity and tilting to the side. He flops down on his hip while they’re still holding hands. "Ugh."

 

"Very impressive."

 

He will not admit it, but the praise does motivate him a bit. "Again!" 

 

Before Lan Wangji can even get ready for it Wei Wuxian is already pushing himself up. He stands, having gotten a bit more used to using his leg muscles now, and he wastes no time with the next ten steps. This time, after fifteen he trips on his own feet. Lan Wangji catches him and he lands with his face against his chest.

 

For a while he’s stunned. It’s warm in his embrace. It doesn’t feel hostile. 

 

Then Wei Wuxian laughs—actually laughs out loud—out of the nervous delight. There are so many thoughts in his head, all racing in a circle. This human, this situation. His memories from yesterday, the meal from today. He does not understand whether he’s in hysterics or if the walking is just bringing him joy. How on earth is he able to act like this in front of this human he has only met some time ago—

 

But it really does feel great, doesn’t it? Maybe he is a bit weak and maybe he does look a bit funny, or maybe he is finally losing it, but to him the drop sensation of his stomach which he has experienced just now when he had fallen down had been the biggest part of the fun. He never has to fear falling underwater. This is all so new.

 

Maybe it does hurt a bit, and bruises will probably follow after, but when Lan Wangji asks him, "Are you okay?" Wei Wuxian just smiles as he looks up. 

 

Lan Wangji has his arms underneath Wei Wuxian’s, holding him, and Wei Wuxian has automatically caught Lan Wangji by the shoulders. So much touching.

 

"This is really a lot of fun."

 

Lan Wangji blushes and averts his gaze. They're really too close for his liking, and he already knows Wei Wuxian's smile is gorgeous. Seeing it up from so close—he wants to hide from it. 

 

Just some time ago he had been this scared, wild creature, but now he's a carefree, curious soul. How on earth has this happened?

 

"Again!"

 

And then they go again, without Lan Wangji saying anything, and then Wei Wuxian is walking. They reach the bed eventually. 

 

"Ooh! I made it. Push me down! I want to feel it! I've heard they're bouncy."

 

Lan Wangji thinks he will probably never forget having heard that. "Are you sure?"

 

"Yes!"

 

Lan Wangji has no heart to deny him. He's so...gone. 

 

He gives in, turning them around and then gently giving Wei Wuxian a little push as he lets go. Wei Wuxian yells in delight as he falls, and Lan Wangji thinks why would anyone react like that, but maybe he is really pretending to have gone mad.

 

Wei Wuxian laughs as he lays on the soft bed. There’s only one layer of white sheets there, the one he had not been able to pull off. The tension somehow starts pouring out of him, spilling and leaving him pliant.

 

Lan Wangji feels overwhelmed. He’s so lost—what is he even doing? Playing around with a merman, who has just told him he was afraid of being killed but is now bouncing on his messed up bed, still wearing Lan Wangji’s favourite shirt, which by the way is still ruined with ink?

 

Lan Wangji can only come up with one thing to say. "Don't break it. It's really old."

 

Wei Wuxian stops. The smile dies a little on his face, but not completely. "Human beds are weak, then. Would it break if it was in the water?"

 

"...It would. The wood would rot,” answers Lan Wangji.

 

"You're no fun." Wei Wuxian actually pouts.

 

Lan Wangji suddenly feels the need to defend himself. It’s not his fault the wood would not last. He figures going along with the situation is the best option for now. “The bed is not—fun," he says, dryly. He doesn't mean to—the bed is surely a lot of fun, but he will not say that. “It is not my fault beds are built out of wood." 

 

Well, it technically could be, because he does have the ability to build a new one out of—

 

What is he thinking? Why the hell is he having this conversation with this merman now? He should stop. He really should. Stop getting caught up in whatever Wei Wuxian says. This has to be a plot against him.

 

Lan Wangji lets out a soft sigh, changing the topic. "Alright. Now that you are here—"

 

Wei Wuxian stops him before he can say it. "No."

 

"I didn't even say anything."

 

"You were about to leave."

 

Lan Wangji was. 

 

"I was not." Something inside him makes the next words bubble up in his throat. “I will not.”

 

And that is how Lan Wangji, a known pirate captain finds himself in a situation where he cannot leave his own cabin. He is technically being held as a hostage by his own hostage—if he thinks about it hard enough—and that means he just has to listen to whatever Wei Wuxian, this suddenly much more talkative and lively merman has to say to him. It occurs to him only then that perhaps he should not have set sail towards this island in the first place.

 

—

 

As Wei Wuxian lays in Lan Wangji’s gracefully unmade bed the latter attends to his captain duties. He goes to the door to wave at Wen Yuan who happens to be on deck. He gestures to him to come to the door.

 

Wen Yuan does and his expression grows funny. Why is their captain not setting foot on deck? “Sir, is he awake?” he asks, although he knows this already if the commotion from earlier had been anything to go by.

 

Inside the cabin Wei Wuxian hears this. He automatically tries to hide himself in the new puffy blankets Lan Wangj had brought him. They still smell nice, very sweet, he notes. The smells above water are so different, much richer than the ones he’s used to. It feels weird to be touching so many fabrics at once. He has grabbed a pillow to hug and knead, and he can’t seem to have enough of that.

 

“Yes. And he can hear you,” answers Lan Wangji. His own side profile is visible to Wei Wuxian, but the man outside the door isn't.

 

“Is he alright? The poison doesn’t affect him anymore?” Wen Yuan asks, kind of wanting to have a look inside. He knows Lan Wangji’s posture at the slightly opened door is probably a sign not to even try.

 

“He is...quite alright,” Lan Wangji manages to tell him. Maybe even more than alright, he wants to say, but then he would have to explain the whole ordeal.

 

A visible sound of relief comes out of Wen Yuan. “Oh, that’s good.” A pause before he continues, “Well, do you require anything?”

 

Lan Wangji eyes the direction of the bed. In retrospect it might be a bit weird, he thinks. “As for now, I cannot leave my cabin. Tell the crew to not disturb me tonight. He is still wary of them.”

 

Wen Yuan nods. “Alright, captain.”

 

Lan Wangji politely excuses him and closes the door. He turns to face the room. He looks at the glass coffin and the state it's in, and decides that he will take care of that later. He walks towards his desk as Wei Wuxian watches him.

 

“Who was that?” asks Wei Wuxian.

 

Lan Wangji sits down on his chair. “He is Wen Yuan.”

 

“Who is he?” Wei Wuxian shifts around, coming to lay on his belly and facing the direction Lan Wangji is in. He sees Lan Wangji is writing something.

 

“A crew member.”

 

This is usually what Lan Wangji would’ve stopped at, but all of a sudden he feels like maybe giving more information is something he should do this time. To sate the merman’s curiosity. The white quill in his hold stops. “I found him when he was very young. Now, he is around seventeen. I took him in. He lived on the streets. His family had been killed.”

 

“By whom?”

 

“...” He tells him what he has also told Wen Yuan. “The sea.” 

 

Not the fact that they had died in a naval battle against Admiral Lan Wangji and his men, who had back then only followed the orders of the governor. Not the fact that they hadn’t died admirably whilst defending their ship, but rather pitifully in the hands of those who were supposed to protect them, and only because they happened to be on a pirate ship.

 

Wei Wuxian assumes. “Oh. Well, I have a brother. And a sister. They both live around here.”

 

That makes Lan Wangji curious. Maybe he should keep up the small talk? His eyes perk up from the papers he’s fiddling with. He comes up with a following question and hopes he’s not being too suspicious. “Do they look.. similar to you?”

 

Wei Wuxian tilts his head. “What do you mean?”

 

"The colours."

 

“Oh! They’re purple. Lots of us around here have purple tails.”

 

“Then...you..?”

 

“I’m not from here.”

 

Oh. Lan Wangji doesn't know what to say after. He nods.

 

Wei Wuxian thinks Lan Wangji is going to ask him where he’s from, but is surprised when the man just goes back to his writing. He’s always been bad at hiding his intrigue when it comes to new things, so he asks, “What are you doing? What is that thing?”

 

Lan Wangji looks at him. What does he mean? The quill? The slim book? “This?" he asks, pointing to the paper in front of him. "The log? I am documenting.”

 

“Are you writing about me?” Now, Wei Wuxian knows humans like to write, to put a lot of text into books and letters, and he has found his fair share from abandoned ships, but the pages have rarely lasted in the depths they’ve fallen into. He doesn’t understand the written language either, but the pictures have been nice. He wishes he could sometimes store them, the sceneries of mountains and forests that he has never been able to see with his own eyes. “I don’t understand the human writing.”

 

The openness of the merman bemuses Lan Wangji. “I am writing down the events of yesterday. I have not mentioned you.”

 

“Why? Don’t you want someone to find your work and lure everyone here? Isn’t that the point of documenting, to have someone look at it later?” Wei Wuxian wiggles his feet where they are bent at his knees, pointing up at the ceiling. He’s actively trying to train them to get used to the movement. 

 

He snickers when he sees Lan Wangji’s expression turn sour. “You really don’t take jokes well, do you?”

 

“...”

 

“Well, then, do you want to ask me anything?”

 

Lan Wangji is really not going to get any writing done today, is he? He does have a lot of questions. He just isn’t sure which ones are suitable. And he would like to finish writing his log.

 

“Come on. Ask me anything.”

 

He gently places down the quill. “You do not know the alphabet?” He doesn’t know why, but the fact that Wei Wuxian can’t read is something that leaves him a bit conflicted. Of course he doesn’t have to, but what is their life like without any of the same things he as a human child has been forced to learn?

 

“The..what?” asks Wei Wuxian.

 

“The letters we write with,” Lan Wangji elaborates.

 

“You mean those complicated squiggles?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Yeah, no, I don’t. Should I?” He leans his cheek on his palm as he looks around the room for anything that could catch his attention.

 

Lan Wangji can’t believe he’s asking this, but he does, very deliberately focusing on each word, “Do you want to learn?”

 

“To write?”

 

“To read, first.”

 

“Hm.” He doesn’t necessarily need to, but maybe it could be useful in the future. He could be the only one on their reef who would be able to read those mysterious books they’ve collected. He thinks about bragging with it to his brother, thinks about maybe teaching his sister. She would love that. They say that books have stories in them. She could read the stories if she wanted to.

 

The more he thinks about it, the more it sounds like a good idea.

 

The more Lan Wangji thinks about it without Wei Wuxian responding, the more he’s convinced that it’s a bad idea. The alphabet is rather difficult.

 

“If I say yes, will you teach me?” asks Wei Wuxian.

 

“If you want me to.” Then Lan Wangji grabs an empty sheet of paper and wets his quill with ink. He starts writing on the page, elegantly, letters and a lot of useful words. When he’s ready he raises from the chair and walks over to the bed, handing the paper over to Wei Wuxian.

 

“The ink is still wet. Be careful,” he warns him and sits on the bed a small distance away. The bed bounces with Wei Wuxian’s body on it.

 

Wei Wuxian studies the paper in front of him. It looks neat, the writing is very proper and clear, but he doesn’t have the slightest idea what he’s looking at. The idea seems a bit ambitious, suddenly.

 

“...Maybe later.”

 

And that is how Lan Wangji finds himself having wasted a perfectly clean sheet of paper for nothing.

 

“Hm.” He doesn’t take the paper back. Maybe Wei Wuxian will find amusement in just staring and touching at it. “Anything else?” He might as well try and indulge him for the time being.

 

Wei Wuxian tests the feel of the paper at the corner with two of his fingers. “You were supposed to ask me," he says. The texture is new to him, again, nothing like he’s touched underwater. Maybe seaweed resembles it a bit, but seaweed can withstand water. He knows paper can’t.

 

Lan Wangji comes up with something he had thought about earlier. “Is it not cold down in the bottom of the sea? How do you withstand it?”

 

“Hm? Here the waters are quite nice. It’s not cold. You should visit the arctic circle.” 

 

It doesn’t feel cold? Lan Wangji can accept that. “Have you been to a lot of seas?”

 

“Most.”

 

Lan Wangji has sailed too, but not nearly as much. He thinks it’s fascinating. The way he knows the earth by lands, Wei Wuxian knows by waters. There is a whole different earth underwater, a surface Lan Wangji has never seen. It feels a bit dizzying to think that there is so much life there. People tend to think that it ends at the shoreline when it doesn’t.

 

“What is the deepest you can go?”

 

“Hmm. I don’t know. Deep?” Wei Wuxian tilts his head.

 

That doesn’t sound very technical. “Do you know of anyone who has abandoned life in the sea to live on land?”

 

That earns him a short silence. Personally? Two, but it’s a secret that he has vowed to keep. “Not that I know of.”

 

After that there seem to be no more questions. “Alright.”

 

Then, because Wei Wuxian’s mind is an endless network of jumbled thoughts he blurts out, “Will you sleep in the bed with me?”

 

He still doesn’t realize at all how that sounds like. Lan Wangji struggles to function. He chooses his words carefully. “If you insist.”

 

—

 

The day turns into evening. After a few more rounds of training to walk, Wei Wuxian manages to stand on his own. The progress is not what neither of them have expected, but the joy is short-lived when he takes his first two steps alone and loses his balance and trips over. Lan Wangji is there to support him like last time, but quickly lets go when Wei Wuxian sends him a glare.

 

Back in the bed exhaustion takes over. They’re slowly losing daylight, so Lan Wangji lights an oil lamp by the table nearby, and that catches Wei Wuxian’s attention. It’s so bright, feels like the sun and leaves imprints in his field of vision if he stares at it too long.

 

He can’t help the small sound of awe that escapes his lips. “Wow.”

 

Lan Wangji turns to look at him over his shoulder. It only hits him then that Wei Wuxian might not have ever seen one. “Do you want to look at it?”

 

Wei Wuxian nods, a child-like expression of curiosity on his face. Lan Wangji extends his arm to grab the lamp by the handle. He carefully turns around on the bed, sitting cross legged in his ivory silk pants and a matching ruffled shirt, similar to the one that Wei Wuxian is wearing, differing a bit by the decorations and colour. This is light blue.

 

He holds the lamp in front of Wei Wuxian. “It is what we use as a light source when the sun sets.”

 

“It’s so bright. There, in the middle.”

 

“There is a flame. It’s warm, too.”

 

Wei Wuxian brings his hands to cup the round glass at the bottom. “Woah.”

 

They stay like that for a while, both holding the same lamp. It casts soft, playful shadows at the walls behind them as it flickers. The yellow colour envelops them, bringing focus only into where they are seated and leaving the rest of the room dark.

 

For a moment it is the most peaceful and warm Wei Wuxian has ever felt. Even when it’s in the company of this human—this stranger he thought he’d want to kill should the situation have required that.

 

For a moment it all slips away, the uncertainty and danger, pours out of him and melts in the heat he has in his hands, burns away with the flame inside the glass.

 

Then, it turns scalding and he draws his hands back. “Ouch.”

 

Lan Wangji turns to put the lamp back on the table. He feels his heart skip a beat when he turns his attention back and does the next illogical thing he can think of—to gently grab the petite wrists of the other and hold his palms up as he gently blows air on them.

 

“Careful,” he only says, not really knowing what’s gotten over him, but he also can’t seem to stop.

 

Wei Wuxian says nothing after that.

 

—

 

When the two of them lay on the different sides of Lan Wangji’s cabin bed Wei Wuxian seems to be deep in thought. Lan Wangji can only guess what’s going on in his mind. Not only waking up aboard a strange ship, but also sleeping in a human bed with a human in it—he must still think Lan Wangji is probably going to kill him the moment he drifts off.

 

It’s only when he has turned off the lamp and bid him good night that Wei Wuxian somehow becomes more awake. Of course, what he asks, Lan Wangji is not prepared for.

 

“How do you reproduce?” he asks as casually as he can. 

 

Lan Wangji almost chokes on his spit. He is very glad to be in the dark currently, with only the moonlight coming in from the glass panes of the doors. Why is he suddenly asking this?

 

“I mean, do you also lay eggs? I’ve seen small humans, but do they also grow inside eggs?”

 

“We… No, we do not lay eggs.”

 

“Hmm?” When Wei Wuxian doesn’t ask anything else, Lan Wangji realizes he’s probably waiting for an explanation. He gives him one.

 

“It is...one human at a time. Growing inside a person.” And we eat fish eggs, he almost says.

 

“Oh?” There’s shifting on the bed. Wei Wuxian turns to lay on his side, facing Lan Wangji. “Inside an egg?”

 

Lan Wangji cannot believe he is having this conversation. Out of all the possible ones he had to pick this one.

 

“No. I assume you...someone carries the eggs?” he asks from Wei Wuxian.

 

Wei Wuxian nods. “Mm-hm.”

 

“We do not carry eggs. We only carry the child. And then give birth to it.”

 

“Oh, really? Do they have little legs then?”

 

“...Yes.”

 

“That is fascinating.”

 

Not really…?

 

“Then how about…”

 

Please do not ask, please do not ask.

 

“Will you really let me go tomorrow? I am getting very tired in this bed—it’s quite soft—but it’s clearly a chance for you to kill me while I sleep.”

 

There it is again.

 

Lan Wangji huffs through his nose. Wei Wuxian hears this. 

 

“In the morning I will take a look at the wound. Then, you can return. I promise.”

 

“Hm.”

 

A pause.

 

“You know, you are the first human to treat me like this.”

 

Lan Wangji looks at the wooden ceiling above him. He’s trying to find the familiar patterns he follows with his eyes every night. Treat him like what? Not with hostility? 

 

"Like what?" he asks.

 

“Like I’m equal.”

 

Lan Wangji takes in a deep breath. "It is only natural. To me."

 

"Humans always want things from us. Do you not?"

 

"I do not seek for things that would cause harm to the ones who possess them, if taken by me.” In the case of creatures like him, true. In the case of humans, not entirely true.

 

“Hm.” There’s a hint of a smile in Wei Wuxian’s voice. “What do you seek for, then?” 

 

“...”

 

“Do you really not want anything from us? From me?” His tone turns suggestive, not even bothering to hide it anymore. Lan Wangji feels him move.

 

It feels urgent that he talks. “From your kind, I do not know what is there to want. I have only heard stories, and I do not know if they are true. I would not go after something that only exists in theory.”

 

Oh. "Would you go if you knew?"

 

Wei Wuxian is teasing him. He wants to wait for an answer, but when no reply comes, he gets braver. “Do you want to know?” The question comes out as more of a whisper.

 

While everything Lan Wangji has just said is very much true, that he would not go for such treasures, his heart still pounds at the question—the possibility of knowing. Would Wei Wuxian really tell him? Why is he speaking with such a sultry tone? Why does it feel like he’s being pulled towards an edge, a cliff where, if he chooses to fall down, he’ll be given everything he has ever dared to wish for?

 

“Only if you wish to share.” If I say no, that would be a lie. If I say yes, that would make me seem greedy.

 

Wei Wuxian shifts again. He puts a hand underneath the pillow to support his position. He starts with the most known one. 

 

“When we cry, our tears become crystals. Obviously, if we are underwater they dissolve in it, but if we do it on dry land they harden in the air. Apparently they are valuable. That is why humans torture us and keep us above water, but not completely out of it.” Wei Wuxian’s tone is serious—he’s talking from experience. 

 

Lan Wangji swallows. “I have heard. But there aren’t too many humans that succeeded?”

 

“I wouldn’t know.”

 

“...Mn.”

 

Silence.

 

“Then,” Wei Wuxian breathes in, “our scales. They allow you to dive deeper.”

 

“Is that even possible?” asks Lan Wangji, disbelief clear in his voice.

 

Wei Wuxian chuckles. Of course Lan Wangji would see through it. “No. That’s made up.”

 

“I thought so.”

 

“I don’t know who came up with it, but humans still believe it. They want our scales.”

 

Lan Wangji lets out an exhale. “Greed is in our nature. I do find myself sometimes affected by it as well.” He keeps his hands in a praying position above his chest. He recalls those times when stable living and riches in the governor’s house had been a part of his life.

 

“Do you want my scale, Lan Wangji?” asks Wei Wuxian then, a very wide smirk on his face, impossible not to hear.

 

“...While I do think they’re pretty, it would dry, wouldn’t it? I already have some stuck in my sheets.”

 

There’s a very short break before Wei Wuxian suddenly bursts out in laughter. What a peculiar person! What a way he has with words! He had not expected that kind of answer.

 

“You said pretty!”

 

“Mn. Beautiful.”

 

“Ahahaha! Alright, alright. I guess you’re right. Well, then…” and Wei Wuxian shifts again, scoots a little closer to Lan Wangji. “Do you know about the third one?” he asks, almost by his ear.

 

Lan Wangji shivers. “Third one?” He tries not to move, tries not to react to the weirdly thrilling knowledge of what Wei Wuxian is doing.

 

Wei Wuxian comes even closer. He leans his body on his elbows as his breath lands on Lan Wangji’s ear, on the sensitive skin on his neck below. His voice goes a bit lower. “Yes, the third thing you humans so foolishly desire.”

 

Lan Wangji doesn’t think he knows. He tells him so, in an equally quiet manner, “I do not think I know,” while ignoring the butterflies he senses in his belly.

 

Wei Wuxian huffs through his nose. Lan Wangji feels the teasing warmth of the other ghost over his face. He realizes then—their lips are almost touching.

 

And Wei Wuxian smiles, says it like a spell.

 

“A kiss from a mermaid.”

 

Lan Wangji inhales a little bit too sharply. He stops breathing. 

 

Neither of them speak. It feels like he’s been submerged, the weight of the ocean above him, stopping him from breathing and not letting him hear anything except for the thrum of his beating heart.

 

“What,” he starts by whispering, daring to ask, “does it do?”

 

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

 

His whole mouth goes dry. If he moves just by a fraction of an inch he could kiss him. He doesn’t know why he wants to do it, or why he has been brought into this situation in the first place. Why is it so hard to resist?

 

In the darkness Wei Wuxian’s eyes study him. Although he’s not in his merman form, his eyesight is still more suited to the dark, even as a human. Lan Wangji to him looks pure, eyes closed and mouth parted, something that he would like to taint. If he takes the bait, he can ruin him.

 

Someone like him deserves that.

 

Wei Wuxian brings his tongue out. They’re breathing the same air, and Lan Wangji feels absolutely paralyzed in place. He stops breathing the moment he feels something against his lips—a tongue, going over his upper lip first and then the lower, wetting them. 

 

Lan Wangji has never been this close to losing his sanity. The moment passes agonizingly slowly.

 

When Wei Wuxian retreats by an extra inch, Lan Wangji brings his left hand up. He doesn't know why. He just has to. Wei Wuxian stops when the palm cups his face.

 

Lan Wangji keeps it there, says nothing as he breathes.

 

Resist.

 

He whispers, “You are doing this on purpose.” 

 

It is a statement, but not an accusing one. It feels like his heart is trying to jump out of his throat. He tries hard to not sound like that. Maybe Wei Wuxian can sense it anyway.

 

“And you have incredible self restraint. Who taught you, hm?” The playfulness is back, the previous heat lost from his voice.

 

“...You should rest,” says Lan Wangji. He still doesn’t remove his hand. “We both should.”

 

“What if I’m not here when you wake up?”

 

“Then I will assume you have jumped back into the water.”

 

“Hmph.”

 

Wei Wuxian then removes himself, goes back to his side of the bed.

 

Lan Wangji is left with a lingering heat in his palm, and a tight coil in his lower abdomen and tingling at his lips. Maybe he should be the one to jump into the water.

 

—

 

When Wei Wuxian wakes for the second time on that ship he becomes disoriented, just like when he had woken up for the first time. The space he is in is not his cave. It takes him some time to remember what has happened. 

 

It’s a room, a human room, on a ship that rocks in the gentle waters of the bay. Gravity affects him differently here. And he had fallen asleep, next to a human, who is nowhere in sight.

 

He sits up, hair messy and voice croggy. His throat feels dry and his nose itches. It’s the effect of dust and air to which he is not used to, and his hair smells quite terrible now that it’s dry. It’s early morning, the very first signs of dawn that pour in from the windows on the door. It seems like daylight arrives earlier on land than in the depths, but it’s still not enough to see properly.

 

So, he is still alive.

 

He rubs the blurriness out of his eyes and takes a better look at the room. Lan Wangji is indeed not here. Wei Wuxian yawns, out of habit stretching his limbs all the way down to his—legs. Right, he has legs. He adjusts his sitting position and wiggles his toes. So, today he’ll be able to leave? He can’t wait to have his tail back.

 

Lan Wangji enters the room while holding a small candle, bringing with him a warm bundle of light. He is wearing two sets of long, white robes.

 

He notices the merman sitting up on the bed. “Good morning.”

 

“Where were you?” asks Wei Wuxian, voice cracking at the last word. 

 

“On the deck. It is a very pretty view. Do you want to go out?”

 

Well, wasn’t this a way to wake up. “Um?” He scratches at his itchy head, fingers getting stuck in tangles. “Are there others?” He feels something from his scalp getting under his uncomfortably short fingernails. For the first time in his life he thinks about the possibility of washing, a concept foreign to him.

 

“No.”

 

No other people? Is Lan Wangji going to release him now? “Okay. But weren’t you going to check the wounds?”

 

“Yes. Now, if you will let me.” He walks closer to the bed and places the candle down on the table. He sits on the bed as Wei Wuxian drags the bundled blanket to the side, drags up the pant leg and exposes the skin of his leg. 

 

Lan Wangji doesn’t have to look at it for too long. It looks clean. “They seem to be healing quickly.”

 

Hm. Wei Wuxian reaches to touch the scab. “Quickly?”

 

“Humans heal a lot slower. I assume the one on your back is also like this.”

 

Wei Wuxian then turns to lay down on his belly and lifts up the hem of the shirt. Now, it’s his waist and lower back that’s visible. It’s still not enough, so Lan Wangji has to carefully pull the garment higher before he can see the injury. It looks good, thankfully. He ignores the smoothness of the warm skin beneath his hand as he carefully touches the area around the wound. Not too hot to the touch, not infected. Very good. He quickly lowers the shirt down.

 

“They are both closed up and do not seem infected. Thank you for letting me check.”

 

He straightens his posture and stands up. He’s already extending his hands for Wei Wuxian to grab onto. “Can you walk?”

 

Wei Wuxian wiggles his way to the edge of the bed. His feet touch the cool floor as he tests the feeling. He takes the offered support and takes a hold of Lan Wangji’s hands, palms sliding against each other as he curls his fingers around his wrists. He pulls himself up.

 

Somehow it’s much easier this time. He’s able to stand without much wobbling.

 

Together they take a few steps, falling into a rhythm familiar from yesterday. Lan Wangji’s expression is fond and approving. “We have to change you out of those clothes. I have a robe ready for you.”

 

“A robe?”

 

“A long garment. Open from the front.”

 

They make their way to the wardrobe without difficulty. Wei Wuxian only needs something to support him while walking, but he is able to stand on his own now. Lan Wangji takes out a simple, sheer light blue robe. It extends all the way down to the ankles, and the sleeves are big and loose.

 

“Do I take these off now?” asks Wei Wuxian about the ones he is wearing. Lan Wangji nods.

 

Wei Wuxian then undresses his shirt. Only when he holds it in his hands does he understand how much ink had gotten on it. He lets out an awkward laugh. “I apologize for the ink.”

 

Lan Wangji says nothing. Next, it’s the pants. The dreadful moment Lan Wangji has waited for. Technically there is no reason for him to even be there, except for the chance that Wei Wuxian might fall down again.

 

The latter works on the buttons with a lot of fiddling. Then, because the pants are slightly larger on him than on Lan Wangji, they flop down easily and pool at his ankles. Wei Wuxian takes in the moment to revel in the expression Lan Wangji holds—clearly embarrassed to even look at him in the eye. “Why are you so nervous?” he asks him, grinning, voice lower than normal.

 

“Just put this on,” says Lan Wangji and holds the robe open for him.

 

Wei Wuxian snickers. 

 

Turns out that the robe is much easier to wear than the shirt. “I like how this feels,” he tells him.

 

“Mm.” Lan Wangji can agree. He walks around him in order to close the robe from the front with a loose knot.

 

A shameless request makes itself appear in Wei Wuxian’s mind. “Can I keep this?”

 

Lan Wangji almost whimpers. “If you want to,” he only manages to say. 

 

Wei Wuxian gleams in victory. Lan Wangji ignores it. “Let’s go. I want to show you something.”

 

And so they go. 

 

—

 

This is the first time Wei Wuxian is let out of the captain’s cabin. They’re on the main deck, Wei Wuxian leaning on the wooden fence at the edge. Lan Wangji stands next to him, his hand at the small of his own back. The two of them look at the scenery together.

 

“Is this what you wanted to show me?” asks Wei Wuxian, smiling as he looks at Lan Wangji.

 

“Mn.” 

 

Wei Wuxian turns to look at it again. The island around the bay is peaceful, the surface of the water as still as a mirror. The sky is a mixture of pink and purple, reflecting on the water, and the first signs of nature waking up are the distant birdsongs coming from the forests near the shoreline. 

 

It looks and sounds heavenly. The smell of dawn is fresh, dew all over the wooden surfaces that have been roughened by the sea.

 

“The water appears the calmest around dawn. Almost like clear ice. I thought—maybe you would like to see it. From up here.”

 

Something warm stirs inside Wei Wuxian. His chest tightens, unexpectedly but not unpleasantly. He admires the view for a while, hands grasping the wooden surface. The air is chilly around his ankles. He diverts the topic—a defense mechanism against the odd feeling. “So, you were telling the truth.”

 

“I was.” Lan Wangji inhales before continuing, “but I apologize for scaring you.”

 

Wei Wuxian huffs at that. “I mean…yesterday was quite wild, okay?” he says as he turns to look at him, “no hard feelings, huh?”

 

“If you say so.” Lan Wangji allows himself to give into the urge to smile. 

 

A moment passes between them when it’s only the two of them looking at each other, thinking about things that probably have been left unsaid.

 

Wei Wuxian is not sure how to react to that. 

 

“Well, do I go now?” he asks, a bit unsure if he’s allowed to. It’s still not a trick, right?

 

“If you wish to. It is better to be early. Your friends will not have to look for you for another day.”

 

Wei Wuxian hesitates. A very, very small part of him does not want to go just yet. He wants to slap himself for it, for wanting to prolong the conversation for just a little longer. He doesn’t understand why.

 

“What were you going to do if I didn't wake up?” he asks.

 

“I was coming to wake you.”

 

Wei Wuxian squints. “Really?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Then, the conversation dies.

 

“Alright. I’ll go, but—” Wei Wuxian turns to face him.  

 

But what?

 

But I will be back? Is that what he wants to say? 

 

Lan Wangji waits. Wei Wuxian finds his own eyes traveling down, for a moment stopping at his lips. The hazy memories from last night come back like a tidal wave.

 

He has to forget about it. “Do you want to watch me go?” he asks instead. He tells himself he’s talking about the turning process, the transformation when he will get his tail back. Not the moment he swims away.

 

“I can.”

 

A sudden flush makes its way up Wei Wuxian’s neck. He can? All throughout their exchanges Lan Wangji has been endlessly patient, always kind. So unnecessarily kind. Does he ever voice out what he actually wants? It makes Wei Wuxian want to dig it out of him, to cut him open to the world so he can see what he’s thinking.

 

“Lan Wangji—”

 

Wei Wuxian is dying to know. To know if he’s feeling the same thing as he is, that weird, small bit of hesitation to separate. He is frustrated at the feeling which is bubbling up only now that he’s actually going, and the possibility that maybe Lan Wangji is not feeling the same. Why is it suddenly so overwhelming?

 

“I am asking you, do you want to?”

 

Usually he could tell that from a person, but from Lan Wangji he can tell nothing. It leaves him without answer, no matter how hard he teases, no matter how hard he stares. It’s like there is a shell around him that he needs to break. He waits for the answer.

 

He thinks he can see the very moment when the tension leaves Lan Wangji’s body.

 

“...I want to.”

 

Maybe that is the first crack in his shell.

 

That eases him a little. Wei Wuxian will take it.

 

“Good.” Then, because he does not actually want to say goodbye, he asks him to help for one last time. “Lift me up.”

 

He studies the expression Lan Wangji holds, again, as he succumbs into the request. Hands larger than his come up to hold his waist. He lifts him up to sit on the thick railing. 

 

Wei Wuxian turns around and throws his legs to the outer side. His heart starts beating faster when he carefully extends his feet down to the spaces between the posts. When he stands, he turns around once more, back facing the bay behind him, hands gripping the wood tightly. Lan Wangji stands right in front of him on the other side.

 

“One more thing—” says Wei Wuxian before jumping, “you cannot leave the bay yet.”

 

Lan Wangji’s look turns puzzled, if not a bit amused. “And why is that?”

 

“You just can’t.” Wei Wuxian is not sure if he can voice it out, if he’s brave enough.

 

Both of them lean closer.

 

“Okay.”

 

And now he feels the words come up, unfiltered. “Okay. Listen. I might seem like it, but I am not ungrateful for what you have done. So, I will come back to say thank you properly. I just need some time. You can’t leave before that.”

 

A soft pink tint appears at Lan Wangji’s ears. “You do not have to.”

 

“But I want to, Lan Wangji. You have to understand the difference between having to and wanting to.”

 

Lan Wangji seems to tremble at his words. Then, he says as quietly as possible, “Lan Zhan.”

 

Huh?

 

“Call me Lan Zhan.”

 

Oh—

 

And then, because for Wei Wuxian it is now or never, there is a hand in Lan Wangji’s hair which brings them close, his cheek against the other’s cheek, his mouth against the other’s ear. He says, “Wei Ying,” and—

 

He wants to kiss him. He really, really, wants to kiss him, so badly, but he can’t, not like this, not with this little knowledge. He’d rather try and lure him in some more before making more rash decisions like that, before believing in something that with rational thinking must not be how he thinks it is.

 

“Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji tests out the name as it comes out, and Wei Wuxian thinks he has never heard anything so unintentionally alluring. “You can go. I’ll watch.”

 

Wei Wuxian says nothing as he brushes his lips against his cheek, drags them against it until he forces himself to part. He wants. He wants so much, and he doesn’t understand why.

 

But he really has to go.

 

“Yes.”

 

He lets go of Lan Wangji’s hair. He tugs loose the ribbon at his waist as he turns sideways, one hand holding the railing at the same time as he lets himself tilt. 

 

He aims to dive head first. He lets go and lets his upper body lead the way, hands coming up above his head to form a triangular shape. He hits the surface without resistance, the movements of his body naturally accommodating for the element of water. 

 

The splash is barely audible.

 

A ring of ripples is left at the surface when Lan Wangji looks down. There is a trail of bubbles that follows, leading to the space underneath the ship. It takes some time before anything happens. Then he notices a very faint glimmer of red.

 

A head breaks the surface, followed by an exposed upper body holding a bundle of light blue in his hand. His ear fins are back, as are the ones at his spine, and the tips of his fingers appear to be darkened. He looks just like he had when Lan Wangji had first seen him.

 

Lan Wangji leans over the railing. He doesn’t want to wake up the whole crew with shouting, but he raises his voice a tiny bit. “Wei—Wei Ying, are you alright?”

 

A delightful laughter escapes Wei Wuxian. “Yes!” He feels great. Absolutely fantastic.

 

When he swims away, Lan Wangji watches him and the way the water flows along with the movement of his body. He keeps close to the surface so Lan Wangji can see him.

 

He is the only disruption within the tranquility of the bay before he disappears into the depths with a flick of his tail.

 

—

 

Lan Wangji spends a whole hour admiring the sunrise. 

 

Slowly, the purple turns into pink, pink into vanilla. If he could reach out towards the clouds, he would. He wishes he could fly, a foolish childhood dream of his, and then makes the comparison between that and swimming. Is it not similar? Floating in water and looking down at the bottom? 

 

Another memory from his youth pops up—the time he had been swimming at the turquoise cove in the crystal clear waters of Greatfish Island. When his brother had asked him to dive with him and he had seen the endless white sand meters below him, seen the way his short legs moved, the way his hands tried to paddle him forward, never having felt so small before.

 

They had jumped from the boat. No matter how far he had swam, he could only barely reach the opening of the big blue cave before having to turn back. What would it have been like if he had a tail? Be able to go faster? To swim around in circles and jump out of the water like a dolphin? He had imagined, back then.

 

He thinks back to yesterday. 

 

To the way things had progressed, and to how his log is still only partly finished. He thinks back to the way sunlight had scattered into multiple small rainbows on top of Wei Wuxian’s black scales, and to the way his face had looked, unconscious but a bit twisted from discomfort. He recalls the little red smokey coloring at the outer corners of his eyes and eyelids, a detail he had lost as a human.

 

He doesn’t notice the light footsteps that appear behind him.

 

“Sir?”

 

Lan Wangji straightens his posture. Collecting his thoughts back together he turns around, the hems of his night robes fluttering elegantly. 

 

A deckhand holding a lantern greets him. “Good morning, sir. I did not think you would be awake. Is something the matter?”

 

He acknowledges him with a shake of his head, “Everything is alright. The merman has been let go,” before walking back to his cabin.

 

He leaves before he gets asked any further questions. He has a coffin to clean.

 

 

 

— End of Part 1 —

 

 

---

 

 

— Part 2  —

 

 

 

Lan Wangji’s schedule for the next few days has been compromised. It is a fact he cannot deny. He will not be able to make it in time to finish his delivery. He can only hope his nonchalant face will grant him a thick enough skin to appear at least somewhat apologetic in front of the great Nie Mingjue, the Pirate King.

 

They are on good terms, but he knows his loyalty is still being questioned from time to time by others. A delay will not help with that. With the liberties he has taken throughout the years—his deeds and even the appearance of his ship, being often on the borderline of is this actually piracy?—he is aware that the other captains do not respect him the same way. 

 

Lan Wangji understands. He is picky about his targets, he does looting only when he knows who he is looting from. He only holds hatred towards the corrupt officials. His ship does not carry alcohol. He wishes to sail alone, never to join forces.

 

After all, the only thing he has ever wanted is freedom.

 

But a ship like his, sailing under no one except himself, he is bound to try and fit into the world of the pirates. He does not fit elsewhere either.

 

He imagines the reunion in his mind. 

 

I have given you resources for this journey, and you have decided to waste them in a meaningless battle? Well, at least it was a fleet ship. You say it was to protect the victims? Did you even get anything out of that battle, other than a delay to your voyage?

 

Lan Wangji figures he would have to come up with a reasonable excuse. He stands up.

 

Well—he thinks as he looks back to the simplistic glass coffin with decorated brass edges and seams, resting on the floor, now cleaned from slime residue and whatever the merman had brought in—at least it is intact. It will please the Pirate King either way. There is still time before the ceremony.

 

He walks to his closet, pulls out a generously embroidered, gold-red velvet blanket.

 

Lan Wangji knows Nie Mingjue will only accept the best of the best. It is a special occasion. He had asked multiple captains to bring him the most magnificent treasures they could just get their hands on. Lan Wangji had been personally recruited—a condition for his invitation as well—in order to maintain his reputation.

 

He walks over to the coffin and covers it. 

 

The funeral of the Pirate King’s younger brother will most likely be extravagant.

 

—

 

The repairs go on as planned. They have managed to do the required maintenance on the cannons and have now started fixing the rudder. 

 

Lan Wangji is sitting in his chart room as he calculates the time it would take to head back to the Hammerhead Reefs and then change course to north where the Nie Fortress is located, at the Speckled Seven-Star isle formation.

 

With only two days behind schedule, he would arrive just in time. He will have to make it work.

 

—

 

He gets his log done. It only takes an afternoon that has turned into an evening before his peace is disturbed.

 

There’s a new commotion on deck. 

 

Something’s in the water! Hey, come look! What is that?

 

Lan Wangji feels a tug at his heart. He exits the chart room and follows the direction of the noise.

 

“Captain! Look! In the water!” says Wen Yuan as he notices his arrival.

 

Lan Wangji walks over to the railing, his heart rapidly beating inside his ribcage. What could it be? Had the bodies resurfaced? Or—

 

He does not expect the sight. Then again, he does not expect a lot of things these days. In the water he sees at least three different coloured tails. There’s a very familiar black-red one, an orange one and a purple one. The one in the middle seems to be in pain as the other two hold him. They’re not saying anything or waving their hands, but rather just waiting.

 

“What is going on?” he asks from the deckhand that’s apparently been just talking to them before his arrival.

 

“They’re asking for our help, sir.”

 

Lan Wangji looks at him, then at Wen Yuan and then back at the water. “Lower the boat,” he tells his crew. They get to work.

 

He doesn’t go down himself, but he watches as the rowing boat gets lowered in water and the moment when the orange tailed merman gets heaved in. There’s a harpoon nastily stuck in his tail, sticking out like a sore thumb, and his breathing is labored. 

 

Wei Wuxian is there, his hands grabbing the edge of the boat, tail swaying gently in the deep blue water. His eyes look up to Lan Wangji. Should I come up as well?

 

Lan Wangji nods at him, gestures with a lift of his jaw for him to come up.

 

There’s more conversation and the two crew members in the boat working together to get the two mermen on board while being mindful about the harpoon. Water splashes and the boat hits the hull of the ship a few times. The injured merman groans.

 

The purple one stays in the water. His expression is cold, but Lan Wangji thinks it cannot possibly rival his own. They exchange glances in a mutual understanding. The merman has the upper half of his hair tied up in a half bun, supported with a horizontal fishbone and decorated with something akin to pearls. So, they do decorate, too.

 

He looks back to Wei Wuxian, now inside the rowing boat. He also has his hair tied, but only the upper half of it, tied to the back into a ponytail. His usual style? It suits him, Lan Wangji thinks.

 

The two men climb up the rope ladder as the others lift the boat back onto the ship.

 

When the boat hits the deck, Lan Wangji walks up to Wei Wuxian, who seems to be struggling with trying to sit up. The ends of his tail reach the edge of the boat. It’s not steady with the shape of the angled bottom, so the boat becomes unstable as he shifts his weight.

 

“Ah, Lan—Captain Lan!” he says, meaning it as a joke, perhaps to lighten up this situation. “We meet again. Sorry for the disruption, but my friend got hurt and he has a harpoon stuck in him and I thought you could—” the hand he has used to support himself slips. “Oh!”

 

Lan Wangji hurriedly kneels down to grab him by the arm. 

 

“Careful.”

 

The rest of the crew watches with intrigue as the two interact. Their captain, who they know does not touch people, touching this merman…?

 

“Yes, ah, thank you—I mean, yes, he’s hurt. And the harpoon is stuck. I know I almost bragged to you about how we can totally heal ourselves fine underwater, but this is very different! It’s horrible. So I thought—maybe you could help.” 

 

And I trust you now, he doesn’t say.

 

Lan Wangji looks over to the orange merman who’s groaning in pain as he tries not to writhe with the harpoon piercing his tail. He’s still awake, but rather occupied, which is understandable. He hisses as the harpoon hits the edge of the boat due to Wei Wuxian’s uncontrolled movements. His voice is strained, “Wei Wuxian, please, are you sure that—”

 

Wei Wuxian interrupts him, “It’s fine, they helped me! They’re not gonna hurt you, believe me,” he says, now turning to Lan Wangji, “Right? Lan Zhan, please tell me you can help.”

 

The small gasps echo in the midst of his crew at the usage of that name. 

 

Oh, god. The joys of in-the heat-of-the-moment name exchanging.

 

Lan Wangji tries to focus on the matter at hand and ignore his reddened ears, nodding. “How did he get hurt?” He helps Wei Wuxian sit up better.

 

“Ah, they were at the shipwreck trying to find stuff, you know, like scavenging,” he explains as Lan Wangji tries to drag him out of the boat, looking over to his crew who is doing nothing at the same time, “and I guess something broke apart. One of the weapons was still loaded and it hit him. I wasn’t there, Lan Zhan, but as you can see, it’s very troublesome.”

 

Wen Yuan is the first to get the hint. He hurries to the orange merman to help him get out as well.

 

Lan Wangji turns his attention back to Wei Wuxian. “Mn. Continue.” He manages to drag him into the open area of the deck. He looks stunning to say the least, in his full glory of that merman form. He settles to crouch in front of him—

 

“I mean, I know you’re—”

 

—to extend his hand in order to remove the long hairs at Wei Wuxian’s temples, the strands that have been glued right across his face, and to push them behind his ear fin.

 

He does not know where all that courage had come from.

 

Wei Wuxian stuns in place.

 

For a moment Lan Wangji thinks he might have gone too far, but then Wei Wuxian flushes, gaze averting in a shy fashion.

 

“—you’re busy,” he continues his earlier sentence, “but it’s really…” and the rest of it dies down.

 

Somehow, that brings the courage back. Lan Wangji’s expression softens. “You do not need to convince me. I’ll do it.”

 

“Really? Right. Okay. Thanks.”

 

“Do you want to dry?” Lan Wangji asks. Right as he does that he remembers that they’re on deck and that the orange merman can’t be allowed to turn before the harpoon is removed. He turns to speak to Wen Yuan before letting Wei Wuxian answer, “Get water in buckets and keep his body wet. He needs to be treated as he is. Find a tool we can use to cut the harpoon.”

 

“Yes, sir!” And Wen Yuan hurries off.

 

Lan Wangji looks back to Wei Wuxian. “Wei Ying, do you want to?”

 

“Ah, huh?” Wei Wuxian looks up to his eyes, the soft shade of amber meeting his gray ones.

 

“To dry,” clarifies Lan Wangji.

 

He’s still being supported at the shoulders. “Well, I was thinking—yes, but no, it doesn’t feel nice, but I want to be here to see how you treat him. Then we’ll go back, I promise, I won’t bother you after. So I guess—”

 

“It is not bothering me.”

 

“Ah, well…Then...Give me a bucket as well?”

 

“Mn.”

 

—

 

They get settled. Wei Wuxian is given his own bucket of water to splash himself with. Luckily, the sun is setting soon and the water will not be evaporating that quickly because they are out of the direct sunlight. That is step one, check.

 

The next one is light. While the sky is still fiery and orange in the horizon, he figures it won’t be for long as this could take some time.

 

“We need lanterns,” says Lan Wangji, “I need good lighting so I can treat the wound. Cut the long end of the harpoon, but be careful to not move it yet. I will take a look.”

 

Third, the supplies. “Then, a few syringes—the largest ones you can find—and a threaded needle just in case. Then boil me a pintful of freshwater. Add half a spoonful of salt and stir,” he explains as he carefully puts his jacket away and gathers his puffy sleeves up to expose his forearms. “Fill the syringes with the solution.”

 

The first thing he does is to take a good look. They have laid down the merman sideways, but the crew is a bit too shy to touch him. Wei Wuxian has managed to crawl closer, helping to support his friend’s head from the hard surface. 

 

Lan Wangji thinks their lack of hospitality towards the visitors is a bit embarrassing. He tries to not to mind it so much. His crew has had even less experience with merfolk, as if his own would be anything to brag about. They can be quite intimidating, too.

 

First he assesses the injury. It seems that the harpoon has lodged himself in. Earlier the crew had cut it in half like he had asked to. Now that he gets a good look at it he confirms his suspicion—it seems like it has almost gone through, the tip peeking at the other side of the tail with a dark trail of blackened blood oozing out from it. 

 

There are two deckhands helping him, one holding the lanterns and Wen Yuan ready for instructions. Most of his crew is on the deck watching him, but also trying to stay further back so to not disrupt him. 

 

He makes the decision. “This will be unpleasant. We have to push it through to get it out.”

 

He sadly does not have anything to numb the wound with, or anything that could temporarily make him faint.

 

“S-sir! Are you sure?” asks the man holding the lanterns.

 

Lan Wangji looks at Wei Wuxian, then at the injured merman. He doesn’t touch the harpoon yet. Instead he comes up to crouch closer. “I will touch you now, but I will not do anything yet,” he tells him. 

 

Then he places his both hands on the sides of his neck. He feels for the pulse on both sides, palpates until he’s certain. 

 

“Here,” he says and brings Wei Wuxian’s hand up to the same spot, “feel that. On both sides. You have to push down on those spots. Apply pressure like this, not with the tips of your—,” and he remembers then that what Wei Wuxian has are claws, “—fingers. Do not break his skin. Just push on the sides so that the blood will not pump to his head. Do not push here,” he points at the part with the windpipe behind it, “but here.” Once again showing him the correct spot.

 

“O-okay.” Wei Wuxian tries to follow his instructions. He throws an apologetic glance at his friend, who seems a bit lost.

 

It seems like he wants to ask, but is too afraid of the humans to do so. Wei Wuxian asks for him, “Lan Zhan, what do you mean to do?”

 

“Afters some time he will temporarily lose consciousness. I will push the spike out then.”

 

“You’re sure it’s going to work?” 

 

“Currently, the other option is to have him awake.”

 

Wei Wuxian’s expression becomes determined. He looks down to his friend, “You heard that? Okay?”

 

He nods back frantically. He is ready to accept anything to ease the pain that the poison is causing.

 

When a crew member appears with all the rest of the items Lan Wangji has requested and places them neatly around the captain, Lan Wangji returns his attention to the tail. “You can start pressing now,” he tells Wei Wuxian. "Wen Yuan, get the syringes ready."

 

"Yes, sir."

 

They do that. And wait.

 

After a while, the merman’s eyes roll back and slowly his body goes limp. Wei Wuxian gets a bit startled, since after all he wouldn't want to hurt his friend, but Lan Wangji reassures him. “Keep pressing until I’m done, Wei Ying. You’re doing well.”

 

This might not be the appropriate time to blush, but Wei Wuxian is helpless against it. Whatever has happened between them has made him feel something towards the human. He’s not sure what. Admiration? Respect, maybe? He tries to refocus.

 

Lan Wangji asks Wen Yuan to help him hold the tail in place. As they do that, Lan Wangji takes a rag and rolls it around the cut end of the harpoon. He doesn’t count as he does it. He takes in a deep breath and then pushes with all his might.

 

The spike goes through without a flinch. Wei Wuxian is appalled by the act but impressed by the aftermath.

 

The barb part has come out. Lan Wangji then pushes it a bit further until the cut end disappears into the entering wound. He takes the rag and grabs the sharp end of the harpoon and pulls it out carefully. More blood gushes out after that, so he lets the harpoon and rag drop as he asks for the first syringe.

 

Wei Wuxian is still applying pressure on the throat. Lan Wangji recalls this a bit late, but he looks up. “You can let go now,” he tells him gently, and then guides the tip of the syringe into the exit wound.

 

Wei Wuxian lets go. He appears surprisingly calm, even to himself.

 

Lan Wangji carefully flushes out the wound. He lets the liquid drip down from the wound on its own, from time to time asking Wen Yuan for a clean gauze to wipe it. Wei Wuxian watches with intrigue as he repeats the same thing to the other side and after spends a good long minute just assessing. 

 

This is really the best he can do in this situation. Lan Wangji has already seen the way merfolk heal much faster than humans—he is still intrigued why—so this will probably be alright even if the harpoon had gotten stuck inside.

 

He makes sure to think it over one more time. He continues with the flushing, tries to reach deeper. "Is this the longest needle we have?"

 

"Unfortunately yes," answers Wen Yuan.

 

It will have to do.

 

Slowly, the blood they have been flushing and wiping turns from black to vibrant red. Lan Wangji only has one question left. “How long was it in the water for?”

 

“What do you mean?” asks Wei Wuxian. The other merman is starting to wake up now, which is a good sign.

 

Lan Wangji minutely shakes his head, “I meant to ask, how long was the harpoon in the water for?”

 

Wei Wuxian had not been there. “Probably from the moment the ship sank.”

 

“Hm. That might mean the poison is not as effective.” Lan Wangji leans back as he thinks about it. If it’s water soluble, even the slightest bit, the sea could’ve flushed away some of the poison before it entered the tail.

 

“I have now flushed out the wound from the inside. I believe once he’s back in water the residue will come off on its own. I don’t know how fast he will heal, but going by the cuts I saw before, I would say it will close up quickly.” He had thought he would need to stitch the hole, but there might be no point in that either.

 

A short silence covers them like a blanket. Wei Wuxian looks around at the crew who are eyeing them.

 

And… it’s over?

 

“Wow,” says Wen Yuan.

 

Wei Wuxian can only helplessly agree. 

 

Yeah, wow.

 

—

 

“This is now the second favor you’ve done for us,” states Wei Wuxian as he cups more water to splash on himself. It feels ridiculous, but it’s working. As long as there is water on his body he will not turn. The sun has already set—the air of the soft early evening feels cool against the wet areas.

 

Lan Wangji is sitting nearby, legs crossed. “I am glad to.”

 

Wei Wuxian thinks he has no pride left to even swallow. He owes this man, doesn’t he? “Thank you.”

 

Lan Wangji only nods. They’re still situated around the injured merman, watching over him as his breathing eventually evens out. He’s currently awake and resting. Most of the crew on the ship have already relocated inside, leaving the three of them alone on deck by Lan Wangji’s request.

 

Wei Wuxian’s tail is bent at the middle, the rest of his body laid down sideways. The widening of his hip creates a dip at his waist, something that Lan Wangji has been avoiding staring at. 

 

“So, what now?” asks Wei Wuxian as he draws lines on the surface of the wood with his claw.

 

Lan Wangji’s posture is almost meditative. “Waiting.”

 

“What are we waiting for?” Wei Wuxian can guess, but he wants an excuse to talk.

 

“Until he feels better.” To wait until the effect of the poison fades, he fails to explain, but at the same time he knows he can't be too sure. He only has a hypothesis that merfolk are much more resilient than humans and that their body dispels of the poison, unlike humans.

 

“So if he doesn’t you’re just gonna stay here all night?” asks Wei Wuxian.

 

It’s almost like the injured merman can’t hear them. “You know I can hear you?”

 

They both ignore him. “As long as is needed,” says Lan Wangji resolutely.

 

“Hm.”

 

With the three of them there, Wei Wuxian is a bit shy to act as he would if they had been left alone with Lan Wangji. He isn’t sure if he’s cursing his luck or not. At least, this had been a reason to come back sooner.

 

Lan Wangji sighs. He guesses they don’t get it. “I wish to see the wound closed up.”

 

That makes Wei Wuxian’s eyes widen. “But that can take hours! We can’t just sit here, Lan Zhan!”

 

Right as he’s about to give him an explanation, there’s shouting from the water.

 

“Wei Wuxian!”

 

Wei Wuxian winces. “It’s Jiang Cheng.” He turns towards the edge of the ship and—because what else can he do—starts dragging himself across the deck. He’s become quite good at moving on dry land. 

 

Lan Wangji follows with standing up and walking. He stops next to Wei Wuxian. Once again it feels ridiculous that he can’t help him, but he brushes it off with all the willpower he has. As he looks over the edge he sees the same purple tailed merman from before. That is Jiang Cheng, his brother?

 

Wei Wuxian leans over towards the edge and talks to him while supporting his upper body with the thick post. His head peeks out from between. “Jiang Cheng! We’re here!”

 

Jiang Cheng does want to ask if everything is okay, but because he is who he is, instead he shouts, “What the hell is taking you so long?”

 

“Ah, it’s okay!” Wei Wuxian reassures him with waves of his hands, “We just had to flush the poison out!”

 

“Poison?!” Jiang Cheng’s voice echoes all the way to the shore and back.

 

Wei Wuxian hadn’t mentioned it. 

 

“There was poison in the spikes?”

 

“...Yeah..but don’t worry!”

 

“How can I not? Wei Wuxian, I swear—”

 

“Sorry! I just forgot!”

 

As Lan Wangji looks at their exchange, he can’t help but notice the absurdity of it all. 

 

He has mermen all over his ship. One is injured, one is moving like a slug and one is in the water. He is supposed to be on his way towards the hammerhead reef, but this is what life has prepared for him? The more he looks at the big picture the funnier it gets. 

 

He suppresses a smile—at least everything is okay. At least he got to see Wei Wuxian again.

 

“I am going to check the wound,” he informs Wei Wuxian and steps back from the edge.

 

“Okay!...”

 

—

 

It takes at least two more extra hours and lots of bucketfuls of spilled water on top of the mermen’s tails until Lan Wangji has visual proof of the wounds closing. Altogether the tissue damage had been quite minor. Satisfied with the result, he declares that it should be safe to go now. 

 

As he stands up to retrieve his captain jacket he almost trips. It dawns on him that it is the fourth time within the last hour. The deck has become.. slippery?

 

He goes to get a hold of a lantern that he uses to shed more light on the wooden surface. It is only then when he finally notices the condition it is in. 

 

In the dim lighting he hadn’t seen the mess the two creatures had created—he had thought it would be a small affair to take care of the injury—but now that the whole deck is filled with slimy spots and sheer scales of different sizes, on top of having listened to the endless bickering of Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng for two hours, he lets the wave of exhaustion wash over him.

 

What a day.

 

As the few volunteering crew members help the orange merman relocate over to the edge of the ship, Lan Wangji shares a knowing look with him. He doesn’t even know his name, but they’re on the same page. He’s not sure if he should ask. Maybe it’s fine if he doesn’t.

 

They discuss and decide that he would rather jump—or drop—into the water than take the boat. They pick the side of the ship with the gap and extend the infamous plank. It’s tough work to get him there with his tail swinging freely in the air, but with Wei Wuxian’s resilient instructions they succeed. 

 

When it’s Wei Wuxian’s turn, he seats himself at the root of the plank and lifts up his tail to flop it over to the other side. He manages to slap Lan Wangji on the cheek with it.

 

The captain merely wipes his face with his hand while Wei Wuxian cackles.

 

When they’re both on the plank, Lan Wangji notes that it has become slippery as well. He makes sure to not step on it.

 

The orange tailed one is the first to go. He thanks Lan Wangji before he props himself up on his arms and lands in the water with an ungraceful splash, tail curling like a snake. 

 

Wei Wuxian laughs as he watches his friend go, a lot of tension having left his body from the relief and humor in the situation. 

 

That leaves Wei Wuxian to sit alone. Lan Wangji watches the scene from the gap in the fence, not having believed that he could ever have mermen jumping off of his plank someday. Isn’t that just the most fitting end to his long day?

 

Wei Wuxian looks at the water and finds himself staring at emptiness. He is once again hesitant to leave. It feels like there’s still something he has to say, but he can’t bring himself to do that with Jiang Cheng down in the water waiting for him.

 

“Wei Wuxian, what are you waiting for? Are we going to go or not?” questions Jiang Cheng out of the water. Their orange tailed friend comes back up to the surface to join him on his side.

 

Wei Wuxian is broken out of his daze. “A-aah?” And then he looks at Lan Wangji, pleading for something he doesn’t understand. He’s asking for a reason to stay. 

 

He can’t put it into words. It’s just something that he feels, that he knows. There are so many interesting things in the human world he suddenly wants to learn and hear about, and he has found a person who could be capable of that, who has already shown him so much and managed to peak his interest. He wants to stay just for a little longer.

 

Wei Wuxian has never been good at staying in place. He has always been drawn towards things that are colourful, vibrant, that keep his mind occupied. The things he has hoarded from shipwrecks, the many secret trips he has taken as a child in order go near beaches where humans were, the items he had seen on this ship. It is something new and fresh—and he’s so curious about it.

 

Curious about Lan Wangji.

 

He tries to ignore the pull.

 

Lan Wangji might not understand, but he sees something in Wei Wuxian’s eyes that worries him. “Is something wrong?” he asks gently.

 

Wei Wuxian’s smile dies down. “No, it’s just…” He really shouldn’t.

 

Lan Wangji’s heart rate picks up. His thought process is fast—he realizes something—and speaks before he can regret it. He asks, “Do you.. want to stay?”

 

At that, the bright smile is back. Lan Wangji has understood, and for a moment Wei Wuxian can imagine that there could be a connection between them. He wants there to be. He feels hopeful. 

 

“For a while, if that’s okay,” he says, very softly, quietly enough that the ones below won’t hear. 

 

Lan Wangji fights against admitting it. He comes to the conclusion that he can’t. “I would like that,” he says at last, right after comprehending how self indulgent that sounds, nothing like he would usually say. 

 

He likes having Wei Wuxian around? It feels so easy to imagine it, but his rational side keeps telling him that it’s too soon. Is it too soon? What even is too soon? He gets lost in his thoughts.

 

That gives Wei Wuxian the energy to turn smug. He’s probably trying to cover something up, but he has to act tougher in front of Jiang Cheng, for just a bit. He’s feeling brave. “You two can go ahead,” he tells them, “I won’t be long! I just—”

 

Just what?

 

Jiang Cheng rolls his eyes. Does he know about the newfound interest his brother has found in this human? He might. Wei Wuxian had not shut up about him after he had come back.

 

“Fine,” Jiang Cheng gives in, “but don’t be out for too long.” 

 

He wants to warn him about the dangers, but he knows it’s probably not what he should do in front of the human. He reminds himself that Wei Wuxian has the incredible ability to make friends and enemies, as well as the skill to get himself in and out of trouble. He knows he can trust him in that at least.

 

“I won’t!”

 

Jiang Cheng grunts. “See you.”

 

“...Bye!”

 

The two of them dive down leaving ripples at their wake. Wei Wuxian is left alone with Lan Wangji. 

 

Finally.

 

When they’re out of sight completely and the water has settled, Wei Wuxian turns to the human and now—he feels giddy again.

 

“Wei Ying,” acknowledges Lan Wangji, “did you want to ask me something?”

 

It’s another now or never for Wei Wuxian. “Yes.” He takes the plunge. “I want to do something. Do you want to go swimming, Lan Zhan?”

 

The human’s eyes widen by a fraction. Swimming?

 

Wei Wuxian chirps up, “Come on! It’ll be fun. I wanna talk to you and swim around, but I didn’t want them to be around..” He leans down playfully, elbow against the plank, swinging his tail in the air below. “What do you say?” He gives Lan Wangji the gentlest smile. 

 

Lan Wangji stares at him for a while. “Now?” he says, quite helplessly as he points at the waters that reflect the black silhouette of the island. He does get it, but he just—what? 

 

“Yes! Now.”

 

It’s almost midnight. Isn't it too dark? The sky is the color of the deep sea, but the night is not long and the sun will start to come back up in an hour. Such is the cycle of these waters, but—swimming?

 

He hasn’t done that for leisure since… well, ever since he was a child?

 

Wei Wuxian takes his hesitation as something to do with the issue of indecency. Well, isn’t he just the right person to go with then? “Come on!! You don’t have to take your clothes off. Just swim in them. It’s fine!”

 

Lan Wangji hadn’t even thought that far.

 

He makes up his mind. He stays silent as he walks to the mast and grabs a hold of a lantern.

 

“Lan Zhan?”

 

He brings it along with him. He walks over to the root of the plank. 

 

He is going to do this. He will do this. “I will have to use the ladder.” He feels like he’s nine again as he places the lantern on the railing and takes off his jacket, folding it neatly on the deck. It thrills him—what is he even doing?—but this is a thing he will regret if he does not do. 

 

He takes off his boots and socks and belt, leaving him with only the high waisted ivory pants and the puffy sleeved shirt. Barefoot, with the cool wood against his heels, he turns to release the rope ladder of that side and watches as it unwinds itself and drops down into the water.

 

He takes a seat at the root of the plank and places his feet on one of the rungs and glances over his shoulder at Wei Wuxian. Their backs are facing each other and Wei Wuxian is grinning.

 

Lan Wangji nods at him and starts descending the ladder. At the same time there’s a noise of wood hitting wood and bouncing after Wei Wuxian lets his weight drop off of the plank. He lands with a splash that Lan Wangji can’t see. 

 

Soon he’s on the last step before his ankles touch the water. With a deep breath he lets go—that’s as far as the ladder goes—and lets himself fall. 

 

The water is cool. Not too cold, but not warm. The lower half of his hair gets soaked as he floats in place, looking at the worn out patterns at the waterline of his ship.

 

He still thinks this is crazy. What is he doing out there, at this hour? Swimming in the bay he’s supposed to be leaving tomorrow?

 

Wei Wuxian resurfaces from behind him. Lan Wangji turns around to look, the wetted white shirt sticking into his shoulders above water. “I need to dive,” he says, because it is an urgent need and he wants his hair all wet, and so he dips below the surface to let his face and head feel it. The sound of bubbles rings in his ears.

 

He tastes salt on his lips as he comes back up. With his hands he tucks his hair back and wipes his eyes and mouth. “There. Now I can swim.” He says it like he’s following a routine, which is not far off from how he had always used to do it. 

 

In his cleared vision he sees Wei Wuxian in front of him, his sharp little ear fins and the small curls in his messy hair. He looks gorgeous.

 

“I can’t believe you did it! Lan Zhan!”

 

“Mn.” Me neither. “I wanted to. I used to like swimming when I was younger.”

 

“Oh? Well, isn’t this a great chance then. But wouldn’t you swim a lot if you sail the seas?”

 

Lan Wangji shakes his head. “The captain has no time to swim.”

 

“That’s a terrible occupation then. How can you survive without swimming? I couldn’t.”

 

Lan Wangji snorts at that. And he knows the word occupation.

 

“I mean it!”

 

“Mn.” 

 

Lan Wangji notices the difference between how the two of them move. Wei Wuxian is able to stay practically in place, while Lan Wangji is moving all four of his limbs as he stays afloat. “You’re much more steady than me,” he points out, like having discovered something exciting—in his standards at least.

 

“Huh? Oh. Well, I do this all the time...but that means we’re even! You walk better than me, Lan Zhan.”

 

“It is only a matter of practise.”

 

Wei Wuxian laughs. He redirects the topic. “Well, now that we’re here, we should go! How fast can you go? I’m really fast. I’ll leave you behind if I go first. You should go first.”

 

“Okay.” Lan Wangji kicks and spreads his arms. He opts for the languid but easy butterfly style and brings himself away from the ship. The water has already settled so there are no waves that disrupt his swim, but when Wei Wuxian dives and appears a long distance in front of him the ripples nudge him a little.

 

He watches curiously at Lan Wangji, and Lan Wangji in turn tries to stay on track where Wei Wuxian is going.

 

Wei Wuxian suppresses a laugh. “You’re slow. Kinda like me on land,” he jokes.

 

It is true. And fair.

 

He comes closer, tail breaking the surface once. “You helped me though. That was very kind of you, so, thank you Lan Zhan. And you kept your promise! Now I can return the favor. Do you want me to help you?”

 

“Mn. How should I—”

 

“Let’s hold hands like we did before. I can pull you along.” 

 

That sounds very nice. Lan Wangji extends his hands and kicks himself towards Wei Wuxian. He feels the spotted claws at his forearms which are covered by the wet sleeves and layers of ruffle. 

 

Wei Wuxian grabs a hold of Lan Wangji’s wrists. He’s careful not to tear another one of his garments—he’s already ruined one and taken another—and he starts pulling him along as he curls his tail slowly to gain momentum. Above surface it’s unnoticeable, but Lan Wangji feels the water beneath him stir, the warm mixing with the cold.

 

Wei Wuxian doesn’t have to do much to reach the speed that Lan Wangji could only reach with only his best kind of paddling.

 

They go further and further away from the ship until Wei Wuxian brings them around. He’s having a lot of fun—and that radiates on his face.

 

He’s so happy.

 

Lan Wangji doesn’t have to use his legs at all as they go. He lets his body float horizontally so that his jaw breaks the surface. He can’t resist the urge to drop his head down once, to find out how it feels like to dive while he’s being pulled. He comes back up.

 

“Let’s dive,” he tells Wei Wuxian.

 

That surprises the merman a little. “But you can’t see?”

 

“I want to feel. You can lead me.”

 

Thrilled at the suggestion, Wei Wuxian finds it impossible to say no. “Hold your breath,” he tells Lan Wangji, and the man does.

 

He brings them down, pulling Lan Wangji by both hands. He can see the way he squints his eyes to protect them from the water, purses his lips to not let air escape. It’s very cute. He brings them deeper by only a few meters but so that Lan Wangji’s legs do not touch the surface anymore.

 

Lan Wangji can only hear the hum inside his head and feel the little disruptions in the water from Wei Wuxian’s tail somewhere underneath him. The world above becomes distant, and for a moment he lets himself imagine. This is how they feel, weightless in the water, and this is how they move, effortlessly and beautifully.

 

His heartbeat becomes more clear as he holds his breath. He knows he could go on for much longer now that he doesn’t deplete his oxygen by moving. The coolness of the water helps.

 

They go a bit further. It doesn’t take long for Lan Wangji to forget what gravity is like.

 

Slowly, Wei Wuxian stops moving his tail. He lets their bodies come to a halt naturally, leaving them in place somewhere in the depths.

 

There’s a moment when they’re absolutely still.

 

Lan Wangji’s lungs still have air, so that causes his body to slowly go up, legs first as Wei Wuxian holds him down by the hands. 

 

Lan Wangji wants to sink.

 

With him.

 

He kicks once to go back down and releases a stream of bubbles to make himself heavier. The bubbles make noise underwater as they travel up to the surface. 

 

After that it is quiet. They float in place, in the vastness of the waters around them, in a place where Lan Wangji can’t see, doesn’t know which way is up and how far is it back to the surface. There’s perfect balance inside his body where he doesn’t move in either direction, doesn’t go up or down, and it feels wonderful.

 

To him, water muffles all sound. It must be the longest real silence of his life.

 

Wei Wuxian’s body, warmer than his, is swaying underneath him. Lan Wangji lets go of his wrists, to gesture that Wei Wuxian could let go too.

 

But he doesn’t want to be alone, so he extends his hands up to grab onto Wei Wuxian’s shoulders. He flexes his arms and core muscles as he brings his lower limbs down, finding the body of the other, curling his legs around his tail as he presses himself close, ankles brushing at his scales.

 

He feels his forehead touch something so he flinches as a reflex. It comes back and he realizes that it’s Wei Wuxian’s face. Their hairs float around freely, although tied on both of them. The ends follow the flow of the movement and trail up, exposing their napes. Lan Wangji slides his right hand along Wei Wuxian’s clavicle and then places it behind his neck, thumb teasing the corner of his jaw.

 

He could be content to stay here—to stop and never breathe again.

 

He’s still holding his breath. He wants this to never end. He can’t see, but he can imagine it inside his head how they look.

 

As the longest seconds of his life pass, his chest becomes tighter. He feels the first tugs of the burn inside—the need to open his mouth and gasp for air.

 

He relaxes his body. He wants to stay just for a little longer. Wei Wuxian’s hands hold him by the waist, careful but firm so that he doesn’t drift away.

 

Lan Wangji relaxes his jaw as well, but doesn’t open his mouth. From his nose he lets a few more bubbles free which tickle his face as they go past.

 

His other hand comes up to hold Wei Wuxian’s jaw. He pushes it a bit more towards his cheeks, going by feel, and to his ear to slide his fingers on each side of his ear fin. He feels the root of it where it comes out of the side of his head, gently rubbing on it and following the fin along the delicate bones and skin in between.

 

Wei Wuxian lets him do it. He will let him do anything. His heart beats just as fast as Lan Wangji’s, and in the water he can sense them both. He too closes his eyes.

 

Lan Wangji brings both of his hands to cup Wei Wuxian’s face. He presses his thumbs right below his lower lip, pulling it down a bit. He imagines how Wei Wuxian looks going by the visuals he has in his mind. The little fangs he has, the red in his eyes. He thinks back to the moment they had shared last night, to the tongue on his lips.

 

He doesn’t know if he’s suffocating because he has to hold his breath or because of the desire he feels, heightened by the fact that he can’t see or hear. He wants. He wants it so much, he wants this and he wants him, has never been so sure about anything in his life. He’s glad to lose himself in the imaginary whirlpool inside his mind.

 

When Wei Wuxian had come back that evening he had wanted to thank Lan Wangji. He had thought about what to give to him as a thank you. He had circled all over his cave of hoarded items, but even all of the most fancy looking objects, some more magical than others, had been just so and so. None of them had been what he was looking for.

 

The tree of candles that burned blue underwater? The handheld mirror made out of ice that never melted? The cursed sea urchin that had conjoined with a seahorse—no, that was his friend—or the jar of ever glowing jellyfishes that could only multiply under moonlight?

 

Lan Wangji had told him he had no desire to own meaningless items, hadn’t he? He does not want to own objects whose value could be measured in the human world only by selfish greed, so what could Wei Wuxian possibly come up with that could be good enough?

 

It is embarrassing that Wei Wuxian only understands it now.

 

In the silence of the water, with the first rays of dawn above the surface, he gives Lan Wangji a kiss.

 

He will give him that—his version of the treasure of the Maroon Bay—because there isn’t any real one, and no other treasure could be more suitable, more sweeter, more precious than that.

 

Their lips press together. Lan Wangji tastes salt as water escapes into his mouth. 

 

Wei Wuxian deepens the kiss as he holds the back of Lan Wangji’s head and his waist. He kisses him good, tilts his head and keeps his teeth hidden, brings his tongue further out to lick. 

 

Lan Wangji kisses him back, hands trembling as he holds his head.

 

Wei Wuxian has never kissed anyone before. A mermaid’s kiss is something that he had always been told to value, to not throw away, because the first one bears a gift that they can share with their chosen person.

 

Because it would give them the ability to breathe underwater.

 

The burn inside Lan Wangji’s chest suddenly disappears. It is replaced by a fresh wave that he cannot even begin to describe. He feels tingling all over his body, probably because of the kiss and the fact that this is Wei Wuxian, and then he doesn’t have to hold his breath anymore. 

 

He opens his eyes in surprise and draws back—he can see. It’s still very dark, but it is not blurry. It doesn’t sting or bother him to keep his eyes open. He can see Wei Wuxian’s face.

 

He sees a smile on him, a beautiful one that rounds his reddened cheeks.

 

“What is this?” asks Lan Wangji, mildly panicky, but also in absolute awe. He can speak, he can breathe, he can hear. 

 

And he’s still submerged. He looks up and sees the surface a good two or three meters away from them.

 

Wei Wuxian pulls him back to press their mouths together. “It’s my gift. For you. As a thank you,” he says carefully against his lips, kissing him tenderly.

 

Lan Wangji closes his eyes out of a habit he had not known he has—maybe it’s an instinct—and he holds his face tighter as he kisses him back, extending his neck and tilting his head. His body presses closer on its own accord and it feels like he’s been lit up from the inside. 

 

Is this really happening?

 

Wei Wuxian starts moving his tail then. He spins them around for half a circle as he brings the both of them to the surface. They stay afloat there, foreheads against each other as Lan Wangji nibbles on his lower lip.

 

When they stop Wei Wuxian giggles and asks, “Do you feel any different?”

 

Lan Wangji shakes his head. He can’t feel anything out of the ordinary. “No.”

 

Wei Wuxian releases a delighted chuckle. “Hehe! Great! It basically means that you can’t drown anymore, doesn’t it?” Why would his first thought be that, he doesn’t know, but it makes the corners of Lan Wangji’s mouth curve up slightly.

 

“Is it permanent?” asks Lan Wangji from him.

 

“Yeah.”

 

A ridiculous thought arises. “Will I suddenly grow a tail?”

 

Wei Wuxian snorts, “Noo, I don’t think so? Ahaha.. Sorry to disappoint you, I’ve never heard of that happening to anyone.”

 

“Mn.” Lan Wangji breathes a little bit harder, “But why me?” He looks at Wei Wuxian in the eyes, his whole being overflowing with emotion.

 

That makes Wei Wuxian flush and go silent. “Um. Well. I really wanted to thank you. You’re…” He gets lost in Lan Wangji’s eyes as he thinks about what he wants to say. How can he put it into words? They literally met yesterday.

 

“Only to thank me?” Lan Wangji asks, now with the hint of a tease in his voice.

 

“Well..no…” Wei Wuxian averts his gaze as he keeps his arms around him, “I also wanted to. Because...”

 

Lan Wangji encourages him. “Mm? Wei Ying, tell me,” he says and kisses him on the corner of his mouth.

 

Maybe he can say it. It’s like a freefall and he knows he’ll take it. 

 

“Lan Zhan, you… You are..new. You make me curious. About your world. About..you.” He locks eyes with him again, “and I’ve never felt like this before.”

 

Lan Wangji’s breath hitches. Because it’s the same. Everything is the same for him. Wei Wuxian is a bright presence that he feels drawn into.

 

“But I knew you were going to leave, so.. This is it. Your parting gift. To not..forget me. That would make me sad. Ugh, how selfish of me. I’m sorry.”

 

Lan Wangji is sure his heart is about to burst out of his chest. Wei Wuxian—he has given him something like this and he’s ready to accept..nothing in return? It is not a curse, not anything harmful to either one of them, and he’s just giving it away like that?

 

“Wei Ying,” he caresses his face as he speaks, “do not apologize. If you really want that, I will come back. Now that you have told me this, I know I can come back.” He pecks him on the lips once. “I want to spend time with you. What I feel is very similar to yours. If you will have me, I will come back to you.”

 

“Yes! Yes, I will! Lan Zhan!”

 

Lan Wangji gives him a soft smile. “Wei Ying.”

 

Wei Wuxian leans in to kiss him. He gets carried off as he focuses on just how soft Lan Wangji’s lips are. He mumbles in the midst of it, “I really like it when you say my name, Lan Zhan.”

 

“Hmm. Wei Ying,” Lan Wangji nuzzles him and kisses his jaw, “Wei Ying.” He leaves a very faint mark on the side of his neck, just above the closed gills.

 

Wei Wuxian giggles at first, but when Lan Wangji moves a little bit lower and then focuses on the area under his jawline, he releases a small gasp. “Oh.”

 

Lan Wangji smiles shyly against his skin, finding joy in Wei Wuxian’s reaction. “I should go back now,” he whispers, not fully meaning it but also reminding himself of the fact that he has to travel today.

 

While Wei Wuxian knows and understands, it doesn’t mean he likes it. He deflates a bit. “I will bring you back to your ship.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Back at the ship before Lan Wangji starts climbing the ladder, their one more kiss turns into two more kisses, which turns into three, into four. 

 

Both of their lips are red, a bit swollen, and on Wei Wuxian it matches the shade around his eyes. “You’re beautiful,” tells Lan Wangji to him, and Wei Wuxian doesn’t know how to respond.

 

There’s a fifth kiss, even a sixth one.

 

The seventh is their last before they hesitantly part. 

 

They don’t want to say goodbyes, so instead they make vows.

 

“I will come back, Wei Ying.”

 

“I will wait, Lan Zhan.”

 

Lan Wangji ascends the ladder and watches Wei Wuxian swim away once more.

 

—

 

He travels for three days.

 

When he meets Nie Mingjue again in the throne room of the Nie Fortress, he gives him a respectful bow as a greeting.

 

Nie Mingjue nods as an acknowledgement. “Captain Lan,” he addresses him, “while arriving at the latest possible moment is very much your style, there seems to have been a delay in your schedule.”

 

Lan Wangji hopes he doesn’t have to explain. He does not want to lie, either. He looks down at the red carpet and says nothing.

 

“Hmph. Where is it?” asks Nie Mingjue from him. “The body has already been prepared.”

 

Lan Wangji looks over to his shoulder at Wen Yuan, who is standing at the door. He gestures for them to bring it in.

 

With care they bring in the coffin, covered and packed safely in velvet blankets and tied with golden silk ribbons. Lan Wangji waits as they set it down in the middle of the room. 

 

“Open it,” he tells his crew and they do. In controlled and practised movements they slowly unwrap the coffin.

 

Nie Mingjue stands up. With his big, round hat with a black ostrich feather on it, he steps down. 

 

His slightly wavy hair cascades down his back and at the sides of his face. He wears a dark green silk jacket, also tailored to form an hourglass snatch at the waist. Black shoulder pads frame it with multiple golden strings in a row hanging from the edges. Underneath the jacket he has a white puffy shirt and a black vest on top. His pants are black and at his feet are tall brown boots with wide flaps on both sides.

 

A big saber rests at his hip. Baxia, he calls it.

 

He proves just by existing that he is worthy of his title.

 

Lan Wangji keeps his gaze averted as Nie Mingjue walks to the coffin to inspect it. He circles it around while Lan Wangji stays rooted in his place.

 

Nie Mingjue is pleased. “This is exquisite,” he tells the white clad captain. “It was clearly the right decision to trust you with the task.”

 

“Thank you, sir.” Lan Wangji turns around to join him around the coffin. “The only hardship was to originally prove its existence. Finding it was easy.”

 

Nie Mingjue nods. “The funeral is to be held tomorrow. I take it you will be there? I know you do not fancy spending your precious time here, but…”

 

“I will be.”

 

“Alright. You are free to go. Rooms have been prepared for you and your crew, unless you want to stay at your ship, of course.”

 

“Thank you. My crew will take the rooms. I will be on the ship.”

 

“Very well.”

 

As Lan Wangji turns to leave the room, Nie Mingjue lets out a questioning hum.

 

Lan Wangji halts. He waits for the question that doesn’t seem to come. 

 

“What is it?”

 

“There seems to be a mark of some sort on this side.”

 

Lan Wangji’s heart skips a beat. Wei Wuxian’s claw marks, he recalls. 

 

He doesn’t know why he wants to guard his secret like this, but something tells him that the Pirate King’s infatuation with treasure could spark something in him that would make him go after the merfolk. Nie Mingjue is not a fool, either, so he would recognize a pattern like that to be unusual.

 

Lan Wangji turns around to speak. “The coffin has had multiple owners. It is plausible that it has been used as some sort of storage after the original viewing it had been made for. It is quite old.”

 

“I am aware.” Nie Mingjue looks at the otherwise flawless creation, sliding his hand along the brass edge. “It does make me wonder what has been kept in it.”

 

Lan Wangji focuses his eyes on the floor. “Who knows.”

 

Nie Mingjue straightens his back. “Captain Lan, consider our trade complete.”

 

“I shall.”

 

“Have a good evening.”

 

“Likewise.” Lan Wangji bows one last time before leaving the room. His crew follows him as they get escorted out.

 

—

 

The viewing ceremony ends with a grand feast. The glass coffin is admired by many, and the body preserved in it is given the utmost respect.

 

Nie Huaisang’s burial is a small informal event. With only Nie Mingjue as the participant, he oversees it when the casket is placed in its grave by four servants.

 

The island they’re on is one of the seven. It is flush with greenery, circled by a pale shoreline. The simple, wooden casket is buried next to an equally modest, wooden house, forgotten over time, with all kinds of sea-related decorations and items as the interior.

 

From that day on, Nie Mingjue starts wearing a precious silver necklace. At the end of it hangs a rounded crystal as clear as the water, and inside is an iridescent scale of a pale green colour.

 

—

 

On his way back, Lan Wangji finds himself fiddling with his quill. He never fiddles with anything. He had told his crew the reason they’re going to revisit the bay is to try and retrieve the bodies.

 

Is he nervous? 

 

He had reasoned to them that with the basically nonexistent currents they’d still probably be there. He had not mentioned the merfolk, and had ignored the way Wen Yuan had looked at him when he had announced their destination.

 

While the Nie Fortress is not far away from Maroon Bay, the voyage still takes Lan Wangji more than two weeks. With a detour at a well known port for restocking, and the plundering of a small government armory followed by days worth of crosswinds, he is held back before finally making it to the island.

 

When he arrives, in the middle of the bay rests the same shipwreck from before. Two side masts still peek at the surface. While studying the surroundings, Lan Wangji can see that some of the debris has been washed away on shore. 

 

He thinks about the bodies and orders a longboat to be lowered. They will go on land to see if anything else has washed up. 

 

It is very surprising, but as their boat hits the sand, they spot two bodies. They’ve been wrapped in white sheets and placed neatly next to each other, a bit further away from the water. He does not understand.

 

Wen Yuan walks up to him, boots sloshing in the wet sand. It looks like he knows something Lan Wangji doesn’t. “Captain, do you think,” he says carefully, “that they’ve done this?”

 

Right as Lan Wangji asks “Who?” he feels extremely stupid.

 

Could it be possible? Did the merfolk do this?

 

He looks at the uneven sand around the bodies. He walks up to them. He can’t tell if there are any footprints or other imprints around them. Where he stands currently, the sand is soft and it easily gives way as he steps on it.

 

There is no other explanation, is there?

 

He looks around at the beach and the area where vegetation starts. While the wind makes the palm trees swing in the air, there’s a small flash of something pale that stands out.

 

The thrill of an unclaimed promise leaves him breathless. It is the same kind of irresistible pull that he had felt for the first time in his life, three weeks ago.

 

His body makes him take a step forward, abruptly stopping when he sees more movement. A head with black hair peeks out from behind a palm tree’s trunk, and a pair of light blue shoulders.

 

Lan Wangji can’t distinguish his features from this far away, but he knows, recognizing him right away.

 

Wei Wuxian’s face lights up and he rushes out of his hiding spot.

 

“Lan Zhan!” he shouts, and the whole crew turns to look.

 

He starts running towards him, and he’s wearing the same sheer light blue robe Lan Wangji had given him.

 

Oh my god.

 

Lan Wangji might just faint on his very beach, right now, in front of his whole crew. On the side, Wen Yuan’s expression turns astonished. The crew itself, while busy with the bodies, also have turned their heads to witness the scene. It is only natural.

 

Wei Wuxian runs up to Lan Wangji, slamming himself right into his embrace. Lan Wangji has no other option than to open his arms and catch him. 

 

“Wei Ying—”

 

As he falters from the impact, he moves his foot back to support his position. The sand gives out unexpectedly and he loses his balance, causing him to fall down. For a second he doesn’t understand anything other than the fact that his hands have come around to hold the other man’s waist.

 

When he comes around, Wei Wuxian is securely on top of him, hands extended on the sides of his head in the sand.

 

“Lan Zhan! You’re here!”

 

Lan Wangji thinks he could outshine the sun. Now in his human form again, Wei Wuxian is nothing like the scared being he had originally been.

 

“Wei Ying. You ran.”

 

Wei Wuxian nods. “Mm-hm!”

 

Lan Wangji looks at him in bewilderment. “What have you been doing?” he asks, taking in the familiar features, now without the merfolk details, and really looks at how even as an ordinary human he looks absolutely striking.

 

Wei Wuxian tells him, “I’ve been hanging out. Looking after the bodies.”

 

“You found them?” asks Lan Wangji, emphasis on the first word.

 

“Well,” a tiny huff of laughter, “let’s say they made themselves known.”

 

A small moment passes where all they do is just admire each other. 

 

“And you’ve been on the island?” Lan Wangji continues, voice very tender, expression fond. He has missed him.

 

“I have been. You know,” and Wei Wuxian lowers his voice a bit, “training.”

 

Lan Wangji inhales. “...Training for what?”

 

“You know. Human stuff. Walking. Running. Moving around.”

 

It’s a hint. Lan Wangji dares not to hope, but he still takes the bait. He wants to know. “Why?”

 

Wei Wuxian leans down. He whispers right next to his ear, “So I can leave with you.”

 

Lan Wangji stills. He’s breathless from the request behind that. Wei Wuxian is not joking, is he?

 

He, too, lowers his voice. “You want to.. come along?” The grip he has on Wei Wuxian’s waist tightens.

 

Wei Wuxian teases him with a silence.

 

Then, he answers, “Yes.” He lifts his head to look at Lan Wangji in the eyes. “In any case, I can always just swim back. I told Jiang Cheng that.”

 

The mention of Jiang Cheng surprises Lan Wangji even more. “And he didn’t stop you?”

 

Wei Wuxian snorts. “As if he could.”

 

Lan Wangji can feel himself tremble. Nothing could have ever prepared him for this.

 

“Well, what do you say, captain?” asks Wei Wuxian. The way his dry hair falls down on the sides of his head—quite cleanly now, has he been brushing it?—is mesmerizing. The silky ends of it sway when a breeze comes by.

 

Lan Wangji swallows. He lifts up his right hand to cup the side of Wei Wuxian's face.

 

He can't believe any of this is real, but he forces himself to believe that it is. Wei Wuxian's weight on top of him is as real as the sand in his boots, the clothes he wears, the wind of the sea on his face.

 

He follows along.

 

“Welcome on board then, Wei Ying.”

 

 

 

— The End —

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 1 of Tales from the Tavern