Chapter Text
The fact that Minho was at the library at 11 in the morning during what was supposed to be summer break was pretty bad already without the added lack of air conditioning because the university was trying to apply a new green-policy to reduce their carbon footprint. And Minho supposes it’s a good idea and all but maybe the university could instead invest in something else that wouldn’t drive students away from their facilities.
Or maybe that was the point.
He wipes at the side of his face, feeling all too warm and already sweating because the item he’s looking for is nowhere to be found but this was what happened when you were overambitious and decided to write your thesis on an extremely obscure topic. Because he’s been on his knees crouching through stacks and stacks of dusty files and even tomes trying to find this one book on a very antiquated animal husbandry catalogue just for the sake of meeting his list of citations as required by his advisor.
No one really came to this side of the library, far deeper into the “catacombs” as they all referred to the basement of the library where nearly 70 years of dissertations, research, thesis, and other archaic literary items could be found. Minho had hoped it would be cooler as it was underground but it’s not.
He groans out loud as he stands back up, knees hurting, back hurting, eyes smarting from all of the dust.
He was going to come out of this with that catalogue and a dust allergy. Or worse, an eye infection.
Minho walks over to the next and final shelf, praying to every deity that he does find this catalogue here (Professor Kim better not be lying to him!) when he spots a rather odd sight amidst the dusty books and files.
That was a hoodie.
And on closer inspection it’s a familiar looking hoodie too, Minho’s pretty sure he’s seen someone wear it-?
He walks over closer, suddenly worried his unrestrained foul-mouthed muttering had been entertaining someone else in the catacombs with him, when he realizes why he recognized the hoodie.
The hoodie belonged to one of his classmates from his free elective class. He recognizes it and remembers his classmate because he wore the hoodie even when they were in the middle of the summer and Minho wants to shed his skin because it’s that hot. But the guy just wore the hoodie like it was nothing.
What was it doing here? He’s pretty sure his classmate, Bang Chan he thinks, was not studying veterinary science. Not that Minho’s free elective course had anything to do with his actual degree, he just had to do something to gain some additional points for his overall GPA and the Basic Japanese class was waiting for him like a gift.
He doesn’t touch the hoodie- maybe he would come back and get it.
When Minho returns the next day to hunt for the book once more, with more information from Professor Kim about where it would be located (still in the catacombs, still at the back, but this time with a photo of what the book looked like) the hoodie is still there.
Minho finds the book finally, the size of an A5 notebook, squashed up in between other books, and decides he might as well take the hoodie up and give it to the reception for safe keeping. Class was day after tomorrow, and maybe he can tell Bang Chan about it after class if he doesn’t see him with the hoodie.
The fabric is incredibly soft- Minho has never felt anything like this before. The colour is a sort of mottled grey and silver and hints of ashy brown. It’s a nice fabric, something he can immediately see Soonie curling up in.
It’s a little cooler today so Minho isn’t sweating as much as he makes his way up to the naturally lit first floor of the library, locking the door to the catacombs behind him.
He’s making his way to the reception when he notes that there’s something of a very deliberately calm commotion taking place.
A bit wary he slows his pace a little.
As it was summer semester there’s less staff present and so there’s only one librarian at the reception, listening intently to the 3 guys who seemed to be in some sort of distress.
Minho wonders if it’s maybe good luck or something because it’s Bang Chan and he could return his hoodie to him then and there.
The librarian spots him before Minho can turn away and wait for the reception to be free or for the guys to step away and waves at him. Maybe they wanted the key to the to the catacombs. Maybe they were all here to look for this hoodie?
All three men turn around and-
‘Could you give me the key-?’ the librarian starts to say but all three men do a double take, their eyes widening at the sight of him and it gives Minho pause, stopping for a moment in his tracks; something felt greatly amiss.
‘Uh- yeah,’ Minho says, looking over at all of the people gathered at the front before addressing Chan, ‘Hey, I think this is your hoodie-?’
As he holds the hoodie up towards Chan, who looked like he recently got into a fight or something, his lower lip swollen and cut on one side, some bruising visible around his jaw, he’s met by very extreme reactions.
‘-oh my god no-!’ the tallest of the three exclaims, hands going to his long hair at once in despair.
Minho takes a step back, utterly confused because even the librarian has her hands over her mouth too, eyes widening.
‘Oh no,’ the shortest of the three whispers, hands also going to his hair.
‘What?!’ Minho demands, staring at both Bang Chan and then at his friends.
‘Oh dude man-!’
‘-what’s wrong?!’ Minho demands again, now really feeling very uncomfortable.
‘This is- oh man oh no!’ the man with the long hair wails, more distressed than Bang Chan who doesn’t look away from him for a second, barely blinking.
‘Tell me what’s wrong!’ Minho all but screams, uncaring that they were in a library, now distinctly aware that the security guard was making his way over slowly.
‘That’s Chan’s hoodie,’ the short one whispers loudly.
‘Yes- and- and I found it downstairs,’ Minho says slowly, ‘I was going to return it-?’
Did they think he stole it? What was going on-?!
‘Dude, Chan is a Selkie,’ the taller one tells him with a tone that probably meant he should be understanding why they were all freaking out by now.
But he doesn’t. Minho’s brain is completely empty. So he stares at the other guy, blinking once, twice, and then-
‘-okay and-?’ he asks slowly and he can see the literal frustration in the two men building but Chan himself was just standing there, still not saying a word and-
‘-that’s his seal-skin!’ the shorter exclaims loudly, gesturing to the hoodie Minho was still holding up towards Chan.
Minho might not be full-magick and he might not be fully aware of Selkies and their specific magick and culture but he definitely knew one thing.
He nearly drops the hoodie which he realizes now wasn’t just a regular hoodie this was-
‘Oh my god,’ he whispers, staring at the hoodie and then back up at Chan.
Oh it was all clicking into place.
Why he always wore the hoodie, why he wasn’t saying a word, why they were all clearly in distress, and now why they were freaking out-
‘Exactly! Now you guys are married!’
‘What-?!’
Minho is promptly power-walked into one of the study rooms, still holding the hoodie, and he finds himself sitting down across Chan and his two friends who hastily introduce themselves as Seo Changbin and Hwang Hyunjin.
‘Why- why was it just casually around?!’ Minho splutters, still holding the hoodie.
‘It was stolen from him!’ Changbin groans before asking, ‘Okay wait where did you find it?!’
It’s a flurry of questions and disjointed information that Minho is barely processing but from what he could gather, Chan’s seal-skin was stolen from him by a bunch of Merpeople (dicks as described by Hyunjin), and hid it from Chan who was looking for it for the past 2 days now, the police was involved too (this was a legitimate criminal offence) and they had finally been able to track where it had been hidden and they came here to get it and-
Minho was going to lose his mind actually.
‘So now we’re in a predicament,’ Hyunjin says dramatically. ‘You two are married now.’
‘Surely intention matters,’ Minho says desperately. ‘I- you’re probably a really nice guy Chan-shii but wow, this was-.’
Chan rapidly signs and Changbin and Hyunjin rush to translate.
‘-you- you can have it back I don’t mean it in anyway I just- I recognized your hoodie- I mean, seal-skin, and I saw you- oh no oh no-!’ Minho stammers out, the weight of everything crushing him down with every second he realizes how fucking insane this was-!
‘I- we can go to the Seely Court to explain the situation, I’m sure we can sort it out there,’ Hyunjin translates for Chan.
Minho knows the bare-basics of Selkie-Speak and amidst his own internal breakdown he’s not even going to try and understand the rapid flow of hands and gestures.
‘The Seely Court?!’ Minho repeats.
‘Yeah I think- I think for a divorce.’
Despite his grandmother being fae Minho doesn’t have an ounce of Magick in him so he’s never had to go to the Seely Court for anything. The closest he’s come to going there was to drop off Jeongin last year so he could renew his ID or something.
Now he was going there for a divorce.
Because he was legitimately married in the eyes of the law.
‘Oh my god.’
It’s Minho’s turn to have his hands in his hair. He could scream right now.
He was married all because he was just being a decent human being, returning what was clearly a misplaced item.
‘Is it open right now-?’
‘-shit you’re right let me call and check-.’
Amidst all of this Chan hasn’t really stopped looking at him.
For a moment Minho takes a step back, realizing with horror that this man had been robbed of something that could have culturally tied him to a horrible situation against his wishes. Not that this wasn’t an all together uncomfortable situation to be in; but at least Minho wasn’t trying to take advantage of Chan. Also Minho is pretty sure stealing a Selkie’s seal-skin was a punishable crime, in fact he’s pretty sure it was categorized under a hate-crime so whoever did this to him were real pieces of shit.
How Minho just never put two and two together, didn’t recognize the clothing item, didn’t realize its significance, makes him want to pull out his hair.
‘I’m sorry,’ Minho finds himself whispering. ‘I- I’m really really sorry-.’
Chan shakes his head, eyes widening at his apology, hands twitching as though to sign before he quickly gets his phone out and rapidly types on it.
It’s not your fault
‘I- I should have realized I-,’ Minho stares at the hoodie he was still holding. ‘Um- do…do I still hold onto it or-.’
Chan holds his hands out, covered in bandages and gauze, and Minho gives the hoodie back, head bowed in apology.
He realizes then that Changbin and Hyunjin have gone completely quiet, staring at them, mostly at Chan, with a look of curiosity in their eyes.
‘Right-,’ Changbin nods as though to shake himself out of his thoughts, ‘Well, the Court is open till 4- I asked about the Selkie department and they said they’re open till 3:30 so we can go now guys.’
Right.
He should.
That was the right thing to do after all.
‘You’ll probably um, like need your ID or something,’ Hyunjin tells him as he and Chan get up.
Minho was not carrying his ID or driver’s license on him- just his university ID and he doesn’t think that would fly in the Seely Court.
Quickly Chan signs something to his friends and Minho picks up the words university and drive amidst the motions and gestures.
‘We- we could meet at the Seely Court,’ Hyunjin says, nodding at Chan as though in agreement, ‘Um- just, I guess, bring your ID, I uh, don’t know what else you’ll need to be honest but I guess we’ll find out-?’
Minho nods slowly.
‘Do you live far from the university or-?’ Changbin asks, glancing over at Chan’s gesturing hands, translating.
‘Not too far-.’
‘-we could drive you to your place and all go together?’ Changbin continues to translate for Chan.
‘I- it’s okay, I’ll uh, get going now, I’ll see you at the Court-.’
‘-Minho-shii, can I get your number,’ Hyunjin says quickly.
‘Right- right uh-,’ Minho nods, patting his pockets for his phone.
‘We will see you, right?’ Changbin asks tersely, looking suspicious and wary.
And honestly Minho isn’t offended even though Chan shoots his friend a look. Even if Minho hadn’t immediately realized the gravity of the situation it’s not like he’s never heard of how, especially in the past, Selkies had an incredibly difficult time integrating into larger circles of society outside of their shores and sea-side communities because historically they’ve been taken advantage of so much due to the specific details of their culture and Magick.
While Minho accidently found Chan’s seal-skin and accidently returned it to him, enabling and calling upon ancient Magick to bind them together in marriage, people intentionally worked to steal Selkie seal-skins and use it to bind them in horrible situations.
Obviously things were better now, but he still hears of it time to time. And thankfully now there was a very large legal support specifically for Selkies in situations like this at the Seely Court with strong punishment for anyone found guilty of exploiting Selkie culture.
‘Yes,’ Minho says firmly, ‘Of course- I- you can hold onto this if- if you want-.’
Chan is rapidly signing with his hands, clearly directed at his friends but Minho pulls out the dusty catalogue.
‘My whole thesis depends on that, I literally can’t graduate without that,’ Minho tells them, ‘I’m not- I’m not going to just uh, vanish- I’ll come back.’
All three men stare at him like he was insane.
‘Right. Okay, I’ll see you at the Seely Court.’
Minho all but runs out and heads straight for his apartment, his whole world turned upside-down on a Tuesday morning.
His phone hums lightly with a notification and it’s a message from a potential future flat he would be renting at the end of his lease in a couple of months. The fact that his thesis and his lease both had a similar deadline was not lost on him and Minho does not appreciate the timing of this sudden marriage in the slightest.
HE WAS MARRIED.
WHAT THE FUCK.
He was supposed to meet with the realtor who was going to take him to a very good duplex unit he’d been really excited about but Minho will not be able to make it to the appointment they had for today seeing as he was now married. Minho quickly sends an incredibly apologetic message to explain that something very urgent came up and he wouldn’t be able to make it today. He hopes this doesn’t effect his chances on the duplex because he really liked the unit based on the photos he saw.
He nearly falls into his apartment in his haste to open the door, causing Jeongin, who didn’t live with him, to yelp in shock from where he was eating.
‘Hyung what the fuck-?’ he gasps, hand to his chest before he takes one look at his face and, ‘Oh my god what happened-.’
‘Where’s Jisung-?’
Wait. Right. Jisung probably already left for his internship. Shit.
‘I need you to come with me to the Seely Court.’ Minho tells Jeongin without preamble, slamming the door shut behind him, wincing immediately because Soonie darts back into his cat-house at the loud sound.
‘The- the Seely Court?!’ Jeongin echoes, swallowing down his food painfully, ‘What for?!’
‘Emotional support because I accidently got married.’
There’s 5 seconds of silence before.
‘YOU WHAT?!’
On the way to the Seely Court Minho explains what happened in detail to Jeongin.
Jeongin, being Fae, immediately understands the whole situation, probably better than he could.
And for some reason he starts laughing.
‘What the fuck stop laughing-?!’ Minho hisses, acutely aware that the taxi-driver is eavesdropping on their conversation even though he’s trying to act like he wasn’t.
‘No this- this is so stupid what the fuck-?!’ Jeongin literally has tears in his eyes. ‘Oh my god I’m so happy I spent the night at your place I get to see all of this- wait, can I live-stream this to Jisung-.’
‘-I shouldn’t have brought you with me,’ Minho groans as Jeongin gleefully grabs his phone and starts rapidly texting.
‘Oh, I’m fluent in Selkie-Speak, so it’s actually good if you have me there hyung,’ Jeongin grins, ‘Should we call Seungmin-hyung, law-student and all of that.’
‘Absolutely not.’
They get to the Seely Court and standing outside, clearly waiting for them, is Chan and his two friends.
‘Oh?’ Jeongin tilts his head as he squints at them, ‘I know that guy.’
‘Which one?’
‘Long hair, Hwang Hyunjin- he’s my senior at my faculty,’ Jeongin tells him. ‘He’s a nice guy.’
It makes Minho feel a little better somehow.
They have a brief moment where there’s an awkward exchange of introductions and they enter the building.
Thankfully it was actually good to have Jeongin there because he knew the layout of the Court building really well. Apparently the last time Chan was at the Court was over 7 years ago and he was just about as clueless as the rest of them. Jeongin guides them straight to the Undine Affairs Department where they would need to go to the Selkie Administrative Affairs Division, politely exchanging conversation with Hyunjin which is how Minho finds out that Changbin is his boyfriend. Minho and Chan somehow end up walking behind the 3 and Minho feels extraordinarily self-conscious.
What does he even say, “I hope we get divorced quickly?”? Minho grimaces at himself.
‘We- we’re in Basic Japanese.’ He says instead and immediately wants to bash his head into the wall.
What a terrible conversation starter.
Minho isn’t socially awkward- in fact he’s pretty good at talking to people, better with animals of course, but still he’s not this bad but everything that’s happened in the past hour was really pushing his social skills out of his reach.
Chan nods to that before he pulls out his phone, their pace slowly a little as he types quickly.
Is that how you recognized my hoodie?
‘Ah, yeah,’ Minho nods, noting that the hoodie was stuffed inside the messenger bag Chan was carrying.
Their conversation ends there. Or so Minho thinks.
Chan reaches out to lightly tap at his sleeve before showing him his phone screen.
What are you studying?
‘Vet science,’ Minho replies, ‘You?’
Chan types quickly once more before showing him his screen again.
Sports science. I’ve technically graduated already- but due to a change in the curriculum I had to take an extra class.
Minho frowns at that, remembering how the university had made some changes for a bunch of faculties regarding the over all structure.
‘That must be frustrating,’ Minho says; if he graduated and the university told him he needed to take one more class because of their lack of coordination he’d be flipping tables.
It’s not too bad. I don’t have to do the graduation process again or anything. Easy class too.
‘Yeah- my free elective,’ Minho tells him. ‘Hopefully it will boost my GPA.’
Chan smiles and Minho immediately keys in on his dimples.
Chan then reaches into his bag once more and pulls out the catalogue and hands it back to him.
‘Oh, thank you Chan-shii.’
They get to the inner reception near the Undine Affairs and Jeongin points them to a desk.
Right. Now from this point forward it was basically just Chan and Minho having to do things.
Right.
This was fine.
Chan does the talking for them- more like he uses Selkie-Speak and the receptionist is of course fluent, nodding and typing away at his computer, no judgment or anything on his face. He then gives them both some forms and directs them towards another area.
Jeongin tells him that he’ll wait at the lobby for him and Chan’s friends say the same to him.
They both make their way through a doorway that leads out into another sort of lobby but with nicer looking seats lined up, a few people already sitting around. At the end of the lobby, very much like an airport check-in area, are little booths, numbers flashing overhead. Minho glances up at the sign that tells him he was now at the Selkie Administrative Affairs Division.
Minho checks his form, noting he was the 31st person who had come in that day.
Once he takes a seat it hits Minho that he was applying for a divorce.
He was literally a married man.
The silence is heavy and awkward. Minho can tell Chan is trying to lighten the atmosphere but he doesn’t know how- just like Minho. After a couple of minutes Chan taps his sleeve lightly again and points to the vending machine.
Do you want something? he mouths carefully.
‘Ah, I’m okay,’ Minho smiles and Chan nods and walks off to the machine as Minho screams some more in his head. His phone is erupting with messages- no doubt from Jisung and most likely Seungmin too.
But it would be incredibly rude to be on his phone constantly even if they’re not talking- he needs to focus and be fully aware on what was happening.
He wishes he had brushed up on his core-languages, struggling to remember the basics of Selkie-Speak that wasn’t part of viral videos online and those had subtitles on it too.
Chan comes back with a small bottle of water for himself and they continue to sit in silence. The very upright and very official vibe of the whole place was not helping either in all honesty. Not an ideal place for ice-breaker conversations.
He wants to ask about what happened that his seal-skin got stolen and if whoever stole it was being properly punished for their crime because Jeongin did tell him that yes, it was indeed a criminal offence and depending on the situation the perpetrator could face up to 5 years in prison. Minho privately thinks that’s a rather mild punishment considering how important seal-skins were for the Selkie. He wants to ask about his bruising, wincing a little, wild brutal imagination taking over. Minho’s never been in a fight of any sort, the idea of being punched or punching someone does not appeal to him in any way and he hopes whatever lead to Chan losing his seal-skin hadn’t been at the cost of something horrendous.
Or was this bullying? Minho is vaguely aware of some level of hierarchy being present in the Undine community and he knows Selkies were generally considered “lesser”.
Hyunjin and Changbin had mentioned that it was stolen from Chan. Was it personal? Or was this just a random and terrible attack? Maybe they didn’t know who it was who stole it- how did they know it was in the library?
But Minho doesn’t know how to ask this so instead he diligently fills in his form that basically requested full details of his contact information, address, down to his parents names, their address and contact information. Wow. How was he going to tell his parents about this.
There’s a bit where he needs to fill in Chan’s information and it seems Chan got to that section the same time too because they both turn and look at each other.
Chan gives him his form to get the information he needed for his form and Minho quickly jots down the required information. That’s how he finds out Chan is a year older, literally a full year and some weeks as his birthday is in October too. He doesn’t want to snoop, this was all private information after all and they’ve known each other for like, maybe an hour and just because they were legally married it didn’t mean Minho was privy to his information.
Minho gives Chan his form as well and takes the time to scan through the message previews on his phone and yes, Jeongin definitely told Jisung and Seungmin, both of their messages stacking up, a few missed calls and even video-calls. He ignores these and checks the response from his realtor and he’s relieved to read a positive response back from her and to let her know when he was available to reschedule their appointment.
Chan hands him his form back with a small smile and then they wait again.
That’s when Minho realizes people were looking at them, at him – and Minho feels blood drain from his face because there was a high possibility people were assuming he was the reason why Chan looked beat up. It was extremely possible that people thought he was responsible for this.
There’s nothing he can do about it though- moving away would not help in any way, in fact it would look worse and also be very weird for Chan.
It’s after a painful 15 minutes of people throwing judgmental looks towards him that their number is called up and Chan explains the situation once more at the booth to an older man, evidently Mer judging from the faint outlines of scales on the sides of his neck.
Minho flinches a little at the look he gets from the Mer as Chan tells him why they were there.
Chan immediately notices, looking troubled, frown furrowing between his brows as his hands fly about some more.
‘Take this token and head through to the third floor,’ the Mer states, sounding bored, now giving Chan a judgmental look before shaking his head and adds, ‘Young kids these days, couldn’t keep yourself safe?’
Minho is equal parts horrified and angry.
But before he can even begin to think of saying anything or reacting Chan signs politely to the Mer who doesn’t even look at them as he rings up the next people and gently guides them around the booth towards the other doorway.
Minho frowns, looking back at the Mer with a scowl.
What the actual fuck? Minho is so incredibly offended, should he note the name of that Mer and report his behavior? He looks back around when Chan tugs at his sleeve for his attention before quickly tapping on his phone and showing him the screen.
I’m really sorry for all of this
Minho frowns, shaking his head. The wrong person was apologizing.
‘No- that- that was like, really uncalled for behavior, what the fuck? That was so unprofessional and rude.’
Chan gives him a small shrug before thumbing at the glass at the back that lead to some escalators Minho hadn’t seen earlier.
There’s far less people upstairs and it doesn’t feel as rigid or uptight here so Minho feels himself relax a little as they take a seat on much more comfortable couches, each taking the far ends of the couch after giving the attendant at the desk their token. She gives them both a smile and tells them to wait before walking towards one of the doors and disappearing into it.
A few minutes later she reappears and behind her an older lady steps out and spots them at once.
She’s wearing an elegant long sweater definitely the same fabric as Chan’s hoodie, albeit a darker hue, nearly black.
She was Selkie too. But clearly not full-blooded as she greets them both verbally and tells them to come to her office.
This was clearly the woman’s office; it reminds Minho of his professor’s office at the university not so much in terms of styling but just an overall vibe: academia, corporate, and something definitely very lived in.
‘Right well, let’s begin,’ Kim Yubin says after introducing herself.
Minho lets Chan do the talking, hands rapidly signing and Yubin nods along, not interrupting. Chan takes out another paper as well, and Minho only briefly sees the very official looking document. He knows enough Selkie-Speak to know Chan just signed police and it was probably the report on what happened.
Yubin nods, quickly skimming through the report and frowning just a little. It’s obvious when Chan reaches the part about Minho because Yubin looks over at him, nodding a little.
Minho was expecting more suspicion and honestly, behavior like the one from downstairs because he gets it. He’s heard of enough cases, more prevalent in the past, where Selkies were taken advantage of over this cultural magick. It’s why they had a whole area dedicated to Selkies at the Seely Court.
Plus Chan looked beat up, so honestly Minho doesn’t blame anyone for assuming the worst about him even though they’re wrong but he’s not in the position to be arguing anyone. If needed he would do all those things like lie-detector tests or hypnosis or even Fae-dust but that was an outdated and wildly illegal process so he doesn’t think the Seely Court would put him through that. For a wild moment he wonders if anyone suspects he might be in league with those Merpeople and was doing all of this for his own advantage or something.
‘Minho-shii, if you could tell me about what happened in your perspective,’ Yubin says to him once Chan is done and Minho focuses a bit more. But there’s not much for Minho to say in all honesty but he still explains what happened barely over two hours ago to the woman who nods, looking thoughtful.
‘First I should say, I am sorry that this has happened,’ Yubin tells them both, not specifically directed at Chan, which Minho was expecting because honestly what a horrible two days these must have been for the guy. ‘I will be approving your divorce process of course, but I cannot promise that it will be a quick process.’
Minho is not surprised. These sort of things took time regardless of how both parties wanted it-
‘-it could take anywhere between 8 to 10 months for your case-.’
Minho can’t help but react, eyes widening, physically leaning forward in shock.
He was expecting maybe a month or so.
But nearly 8 months?!
‘-that’s the best case scenario,’ Yubin tells them both.
Chan is also in shock.
‘The Court will process your case and not categorize it as an emergency,’ she explains, ‘As you both explained this was entirely an accident, and unfortunately there are other cases that are emergencies that need to be prioritized.’
‘Um-,’ Minho just gapes at the woman for a while. He has a lot of questions and he doesn’t know how to ask them.
‘I understand that this is not an ideal situation,’ she tells them, ‘I am very sorry.’
She says this more to Minho that to Chan for some reason.
‘Uh- what, what should we do?’ Minho asks hesitantly, ‘I’m- I’m sorry but I don’t really know much of, um, Selkie culture so I don’t-.’
Yubin nods in understand as Chan quickly waves his hands as though to tell him it didn’t matter before signing to Yubin rapidly. The woman gives him a dubious look and rather than reply back verbally she signs quickly to Chan in response.
Chan looks put-out, a bit defeated.
‘You can go to the Seely Court website to find out more information,’ Yubin tells him, turning to him, ‘However, I do have to let you know, by law and protocol, what all of this now means to you.’
Minho is feeling very much like a fish out of water.
Haha.
‘Culturally speaking, when a Selkie is married or bonded to another, they exchange skins as a sign of trust.’
Minho knew this much yes.
‘However when it’s between a Selkie and any other race that isn’t closely related to the Mer, a Selkie normally keeps their skin with them.’ Yubin continues.
Minho nods again, wondering where this was going.
‘If you’re okay with that-.’
‘-yeah of course,’ Minho nods quickly, ‘I- this was all an accident and- and I wouldn’t want to take Chan-shii’s seal-skin like, at all, of course.’
Minho understands that culturally speaking it was significant and very meaningful to their race; they’re literally getting a divorce, he’s not about to demand he take Chan’s seal-skin.
Yubin nods to that but Chan looks extremely worried, knee bouncing rapidly, clearly agitated.
‘So that means you’re all right with exchanging rings?’
Minho isn’t sure he heard her right.
‘Ex- exchange what?’
‘Rings,’ Yubin repeats herself. ‘Or well, any other item of significance. These days it’s mostly rings.’
‘But-…wait, but we’re uh, we’re getting divorced?’ Minho says slowly, glancing over at Chan who shifts uncomfortably.
‘Yes,’ Yubin nods patiently, ‘However, culturally speaking, you do have to follow with Selkie Law-.’
Chan rapidly signs and Yubin pauses before continuing, ‘While Chan-shii here is making it very clear that he does not mind, I do have to reinforce that there is a social status balance here. It may seem obtuse to you, Minho-shii, but due to the principle of how things function within the Undine Community, it is considered important for those involved to respect the culture as well.’
‘Oh- I uh, I mean sure, I guess,’ Minho says. He could wear a ring, it was fine.
Wow.
He thought he was somewhat aware of Selkie culture but apparently he wasn’t?!
Yubin tells him some more about some specific things, but considering their circumstances and situation, and with Chan’s continued insistence, Minho doesn’t have to do anything more than possibly wear a wedding ring or something else symbolic though it seemed to be more on Chan’s side to do so.
They have another appointment in 3 days where they’re required to bring in some more documents and fill out 10 different forms that Yubin gives them in their individual folders. Great, homework for Seungmin.
Chan and Yubin have a brief chat before they leave and then that was it.
Minho was still married but he basically just successfully applied for a divorce.
Before they get to the escalators Chan stops him, phone already in hand, rapidly typing. Minho waits anxiously for whatever he’s about to read-
I know it’s kinda really archaic, you don’t have to do anything, they’re exaggerating a lot, it’s nothing like what they said.
‘What-?’
About the ring- you don’t have to do anything. It really is okay- all of that stuff is like, really old ways of thinking and it would more applicable if we were living closer to larger Undine communities- but here in the city it really doesn’t matter.
Minho frowns a little.
‘Are you sure?’ he asks.
Chan nods seriously.
‘Because I don’t mind if it’s going to be a problem-.’
Chan rapidly shakes his head, mouthing no no it’s not a problem.
And well. Minho guesses he’s not about to argue a Selkie about his culture and what was okay or not.
When they come back out, Jeongin is still chatting with Hyunjin and Changbin, looking quite at ease with them.
It’s a rather awkward affair, mostly between Minho and Chan, as they sort of robotically wave at each other before Minho and Jeongin leave, heading for the bus stop and they head for the parking as Changbin had a car.
Minho is not surprised that Jisung is waiting for them but he is surprised to see Seungmin there too and the law student has his head in his hands the whole time as Minho explains what happened for what felt like the thousandth time that day and honestly that should be Minho, head in his hands.
‘I can’t believe you’re married,’ Jisung exclaims, ‘I just assumed you’d never marry, be the cool uncle to my kids, and adopt every cat you come across for the rest of your life.’
‘Kids? You can’t get pregnant,’ Seungmin deadpans at him.
‘Shh, we’re trying,’ Jisung says to Seungmin as he pats Jeongin’s hand who immediately shoves his boyfriend away, rolling his eyes, trying not to smile.
‘I just feel really bad for Chan-shii,’ Minho exhales, ‘What a fucked up situation.’
‘I always knew I didn’t like the Mers,’ Jisung says darkly, ‘They’re always such dicks.’
Minho grimaces. It was an unfortunately reinforced stereotype.
Seungmin who was going through Minho’s many documents and forms he was going to have to fill up and sign asks him without looking up, ‘So, are you sure you don’t have to do anything else in the mean time?’
‘I don’t think so-?’
‘Not calling this Chan, your husband, a liar,’ Seungmin cuts in, ‘But hyung, I don’t think you get it.’
‘Get what? Like their cultural stuff?’ Minho asks worriedly. ‘Chan-shii said it wasn’t too serious-?’
‘No it’s actually serious, Chan-shii was lying to you,’ Jeongin tells him bluntly. ‘The Undine and just, in general sea-folk have a really strong sense of like, social status in their communities. And with Selkies kinda being on the lower rung of like, the whole hierarchy in the Undine, they get picked on a lot. So even if Chan-shii himself doesn’t care about it, his community will undoubtedly have a lot to say.’
‘That’s so mean,’ Jisung says hotly, ‘What the fuck? They’re getting divorced anyway it’s not even legit-?’
‘-it’s all about respecting the culture or something,’ Jeongin grimaces, ‘Fae are way more relaxed when it comes to stuff like this, but with the Undine it’s a total pain in the ass. Also according to what Hyunjin-sunbaenim said, Chan-shii was literally jumped where he works by a bunch of Merpeople and that’s how his seal-skin got stolen.’
‘What the fuck-.’ Minho gapes at Jeongin.
‘-who the fuck are these people?!’ Jisung demands incredulously, ‘You cannot be serious-?!’
‘-a bunch of rich nepo kids really, they were apprehended by the police just last night after being pressured by Changbin-shii’s family and told them where it was stashed and that’s how they came to the library,’ Jeongin explains, casually dropping a ton of information. ‘And of course hyung was there and here we all are.’
Here they all were.
Minho needs to find out more information. Yubin had mentioned the Court website so that’s where he immediately dives into, ignoring his thesis. Honestly Minho will take any opportunity to completely ignore his thesis and this was definitely something worth ignoring his thesis over.
Jeongin had given him good information but he wants to know more.
And truly sometimes ignorance was bliss because he’s horrified at the sort of cultural rigidity that was still weirdly prevalent amongst the Undine community- he hadn’t been all too aware of it, probably because he hadn’t really been exposed but also their community did sort of keep to themselves which again, especially for the Selkie, considering their history, made perfect sense.
After some more reading, Minho makes the executive decision that he should make something for Chan as a sort of symbolic gesture as described on the website. He also went through a lot of forums and blogs and social media to find out more information, and well, just to be a decent person to really showcase that he meant no harm, that he was incredibly apologetic for getting them both here (it’s technically not his fault really, but Minho still feels terrible, especially after reading up on how binding all of this was for the Selkies), and that he was more than willing to help this process and see it to completion.
Also this somewhat irrational fear suddenly builds up in him that Chan and his friends might think he’s some sort of weirdo trying to get married to a Selkie and being a weird stalker or something, or somehow connected to these mer-idiots.
The exchanging of seal-skins was profoundly symbolic and in case of marriage or bonding outside of their own race, Selkies did exchange rings frequently or other sort of small jewelry.
He thinks back to Chan from today- he didn’t have any rings on his fingers (he had bruises on his knuckles that weren’t covered by bandages) no necklace that he could see, and no earrings. He did however have a bracelet on.
So bracelet it was.
Minho immediately goes online to find the appropriate things he would need, thinking hard before he pauses; he should probably use items that would be tolerant to water exposure.
Chan was a Selkie- he was probably around water a lot. He said he was in sports science, maybe it was related to swimming?
He pauses, telling himself to stop stereotyping; after all Jeongin being not only Fae but Light Fae was in industrial design school, and Jisung being a Dryad was studying metallurgy in design. Just because Chan was a Selkie didn’t mean he was working with or around water.
After a bit of research Minho orders the kelp twine reviews state was very waterproof and after digging around a little finds the other things he was looking for.
Soonie comes to settle in his lap as Minho carefully starts putting his idea together, hoping it would suffice and would at the very least, come off as a gesture of good will and collaboration for Chan from him.
The day of class Minho gets there a little earlier than usual mostly to calm and settle his nerves.
Chan arrives 5 minutes before class. He gives him a small slightly hesitant smile before making his way to where he usually sat, his hoodie pulled safely around him.
Minho picks up his bag and stuff and makes his way to the auditorium chair next to Chan, clearly surprising him from the way he jolts a little.
‘Hi.’
Chan blinks at him for a moment before he gives him a small smile again and nods in greeting.
Their lecturer walks in and Minho is getting out his gift he put in a nice drawstring pouch when Chan starts writing quickly on his notepad and angles it towards him.
You don’t have to sit with me, it’s okay.
Minho pauses, reading Chan’s words before he sort of awkwardly takes the pouch out and gives it to Chan.
Chan looks at him questioningly before taking it up slowly.
Minho tries to give him a smile and hopes it doesn’t come out weird or unnerving as Jisung had once described his awkward smile.
Their lecturer starts calling for attendance as Chan opens the pouch and he stares at the braided bracelet, eyes a little wide.
‘It’s- I looked things up,’ Minho explains in a very quiet voice, fiddling with his hands a little, ‘And I don’t want this situation to be a point of issue for you, and I don’t- I don’t have any problem doing this; I would feel better knowing that I’m not- I’m not like causing you problems without knowing.’
‘Bang Chan!’
Chan is so clearly taken aback he doesn’t hear his name being called and Minho has to elbow him to let him know and the Selkie quickly raises his hand in answer.
‘I know it’s uh, supposed to be personal,’ Minho continues, ‘And well, that’s my cat Soonie’s first scarf- well, part of it. And I thought the colour was fitting based on uh, what I found online. I hope it’s okay.’
Pink was oddly a very reverential colour as it had very good visibility underwater and so it was commonly used to symbolize auspicious events or items in Undine culture. It so happened that one of Soonie’s first scarves, now too small for him, was a nice pink with white dots and squiggles. Minho kept all of Soonie’s old things with him and rather than have them just fall apart eventually, this seemed like a nice up-cycle.
He didn’t have to cut up a lot, just enough to roll up and carefully sew the seams shut and he braided that with the kelp-twine. He just hopes the water-proof seal (vetted and approved by Jisung) he used would work long enough so that the bracelet wouldn’t just fall apart at some point.
‘Lee Minho!’
Minho raises his hand up to the lecturer.
He made it so that it could be taken off easily, making a square sliding knot for the tying function. It took him 3 tries but he got it done.
Chan smiles, feeling the braid between his fingers, looking thoughtful but he didn’t seem upset or like he was pretending any specific emotion before he grabs his pen and quickly jots across it.
Thank you. This means a lot. You didn’t have to do it, but I’m very-
He pauses, clearly thinking his words through, pen pausing.
He crosses the last few words before continuing.
Thank you.
Then he adds a small smiley face that makes Minho chuckle.
Can I see your cat?
Minho grins and pulls out his phone, showing him his lock-screen.
Chan grins and the dimple is there again, deep and obvious. Minho’s never really looked at Chan properly, not this close anyway – he’s always sat at the front, and Minho always sat at the back. He’s never specifically stood out to him, Minho only ever sees the back of his head and only noticed him because of his fuzzy hoody. Not that he had anything against Chan, but frankly speaking Minho would not recognize any of his classmates or know what most of them looked like.
Chan’s hair is dark, deliberately and carefully straightened. He was quite pale, making Minho wonder if he was at all exposed to life near the coast as the Undine community were wont to do. The cut and swelling of his lower lip had reduced greatly, and the bruising on the side of his skin carefully covered up so it was barely noticeable.
He had a nice nose, Minho thinks idly to himself, looking away once he realizes he’s just staring at the man like some idiot. Then Chan looks up at him, carefully mouthing Soonie? to him.
Minho nods.
Chan quickly jots across his notepad again: how old is he?
‘6,’ Minho replies, ‘Do you have any pets?’
Chan shakes his head, scribbling once more: not personally, but we have a family dog back home.
Right, Chan was from Australia – something he briefly saw on his form and something Jeongin had confirmed as well. Minho has a lot of questions- like why did he come here where there was a much smaller Undine community and one that was seemingly, according to online sources and Jeongin and Jisung, more rigid with their culture. He was done with his studies- well, technically he should be done if it weren’t for the university messing things up for him, would he be leaving soon? If their divorce was going to take time would it inconvenience him and he’d end up having to stay longer?
Class unfortunately starts up and Minho has to pay attention to the lecturer.
It’s a bit difficult to concentrate because Minho is so painfully aware of Chan, his legal husband, and how he wore the bracelet at once next to the one he was already wearing.
Minho hopes that his intentions of smooth cooperation and good intentions comes through and that he’s not coming off as a weirdo or creep because that had crossed his mind too. Maybe Chan would prefer to be left alone?
Once class is done, and before Minho can say anything, Chan slides his notebook over to him for him to read.
It’s okay if you don’t want to, but if you have time, can we talk for a bit?
‘Oh-,’ Minho rereads the sentence once more before nodding, ‘Yeah, of course.’
Chan smiles at him and as class is dismissed Minho follows him to one of the university cafes, which, with it being summer and all, was not crowded and would actually offer them a pretty decent place to talk.
The barista there seems to know Chan, grinning brightly and waving as they walk over, gesturing with her hands at Chan before smiling over at Minho in greeting as well.
Minho had briefly looked over basics of Selkie-Speak in the past couple of days, and Minho catches on with how Chan spells out his name to the young woman.
‘Hi Minho-shii, I’m Ryujin,’ she says, introducing herself, ‘What can I get for you?’
‘Oh, um,’ Minho glances up at the menu, ‘I’ll just have a iced-peach tea thank you, trying to stop being too reliant on caffeine.’
‘Oh, better you than me,’ she grins before jotting down the order as Minho takes his phone out to pay as Chan does the same.
They find a table and take a seat and Ryujin comes to put down stir sticks, sweeteners, and tissue on their table before working on their drinks.
Chan looks at him for a moment before sheepishly smiling, turning away to look out of the window, clearly awkward and a bit embarrassed. Well, at least it wasn’t just him. Minho isn’t getting the sense that Chan finds him weird or questionable so he was at least maneuvering through this decently.
Chan starts jotting down on his notepad and Minho really needed to learn Selkie-Speak- he was going to have to go through this process for the next 6 months at the very least, he needed to learn enough to catch on to what was being discussed and said.
If it’s okay with you, I thought maybe we should learn a bit about each other?
‘Yeah of course,’ Minho nods at once before reaching for his phone, ‘Actually can I have your contact?’
Chan nods quickly, taking out his phone and pulling up his QR code for Minho to scan and add him. Minho notes how Chan’s profile picture is one of him, clearly at a beach probably in Australia, arms spread out wide, smile evident even though the photo is taken at a distance.
Chan turns his phone over to him, showing him his own profile as though to confirm that Lirino was indeed him and Minho has to stop himself from laughing as he nods in confirmation.
Chan smiles and puts his phone away just as Ryujin returns with their drinks. Minho’s not sure but she glances at Chan’s notes, clearly noting that he’s writing rather than signing, before quickly glancing at him and then signs something to Chan.
Chan goes a little pink as he shakes his head, signing rapidly.
Ryujin chuckles, clearly signing sorry, a teasing grin on her lips before turning to him, ‘Please enjoy!’
‘Thank you,’ Minho smiles politely before turning back to Chan and saying a bit hesitantly, ‘Uh, I uh, before we like, start talking about um, introductory stuff I just wanted to repeat myself from last time, like I really don’t want to cause you any inconvenience or issue. I’ll do everything I can to make sure that at least from my side, everything will definitely be uh, smooth, no hesitation no difficulty from my end.’
Chan freezes a moment before he starts hastily writing, his penmanship getting a little sloppy in his haste.
And it’s the same from my side too!
This is probably such a bizarre situation for you and it’s probably so foreign too, I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into all of this.
‘It’s not your fault at all-,’ Minho begins to say quickly and Chan continues to scribble even faster.
And it’s not your fault either.
They’re both at a hilarious stalemate, sort of paused in their words but also not quite knowing what to say. Instead they both huff out a laugh, shoulders curling up a little, mostly amused by their own awkwardness – or at least Minho is.
‘I uh, I guess we both uh, do our best and uh, hope we get divorced quickly?’ Minho says with a wince at the end.
Chan pretends to gasp as though scandalized but he chuckles soundlessly, nodding, picking up his pen again and writing.
You said you study vet-science? That’s really cool! Are you studying to be a surgeon or um, regular vet doctor? I don’t really know much about vet-science I’m sorry >_<
When Minho reaches the end of the sentence Chan gives him a slightly wincing smile, emoting out the little face he scribbled at the end.
‘It’s okay,’ Minho smiles, ‘I’m studying to be a vet-technician, currently an intern as a junior vet-tech actually. And I guess you could say it’s kinda being in between what you could say is a doctor and a nurse? I won’t be doing surgeries but I can practice most procedures and I’m more involved in the care and treatment of any creature depending on their diagnosis.’
Chan nods slowly, looking genuinely impressed, pen twitching a little his hand before he starts writing again.
You’re writing your thesis right now right? What’s it about?
‘Ooh,’ Minho winces comically and takes a big gulp of his tea, shuddering for effect. It makes Chan shake silently with laughter again. ‘Something I should have reconsidered if I’m being honest – I’m writing, well, basically proposing a new method of rehabilitation for kappas.’
Chan’s eyes widen a little, looking taken aback which is just about the same reaction Minho gets every time he explains his thesis.
‘Yeah I know it’s kinda weird but-.’
He stops when Chan starts scribbling fast.
That’s so cool! I love kappas they’re such weird little creatures I always get upset when people take them out of their habitat for weird stuff!
‘Oh- oh! Yeah I uh- wow, okay you don’t think they’re gross?’ Minho asks in surprise.
Kappa sort of looked like toads if they were weirdly anthropomorphic and the size of a small cat. A lot of people believed they brought luck if you captured one and kept it in your house, making them a weirdly popular pet but taking care of a kappa was notoriously difficult and it often lead to a lot of abuse and neglect. And unfortunately once you captured a kappa from its birth pond and didn’t nourish it with the water from their specific pond it was basically rendered incapable of protecting itself. And with most cases of kappa poaching and trafficking, there was obviously no trail to find a way to figure out which country they were taken out of, let alone which pond.
Not at all! They’re weird looking for sure but I think they’re funny little guys!
‘Yeah,’ Minho chuckles, ‘They can mess with you for sure, but I like them a lot somehow so here I am, regretting everything.’
Chan chuckles silently again.
‘You’re in sports-science, well, you’re technically done.’
Chan nods to that, sighing out and shaking his head in a comically dramatic way.
‘So uh, are you working now or-?
Yeah I’m actually an assistant coach right now, I’m part of the university program to help establish and create better facilities and resources for the Undine Community living in cities Chan explains I work primarily with children and the elderly. Training as well as physiotherapy!
Minho can totally see Chan as a good coach, his entire vibe came off as very trustworthy and dependable and of course being Selkie meant he was more than adept in the water.
‘That’s really cool, I didn’t know the university had a program like that,’ Minho says with surprise. He knew that the university had some of the most well funded programs and resources to be inclusive of all Magickal folk. ‘Is it on campus grounds?’
Chan nods.
It’s past the gymnasium, it’s at the northern end.
It made sense why Minho wouldn’t have known – the sports science building was all the way at not just the opposite end of where Minho’s faculty was but there was a whole park and mini lake in between too. Before Minho can ask Chan more questions about his field of work and study he’s already scribbling and turning the page to him.
Where are you doing your internship?
‘It’s actually not far from the university grounds,’ Minho tells him, ‘It’s a private vet clinic-.’
Chan’s eyes widen a little before he scribbles quickly.
SC Pet Clinic?
‘Yeah,’ Minho blinks at him in surprise before he realizes something, ‘Wait- oh, it’s rather close to the north entrance point of the university.’
Probably 15 minutes or so if you took an easy pace. Minho has sometimes taken the route through the northern region of the university grounds after class when heading for his internship but as it was quite hot he took a short bus ride to the clinic rather than sweat buckets on the way there.
Chan nods, smiling.
Small world.
‘I guess,’ Minho chuckles, taking a sip of his tea. Truly small – Minho can’t believe he’s actually been in constant close proximity to Chan this whole time.
Now here they were, legally married for 3 days and applying for a divorce.
Either way, Minho hopes that they can at least come out of this as good acquaintances or better maybe even friends. He doesn’t know how frequently they’ll have to go to the Seely Court for this, but he hopes, as he watches Chan scribble another question for him, that this process is at the very least lenient on them and that it won’t drag out for too long.
Chan seemed like a good guy, an unfortunate guy, but a really good person just in general.
So he hopes for both their sakes that this time next year, all of this would be behind them and in the future they can tell people about this during an ice-breaker event or something.
The next time they see each other is after the weekend, during which Minho dives in deeper into Selkie culture some more, Jisung and Jeongin stalk Chan on social media (he wasn’t particularly active on social media it would seem, and the two of them can’t find anything particularly useful or interesting), and he writes maybe 300 words in his thesis essay.
It was “interesting” to have to explain to his work why he would need to be taking randomly leave but thankfully his boss and the head vet is sympathetic and also looks like he’s trying not to laugh at Minho and his predicament. He’s given the day of and Minho quickly reschedules his appointment for apartment hunting with his realtor too.
Minho still weighs having to tell his parents- this would take quite a lengthy period of time, and what if something comes up and he has to explain why he can’t make it to a family outing because he has to go to court to process his divorce?
Maybe he’ll first check and see if he gets any new updates, like some miraculous turn of event where Yubin tells them that the court could in fact process their divorce within a couple of weeks. Minho has all of his fingers crossed – toes too, just in case.
‘You’re going dressed like that?’ is the first thing Jisung says when Minho steps out of his room.
‘You of all people shouldn’t be saying that to me,’ Minho glares as Soonie slinks past him and heads to Jisung who puts down his cup to coo at the cat and lift him into his arms. ‘I’m also going to see four other places later today, so I need to think of comfort and practicality.’
Jisung just grins at him, clearly teasing him before saying, ‘I’ll drop you off hyung, it’s on the way for me anyway.’
‘Are you sure?’ Minho frowns, glancing at the time, ‘You don’t have to leave until later though.’
‘I need to know what he looks like,’ Jisung declares before his expression turns serious, ‘What if he uses weird filters on his photos and if something happens and I need to give a police report and I’ve never seen him properly before, like how fucked up would that be?’
‘Okay Sunggie,’ Minho snorts, reaching over to fluff up his hair. ‘You can go size him up.’
Jisung wheezes, ‘I’m not doing it because I’m like, being protective-.’
‘-wow thanks.’
‘-you’re more than capable,’ Jisung rolls his eyes, ‘But no, I want to see this guy for myself I guess.’
‘He’s been nice so far- no weird vibes from him,’ Minho reassures him.
‘Bare minimum,’ Jisung points out, ‘But according to what you said, I just wanna see him for myself I guess.’
‘And you’re going to drop me off at the Court and then go to work dressed like that?’
‘I’m clean and I smell good!’ Jisung argues before saying, ‘Fine, I’ll change my shirt.’
‘And pants.’
‘Ugh fine,’ Jisung grumbles, taking Soonie with him to his room.
Dressed in fresh clothes, hair still rumpled, Jisung leaves with Minho, keys rattling about chaotically.
‘The fact that you taught me and Jeongin how to drive and you don’t own your own car,’ Jisung had once pointed out with amusement.
‘That’s the whole point, I hate driving, and now I have people around me who can take me where I need to go,’ Minho had grinned.
Minho messages Chan to let him know they might be a bit late as they reach the busier streets, moving slower than Minho likes. He’s happy he took the initiative to head out a little early – he didn’t want to be late for something like this.
Chan messages back that he was also stuck in traffic so at least it was both of them.
Thankfully Minho pulls into the court parking lot with 15 minutes to spare.
‘Wait- where are you planning on meeting him?’ Jisung asks as he removes his seatbelt.
‘Well, at the main lobby I guess,’ Minho says, ‘Did you not think this through or something?’
‘Honestly I was hoping he’d just appear in the parking lot or something,’ Jisung chuckles.
Minho snorts, getting out of the car and grabbing his bag, ‘Come on, if you’re gonna do this you’re gonna have to go up with me-.’
He pauses because getting out of the car that’s parked across from them is Bang Chan who pauses, looking very much like a deer caught in headlights as he spots him too- spots them.
‘Ah, well, I guess you’re in luck,’ Minho tells Jisung who does a double-take at Chan who gives them both quick looks before smiling a little awkwardly.
‘The Graces are smiling down on me today,’ Jisung says victoriously, ‘Come on hyung, introduce me to your husband!’
Minho isn’t able to manage a glare because Jisung walks ahead, smiling and bowing in greeting as Chan does the same.
‘-nice to meet you! I’m Han Jisung,’ Jisung grins, ‘Minho-hyung’s driver for the day! And unlike him I can do this!’
Jisung quickly signs in the air and Chan’s eyes light up, beaming as he signs back to him. Wait, since when was Jisung actually good at this because he had mentioned not being confident in Selkie-Speak.
‘Nice,’ Jisung declares, ‘I’m gonna get going now, I don’t want you guys to be late.’
‘Very considerate,’ Minho says dryly, having stood there for a whole minute, just watching the two talk.
‘Really nice meeting you! See you back at home jagi!’ Jisung says before, as usual, he kisses Minho’s cheek and rushes back to his car.
‘Drive safely!’ Minho calls back as they make their way towards the elevator.
Chan waves before turning to him, expression a little hesitant. He pulls his phone out and starts typing on it as they walk.
I’m sorry, things probably were very difficult to explain to your boyfriend, I hope I didn’t cause any issues.
Minho stares at the phone screen for a few seconds, brain shutting down briefly before he’s able to speak.
‘Boy-boyfriend-!’ Minho doesn’t know if he wants to laugh or cry. ‘No no, Jisung is not my boyfriend- he’s my best-friend, we- we’re roommates, well, for now, he’s just really affectionate- he might start kissing you too if he sees you enough.’
Chan looks very confused for a few seconds.
‘He really is not my boyfriend- he has a boyfriend, the Fae who came with me the first time, Jeongin- they’re moving in together in a couple of months,’ Minho quickly explains before adding for comedic purposes, ‘Finally getting rid of him.’
Chan looks at him in surprise before he laughs, small hiccupping sounds in place of laughter that he quickly quells down, looking a little self-conscious.
You’re moving?
‘Uh yeah,’ Minho nods as they enter the elevator, ‘Our lease is up and I’m actually going and seeing a couple of potential places this afternoon.’
These things can be tough Chan writes. He pauses, thinking hard for a moment before he types I hope you find a good place.
‘I really hope so too,’ Minho says somewhat fervently as the elevator moves up, ‘I really like the sound of the one I’m headed to after this, I hope everything works out.’
Good luck Chan signs. Minho could read that one well enough.
Thank you Minho gestures a little slowly, looking at Chan to see if he did it right. Chan gives him a smile and nod.
It’s so basic and dumb but Minho feels a little accomplished.
The elevator reaches the main floor and they get off. There’s already a small queue at the entrance to the Undine Affairs Department. But before they can make their way over Chan instead halts him and gestures to the side near a vending machine. Minho follows after him, wondering if he needed to get something to drink before Chan somewhat nervously takes something out of his bag and hands it to him.
Minho stares at the small cloth pouch for a second too long before he takes it, bowing slightly.
‘Oh- oh, uh-.’
Chan has clearly rehearsed this because he pulls up a pre-typed note on his phone and angles it for Minho to read.
I wanted to thank you for the bracelet you gave me, it really means a lot. I also wanted to say that I really appreciate how much effort you’re giving and for doing this with me and for being really understanding.
Minho reads it twice before opening the cloth bag and takes out a braided bracelet. It has the same sort of adjustable knots Minho had made and he thinks it’s definitely hand-made too. Braided with the silky twine are little rough beads? Glass? There’s 5 of them, all in different shades of greenish-blue and an orangey-yellow one in the center. They’re opaque but also somehow transparent in some parts.
Chan swipes down on his screen to more writing.
It’s sea-glass from my hometown back in Australia. I like to collect stuff from the beaches and shores and sea-floor but I especially like sea-glass. And the stone in the center is the closest I could find that matched Soonie’s fur colour.
Minho can’t help but smile at that.
‘It’s pretty,’ Minho tells him earnestly before putting it on. It’s a bit of struggle, holding his bag in one hand while trying to adjust the ties so Chan helps him tighten the knot once he notices his struggle.
Minho feels a little warm in the face and Chan is slightly flushed too- the connotation isn’t quite lost on either of them. Of course not, they were literally here because they were getting a divorce because they were married. But these bracelets were more an exchange of good will and intention and collaboration Minho supposes rather than anything remotely matrimonial.
‘Thank you,’ Minho says again, flicking his wrist a little and looking at the braided bracelet, ‘Uh, good wedding present exchange?’
Chan laughs, making the quiet hiccupping sounds again like he couldn’t help it and Minho chuckles along with him.
Once they get through the queuing process and get the appropriate form to fill out they’re cleared to head inside in the same waiting zone.
They mostly quietly talk to each other about their weekends – just light simple conversation. Chan points out Soonie’s fur sticking out of the fabric of his pants with a silent chuckle. No matter what Minho did, using every kind of lint-roller, Soonie’s fur always got on him somewhere.
Thankfully the process is not a long one.
They’re not taken to see Yubin, to both of their surprise. Instead they’re redirected to another location upstairs and there they have to wait even longer, both somewhat confused and not quite daring to converse because they were told to wait in what appeared to be some sort of office space.
Minho tries not to fidget too much and Chan nervously downs his bottle of water, also clearly trying not to appear too nervous. They’re literally the only non-employee in the area, as far as Minho can tell, and nearly an hour later they’re finally called towards the end of the office into another smaller office where they submit the required documents.
The officer? Clerk? The person who’s at the office doesn’t say much, just goes through both of their documents and forms, making tick marks here and there, stamping rather aggressively on some pages and then unnervingly stares a couple of seconds at both of them.
Minho can feel sweat beading on his temples despite the cool temperature of the office. He doesn’t know if any of the forms explains the complicated details of how things came to be- that in reality both he and Chan were very much victims in this and that Minho himself had nothing to do with getting them in this situation or orchestrating any part of it.
The clerk/officer then, without saying much, nods and tells them everything was in order and tells them to wait outside.
Rather stiffly they step outside and sort of awkwardly linger amidst the cubicles where people were working very seriously. But thankfully they only have to wait around 5 minutes when the man steps out and hands them both a weirdly small piece of paper and tells them to give it to the counter outside.
Minho frowns at the piece of paper that seemed to be some sort of petition. Was this what all of those documents Minho had poured his soul (and Seungmin’s) into was for? Just this?
Chan also looks confused. But it looked official. There was an embossed stamp and seal, a signature, and a series of numbers and letters and their names and stuff on it so Minho guesses this was exactly what they came for.
They have to wait a moment outside before they’re called over to hand this small paper. Minho is fully expecting to be told to wait again but instead the lady inside smiles and tells them they will be informed when to come back to the Court via email some time next week.
With a breath of relief Minho and Chan thank the woman and leave the floor.
Once they step outside into the main lobby Minho exhales out, more like groans out and Chan shakes himself a little, as though hoping to get rid of the weird rigidity that came with having to go through formal proceedings.
Then they both end up laughing, shaking their heads.
‘Well, I guess that’s that,’ Minho chuckles, ‘Are you headed to work?’
Chan nods, typing on his phone.
Yes, and you’re going to look at a new place?
‘Yeah,’ Minho nods and adds something he’d thought of the other day, ‘I wonder if it’ll cause some issues once I change address though, with my written information and stuff.’
Chan frowns a moment before he quickly types on his phone.
I don’t think so? You might just have to resubmit your residential papers and stuff again.
‘Ah, yeah,’ Minho sighs out. Well, there was no point in worrying about that. They only just started the process for this. So Minho thumbs behind him to the doors, ‘I’ll get going now- and uh, thank you again Chan-shii.’
He holds up his wrist as he says it and Chan beams at him, dimples deepening.
I’ll see you in class?
‘Yes,’ Minho groans, ‘Which reminds me I should finish this week’s assignment.’
Chan’s eyes widen at that, hastily typing.
Assignment?
‘Yes-?’
Chan makes a face, free hand going to his hair at once, clearly having completely missed the announcement. Minho guesses at least he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t quite focus in class last week due to “recent events”, but at least he’d been paying attention when their lecturer had told them about their assignment.
Minho shows Chan which assignment they were supposed to complete before he takes his leave, Chan thanking him profusely in the process.
Minho stops by a convenience store to get something extremely cold to drink and a small snack before heading out to meet his realtor.
He’s thankfully just in time to meet her at one of the other locations she had found for him. It’s not the duplex he had been interested in but instead a nice sizeable studio unit. It was cheaper than the duplex for sure, and everything about it was actually quite nice. It was minimally furnished, which Minho preferred, and it was on the 6th floor which wasn’t too high up as Minho requested. In the photos the place had looked quite good, which was why Minho had shortlisted it. But being here in person Minho’s main issue with the place was that it felt stuffy- not the size of the studio, but the surroundings. The window just opened out into the view of the neighbouring building and Minho is unfortunately immediately made too privy to the interiors of at least 5 separate apartments. If he was going to stay here for at least 6 years, he doesn’t want to look out of the window to just stare into his neighbours apartments.
His realtor nods as Minho explains his concerns, and tells him that the next one would probably be a better match even if it’s the most pricey out of all four places he was going to be looking at.
And while smaller than the first place, it definitely had a nicer view, and it was on the fourth floor which was definitely a better option too. It was, however, quite far from where he was working and any subway station. The kitchen island was really nice though, Minho won’t lie, it was the main reason why Minho wanted to look at this place. The area felt a bit boujie though, at least to Minho. Something tells him that not just the rent would be financially draining him, but transportation would also be an issue. He doesn’t mind a commute but if he can avoid it then he was going to.
‘All right, let’s go see the duplex then,’ the realtor smiles, ‘Just confirmed from the current renter that they’re back.’
Minho feels a little awkward going and seeing a place where someone was still sort of living, but from what the realtor explained, the person living there was in the process of moving out and so it was mostly empty except for some larger pieces of furniture that would be taken out of course.
The duplex was a small two story house with one entrance but opening to a landing and stairs leading up to the second unit while the first was on the ground floor where someone else was already staying. Minho’s potential future neighbour. Minho had very quickly liked it because it was just the second floor, and while smaller than both of the other apartments he’d seen that day, the layout was very nicely planned. It was still somewhat open-floor, but due to the L-shape of the place, allowed for sections to be made easily with maybe curtains or screens. The kitchen was modest and while not as modern and optimal as the previous apartment, was still very functional from what Minho could tell. It also had a balcony- not large or anything, clearly made just to fit a 2-piece clothesline but it would enough for Soonie for sure. The view was also nice; the tree-lined street out front, and the backyard of the other row of larger duplexes in the back.
The realtor had said it was very rare to find an opening for the duplexes in the area which wasn’t exactly a gated community but functioned similarly to one as the whole area had been developed by the same housing developers.
Either way it was at a decent distance from the university and his work place, the subway was a decent 10 minute walk away, and plenty of stores and other conveniences Minho will need.
They reach the duplex and the renter, Lee Yongbok, according to the realtor, is already waiting for them.
Minho immediately likes the young man, he was probably the same age as Jisung, Seungmin, and Jeongin. He had recently graduated, and was going to go back to his home country it would seem.
‘Hi,’ he says brightly, voice way deeper than Minho is ready to hear, ‘It’s nice to meet you, and you too noona, I haven’t seen you in so long!’
The realtor beams at the young man – he was clearly a favourite client. He has an obvious accent to him even though he speaks quite comfortably and with ease.
They enter the duplex, the stairs leading up straight ahead, and the door for the first unit to the right.
It looks exactly like the photos, and actually even more spacious as Minho walks in. He can instantly imagine Soonie on the windowsill in fact.
Yongbok enthusiastically shows Minho all of the kitchen and Minho tries not to laugh as he opens his cupboards and it’s literally the bare minimum supplies, mostly cup noodles, maybe 4 forks and a bunch of take-out cutlery. There’s one pan, a chopping board that hasn’t been used much, if at all, and mostly takeaway tupperware.
‘The shower pressure is great,’ Yongbok tells him almost fervently, as he shows him the modest bathroom. ‘Honestly I’ll miss it.’
The realtor laughs brightly at that, looking at him fondly like she was his doting aunt.
‘I’ll make sure to set you up with another place with even better shower pressure when you come back,’ she assures him.
‘I only trust you noona,’ Yongbok tells her with an unexpected high pitched laugh.
Honestly Minho has a very good feeling about the place and if asked he would immediately say yes and sign the deal right here and now, he doesn’t even want to go to the last place to check it out. But he needs to play it cool, needs to “think on it” and all of that. He also has to ask important questions his parents had told him to ask in regards to the voltage used in the unit, what sort of issues has he faced with the unit, etc. Minho makes sure to check the ventilation system above the shower and notes that it’s much more quiet than the one in his current apartment. He doesn’t see any signs of mold in the shower or in any of the cupboards under the sink in both the bathroom and the kitchen. The realtor tells him that a fresh coat of paint would of course be applied before he moved in, and all faucets, electric outlets, and light bulbs would be properly checked out and replaced with new ones.
They head back out, Minho thanking Yongbok for showing him the place.
‘Oh yeah of course,’ Yongbok says brightly as they step out of the duplex, ‘If I wasn’t going to be able to do it, Chris would have done it – if you move here he’ll be your neighbour!’
Minho should meet this potential neighbour, Chris, in fact. Because he really likes the unit and he’s 99% sure he’s going to stick with this but what if this Chris gave him the wrong vibes? The current neighbours he and Jisung had were nice and no one was loud unwarranted even if their neighbourhood was a little noisy though that was mostly because they lived close to university and most of their neighbours are university students.
‘Oh, how is Chris?’ the realtor asks, pronouncing the name carefully, ‘He seems quite busy I haven’t seen him at all!’
‘Ah,’ Yongbok winces, ‘A bit busy, well, life and all of that.’
‘I see,’ the realtor says sympathetically, ‘Well, thank you again, I guess we might be seeing you again and-.’
‘Oh,’ Yongbok brightens up, going up on his tiptoes as he looks at something behind Minho, someone, ‘Chris is here! Chris! Hyung!’
Minho turns just as the realtor exclaims in delight and Minho feels his smile fall off to be replaced with shock and the same happens to Bang Chan because he stops in his tracks, eyes widening at the sight of Minho. For no clear reason Minho had been actually imagining a foreigner, as in a white person.
Not Bang Chan.
‘Chris-!’ Yongbok calls out again, signing with his hands before coming to a pause, clearly taking in the shock in Chris/Chan’s face and then looking back over at Minho, confused.
‘How lovely,’ the realtor says, blissfully ignorant of the uniquely uncomfortable situation, ‘Chris-shii, or well, Chan-shii! This is very good, Minho-shii, Chan-shii could be your potential future neighbour!’
Minho and Chan both slowly turn to look at the realtor at that, everything clicking into place in the worst way possible.
The realtor turns to Minho, smiling and still very unaware.
‘This is such good timing!’
Ah, Minho thinks as he and Chan lock eyes once more, Chan definitely thinks I’m a stalker.