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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 31^st 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 6^th 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.

Chapter Text

‘This is such good timing!’

‘I’m not stalking you,’ Minho blurts out.

The realtor pauses, looking a little confused and turning her head between him and Chan, smile still in place. Yongbok on the other hand has clearly added two and two together and his expression shifts from confusion to shock.

‘Oh my god-,’ he whispers lowly, gripping Chan’s arm.

But then Chan bursts out laughing, making those squeaky hiccup sounds, shaking his head in absolute disbelief and shock. But he’s laughing.

He was laughing.

Which is not what Minho was expecting.

‘O-oh, you two know each other?’ the realtor asks, ‘Well, that’s great then isn’t it?’

Oh wow, there was no salvaging this in anyway. Minho needs to leave the country – that was the best solution to all of this.

Before Minho can think of what to say (unlikely, as Minho was definitely losing his mind) Chan signs to the realtor.

‘Oh!’ she exclaims, ‘Classmates! That’s great, you don’t even need introductions that way!’

Minho needs the ground to swallow him whole. Why was Chan seemingly so calm and okay by all of this?

Instead Yongbok looks appropriately hesitant and confused. He’s not even trying to be subtle as he signs to Chan, clearly talking about him and the situation while Chan just replies back with amusement.

‘Well, I suppose we should get going now Minho-shii,’ the realtor says, turned to him, ‘I’m sure this way you can discuss more of the details about the duplex as you’re classmates!’

‘I- uh-,’ Minho can barely get anything out but the realtor is on a timed mission, no doubt she has other appointments after showing Minho around, and gestures to him to start walking.

Minho can only gape over at Chan, and Yongbok, wishing he could project the truth (albeit a very messy chaotic jumbled mess but nonetheless the truth) in his head out to his husband that he was not stalking him in anyway shape or form.

Chan instead waves at him, still smiling while Yongbok still looks like he’s still in absolute shock, mouth hanging open, looking back and forth between Minho and Chan like he was watching a tennis match.

‘I understand now you’ll be even more interested in this duplex!’ the realtor continues, completely unaware of everything happening around her, ‘However we do have one more unit to look at which I left for the last because it’s honestly my favourite out of all of the ones I’ve shown you today.’

Minho internally shakes himself. He needs to focus – at least for the next hour.

He absolutely cannot choose the duplex. This last one that the realtor was showing him should absolutely be the one he was going to be moving into, no questions.

Minho hopes he’s being convincing enough about his interest as he’s shown around the pleasantly sized apartment unit. The realtor is telling him about the delightful square balcony that looks out into a nice view of the river and cityscape and the quality faux-wood paneling that was scratch proof and water proof, very suitable for pet owners.

Minho thanks the realtor for her time before booking it back home, in a complete state of shock as he nearly gets on the wrong bus back.

How was this happening.

Why was this happening.

Was this an elaborate hoax? But it couldn’t be right? There was absolutely no way. But it made no sense – why was the universe so hell-bent on throwing him into Bang Chan’s path.

First they’re in the same class. That was fine, they literally went to the same university it’s not that unlikely they would share a free-elective class, Minho’s pretty sure half of the people in that class were from faculties and fields completely unrelated to the Japanese language. They’ve probably walked past each other or had coffee at the same café many times in the past couple of years.

But then somehow Chan’s seal-skin is in the narrow forgotten section of the catacombs that required special permission to access and the chances of Minho being the one to find it and return it to the Selkie was frankly abysmally small.

And now this?!?

He slumps down onto the floor in a heap, Soonie immediately making his way to him and nudging against his head, meowing as though asking him why he was prone on the floor.

The door to Jisung’s door opens and Minho hears the way Jisung stops mid-step, clearly taking in his prone form.

‘Hyung?’

‘What’s wrong?’ he hears Jeongin’s voice ask. ‘Woah, gloomy.’

Ah right, Jeongin’s shoes were near the door. Minho was so used to having the Fae over that he hardly made note of it.

‘Shit,’ Jisung curses, quickly making his way to him, ‘Shit- are you okay? Is something wrong-?!’

There’s scrambling sounds and Jeongin is also there in an instant.

‘Are you hurt?’ he demands.

Minho turns his head to look at them before replying, ‘Physically no – mentally, emotionally, and psychologically I need to leave the country.’

Both Jeongin and Jisung stare at him. Confusion and concern all over their features.

‘What happened?’ Jisung asks, still looking over him as though to make sure he really was okay.

It takes Minho 10 minutes, still face-down on the floor, to explain what happened.

Jisung, because he was his best-friend and has known Minho the longest, gets on the floor with him, expression mirroring how Minho felt.

Jeongin on the other hand, is clearly fighting the urge to laugh.

‘It’s like you guys were bound to meet,’ Jeongin declares, ‘This is actually hilarious.’

‘I’m pretty sure his friends are also discussing whether or not all of this is some elaborate hoax or prank at this point,’ Jisung points out. ‘Now I’m actually concerned for Chan-shii because if I were in his shoes-.’

‘That’s what I’m talking about!’ Minho all but screeches, pushing himself up a little. ‘Obviously I’m not doing any of this purposefully, I don’t want to be married or force anyone into marriage, but he doesn’t know that! And he was like, so chill with what was happening!’

‘And you said he was smiling?’ Jisung asks again, looking utterly confused.

‘Like he thought it was all really funny!’ Minho groans, face-planting on the rug again.

‘Maybe he just has a good knack for when people lie,’ Jeongin surmises, sitting in between him and Jisung, ‘And he knew you had no ill-intention towards him-.’

‘-wait,’ Jisung says suddenly, ‘What’s that?!’

He points at Minho’s wrist and oh right-

Jeongin’s eyes nearly pop out of his skull at that, practically flattening him to the ground to get a close look at the bracelet.

Minho barely manages to get out what it is when both Jisung and Jeongin screech loudly.

‘He probably regrets it now!’ Minho splutters, wrestling his wrist away from his two friends and finally sitting up, bone-tired and cringing at everything in a way he never knew was possible. A coma sounded really convenient right about now. ‘I’m about to get a restraining order against me and a divorce! Ugh I hate this summer!’

He yells out the last part, grabbing at his hair and flailing about.

Neither Jisung nor Jeongin heed him much, instead grabbing his wrist again to look at the bracelet.

‘It’s pretty,’ Jisung observes, ‘A bracelet because you gave him one too?’

‘The yellow stone is supposed to be Soonie’s colour,’ Minho groans, flopping bonelessly on the floor once more.

There’s a very loud pause before Jisung carefully asks, ‘So uh, have you contacted Chan-shii since?’

‘No, I literally just got back after seeing the last place,’ Minho mumbles, ‘If it isn’t obvious, I am still processing what happened.’

‘I think you should talk to him,’ Jeongin tells him, putting his wrist down and patting his hand soothingly which was as good as a hug from the Fae.

‘I feel like I’ll implode if I talk to him right now,’ Minho mumbles, ‘Maybe it’s okay if we just never contact each other and see each other at court.’

‘I think we all know that I will do anything to avoid any form of confrontation but I agree with Innie,’ Jisung chimes in, looking serious, ‘Hyung I get that this is like, literally the weirdest and extremely strange series of events, but you can’t let this go like, unexplained or at least without knowing what Chan-shii is thinking.’

‘Yeah,’ Jeongin nods encouragingly, ‘I understand that you want to crawl into a cave and never come out and transform into Gollum-.’

‘-what the fuck-.’

‘-but if you know what Chan-shii is thinking or assuming then at least you can try to explain your side of events to him otherwise it’s just going to be you overthinking and not getting anywhere.’

‘Why are you both making so much sense,’ Minho groans again.

He knows they’re right.

But what the fuck is he supposed to say.

‘If you’re feeling like, it’s too much for you to talk or see him, message him?’ Jeongin suggests, ‘It’s better than nothing.’

Minho sighs, pushing himself up once more and nods more to himself than anything else.

‘Right,’ he says, ‘Okay- right, yes. Okay-.’

‘-do you need help writing the message?’

‘-emotional support?’

‘No,’ Minho says firmly, getting onto his hands and knees and pulling his phone out, ‘I need to stare at my phone for the next 10 minutes and just- just uh, lock in.’

And Minho does exactly that.

Except the 10 minutes go on for half an hour, and then an hour, and then 2 hours and the rest of the evening and into the night.

He doesn’t know what to say. What could he even say? Something like: Hi this is Lee Minho your legal husband. I’m sorry that in my search for an affordable living accommodation I somehow ended up where you live. It was completely accidental and I had no idea you lived there I swear on the Norns, the Charites, Shai, and Yue Lao (for good measure) that I had nothing to do with any of this including our accidental marriage, and of course most recently showing up where you live. I completely understand if you do not believe me and would like to never speak to me unless necessary (at Court) and keep minimal contact. I will still be 100% cooperative with the process of our divorce and have no intentions of hindering this process in any way or form. I sincerely apologize for causing you stress and worry and anxiety.

It felt so blah. It didn’t carry the weight of his absolute anguish and discomfort and horror of being in this situation and definitely being a massive source of the worst headache Chan has probably ever experienced.

And shit – Lee Yongbok was moving back to Australia. Was Chan supposed to go back to Australia too? He said he was working here, but maybe it was just for a while and it wasn’t a permanent situation for him. Just for work experience or something, he doesn’t know how sports science works and what their programs entail with post-graduation. And now because of the divorce he wouldn’t be able to go for at least 6 months guaranteed.

Minho is spiraling.

He’s unfortunately reminded that he has Japanese class tomorrow.

The FUCK is he supposed to do?!

He should talk to Chan.

Unfortunately for Minho, his spiraling went on well into the night and he was not about to be a pain in Chan’s ass for yet another reason and call him at midnight to ramble out a painfully embarrassing and cringey explanation and apology for what happened that day.

But now he knows he’s definitely messed up the timing even more. He should have called when Jisung and Jeongin told him to call and now not only did he come off as a weirdo (definitely a stalker) but also a complete coward.

Minho feels like shit when he wakes up. Sleep did not come easy to him even with Soonie’s soft purring that usually really helped him fall asleep.

Jisung gives him a wincing look the moment he comes out of his room.

‘Uh, did you talk to Chan-shii?’

‘No,’ Minho sighs out.

‘…but you have class today?’ Jisung asks slowly.

‘Yeap.’

‘Oh…so you’re going to talk to him face to face?’ Jisung asks hesitantly.

Well, Minho could definitely frame it that way, excuse his lack of action and overthinking to this direct approach but the truth was that he was probably 10 seconds away from looking for a one-way ticket to the nearest country that would permit him visa on arrival.

‘Do you need emotional support?’ Jisung asks, joking a little but he was definitely serious, ‘I can vouch for you- I’ll even use my acorn if needed.’

Minho smiles at his best-friend and shakes his head, ‘Thank you but I think this is something I should do myself- no need to put your acorn out there for a mess I made.’

‘Hyung,’ Jisung frowns, ‘You know there’s no question that I would, right?’

Minho nods, a small moment of gratitude towards his best-friend. But there would be no need for that.

‘Also if it makes you feel better I thought Chan-shii smelt nice,’ Jisung tells him.

And honestly maybe that does make Minho feel better. As a Dryad, Jisung had specifics about how people “smelt” though it was definitely more than just that: specific dryad magick that didn’t have an explanation or reasoning. Just like Selkie culture and their specific magick.

‘I think he would be willing to hear you out, just don’t over explain,’ Jisung tells him firmly.

‘I’ll do the overthinking and internalizing until I have to go to class then,’ Minho sighs out.

‘That’s the spirit!’ Jisung wheezes, ‘If you need me to come pick you up or anything let me know okay?’

Jisung’s car previously belonged to his older brother which previously belonged to their cousin. It was an old model but Jisung has no complaints as it meant they got a free functional car to use. Jisung has an ambitious plan of redesigning the whole thing at one point for a truly custom car and always refuses Minho’s proposal to let him draft out a design. Which was frankly mean as Minho was the one who taught Jisung, and then Jeongin, how to drive, so he owed him that much at least. But for now he’ll accept the free-rides as compensation.

Once Jisung leaves for his internship, emphatically pointing at him that he got this Minho slumps on their couch and idly picks up one of Soonie’s enrichment toys to get his slightly rotund cat to be more active. Honestly between him, Jisung, and Jeongin, Soonie was always bound to become a little chubby. Minho had been worried that moving to a new place alone would be a bit hard on Soonie as he’d been living with Jisung for 4 years now and wasn’t alone too frequently. It’s why the idea of the duplex had been really exciting to Minho because that way Soonie could have places to roam about while still indoors as he treated going out as a punishment. Minho had thought it would be so cute for Soonie to go up and down the stairs and maybe nap on it too.

But now Minho was going to have to select another basic studio apartment and convert a wall to a cat-gym or something. He barely remembers the last apartment the realtor took him to in all honesty. He was going to have to start from square one once more.

Unfortunately time flies by faster than Minho is expecting and he has to make his way to class.

He does take a moment to quickly snuggle Soonie close despite his protests and inhales deeply at the space between his ears for luck and to calm down. It works for 10 minutes and Minho is back to internally groaning, probably looking constipated as he sits on his bus seat. It’s pure muscle memory as he manages to get to university and to the Linguistics and Liberal Arts Faculty building and to the correct classroom without a single ounce of awareness.

He was probably speed-walking the entire time because he’s here 20 minutes early, the first morning class still ongoing inside.

Minho didn’t smoke but spiritually he feels like he needs to smoke. Instead he rummages inside his bag and finds some breath mints and aggressively chews on too many at one go.

The moment he can go inside the classroom Minho finds the most hidden away seat in the corner and stays there. Would Chan show up? It was possible he would have decided to take measures and maybe switch to another section, or submit a petition backed by the Court to allow him to graduate without having to interact with his stalker.

Minho faceplants into the fold out table and screams in his head loudly at decibels only bats would be able to hear.

He doesn’t know if it’s a good thing or not but Chan arrives to class early too, only giving Minho 5 minutes to scream in his head. The Selkie smiles at him when he spots him and makes his way over to him at once.

Minho immediately looks down because what the fuck.

He really should have dropped the class, graduate a year later, why not. Why was Chan walking up to him now, Minho was half expecting (if Chan showed up at all) to have to chase him down and pathetically explain himself and what happened yesterday to him but here he was, smiling and making his way to him.

And unfortunately for Minho it’s only the two of them in class for now and no where to hide because he’s cornered himself into a literal corner in his attempt to hide.

Great.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Minho blurts out at once, ‘Yesterday- I can’t even imagine how bad it looked to you and- and I don’t even know how to explain what happened-.’

Chan’s eyes widen at his words, looking bewildered.

‘-I am not stalking you in any way shape or form, all of this has been- has been a really weird coincidence,’ Minho is stammering over every other word as Chan hurriedly pulls out a piece of paper and starts scribbling hastily over it. Minho is made very aware of the fact that Chan was wearing the bracelet.

‘The- the duplex you’re staying in, my realtor showed me the pictures I think 2 weeks ago,’ he explains, quickly taking out his phone to show the evidence. ‘I can show you the time stamps and our discussion and it’s just, I know this is all really weird and you really don’t have to listen to me if you don’t want to but I really swear on everything that this is-?’

Chan quickly places the paper over his phone, looking at him with an imploring expression and Minho just stutters to a stop, gulping nervously before finally looking down at the mess of writing before him.

In Chan’s haste to get his words across there’s a bunch of spelling issues and words connecting at random and Minho has to summon every ounce of his panicking brain to focus just a little to read what Chan has to say to him.

I DON’T think you’re stalking me!!! That never even crossed my mind!

Minho sort of freezes, staring at the words. Chan continues to write, angling himself a little awkwardly to make sure Minho would be able to see him writing.

Did I think it was a really weird coincidnce yes! but I remembered that Lix had said an interested renter was coming to check out his flat but got canceld and it was the day we firstmet and he was actually going to cancel first becase he wanted to help me find my skin but the realtor called to let him know it had been canelcled wchih now makes sense because it was you

‘-not that I did, but that could have been pre-planned to an extent-?’ Minho says helplessly. He’s watched enough true-crime documentaries to know people go to insane lengths if they were crazy enough.

I trust that you’re telling me the truth

Chan taps on the sentence for emphasis before continuing.

I don’t think youre involved in any of this mess that was started by the people who frsst stole my skin, there was a whole interogation and ive known them for years before they took my skin

Has this bullying been going on for years? Minho frowns, wondering why nothing was done about it if Chan was being harassed constantly.

I know you had nothing to do with it and all of this is just a really strange and random coincidence and bad luck

Minho has to read through everything three times just to make sure he didn’t gloss over anything.

‘You-…’ he manages to say, throat dry so he clears his throat a little, ‘Oh- I uh, you don’t think I’m uh, stalking you?’

Chan nods vigorously, expression serious and genuine. He quickly starts jotting down some more words.

‘Wait- Chan-shii,’ Minho stops him a moment, briefly touching his sleeve, ‘I just- wait, you don’t think it was at all weird? Or suspicious?!’

Chan gives him a searching look, one eyebrow raised up a little bit before he shakes his head.

‘What?’ Minho leans back in disbelief and now some level of concern, ‘I just- I was freaking out because if I were in your shoes and this happened to me, I would be so paranoid and-.’

Suddenly Chan grins, chuckling a bit as he flips the paper he was scribbling on to write again.

Everything about your reaction made it very clear that you had no idea and you had no involvement in anything

Minho reads over the words again, frown deepening.

‘People lie,’ Minho tells him, ‘People are like, really good liars.’

Chan blinks at him before writing down a short question.

Are you lying?

‘No!’ Minho splutters, ‘No I’m not! But you can’t just- just take my word for it-.’

Chan looks like he’s fighting not to laugh, lips pressed down a little, cheeks trying to bunch up, dimple deepening on one side.

‘-at least not without evidence or like proof-!’

‘Minho-shii, Chan-shii, if you have somewhere else to be then please leave,’ the lecturer sighs out, suddenly pulling Minho out of this small bubble where he hadn’t paid attention to his surrounding in the slightest, turning slightly red when the other students look back at him and Chan, looks of amusement, judgment, and disinterest in varying degrees on their faces.

‘Sorry,’ Minho says quickly as Chan signs the same quickly.

They sit in painfully awkward silence for about 5 minutes before Chan carefully slides over the paper to him.

Can we talk after class?

Minho nods minutely, not daring to even look over at Chan out of fear of being called out by the lecturer again.

‘All right, lets all pass our assignments to the front.’

Minho freezes, realizing he hadn’t done his assignment amidst his crash-out session. There’s rustling of paper from around the class and Chan nudges him lightly, giving him a questioning look as he takes out his assignment.

‘I uh, forgot,’ Minho mumbles, feeling himself flush all over again.

‘If you need to revise your work you can submit it at the end of class,’ the lecturer announces as usual.

Minho quickly gets the forgotten assignment he had at least printed out in advance at work. And rather than send his assignment forward Chan hands him his paper.

Honestly Minho does not need help in filling out this basic-ass Japanese assignment but his head is not in the right place so he ducks his head and whispers his thanks and quickly jots down all of the answers.

Class is excruciating longer than usual, or at least it feels longer than usual. An hour and a half shouldn’t feel this long.

When it’s finally done though Minho and Chan both get up and submit the assignment and their lecturer tells them both to pay attention in class and not to forget assignments last minute next time.

Minho has never, in his academic life, ever forgotten an assignment or been late to submit one despite being a master at procrastination. But he swallows down the irritated expression fighting to make its way up and instead bows his head in apology once more.

‘Bang Chan-shii, I’m already giving you a lot of leeway with this class to start off with as you don’t participate vocally, note that I will not tolerate this again,’ the lecturer adds to Chan.

It takes Minho a second before an immediate rush of hot indignation rushes over him, nearly swiveling back to point out the fact that not only was Selkie-Speak internationally used by all nations but that Chan would, like other Selkies and some of the Undine folk, have to sit another standard of testing and examination for the practical tests that were more rigorous than the standard ones. But then Chan lightly takes a hold of his elbow and shuffles them out before Minho can say anything.

‘Wait-,’ Minho frowns, turning around but Chan pulls him away from the classroom more firmly, shaking his head. ‘Wait- Chan-shii, that was so rude what the fuck – he’s the lecturer for the class surely he knows about the standard testing there’s no reason why-?’

Chan lets go of his elbow and waves his hand in front of his chest, shaking his head and mouthing, it’s okay it’s nothing.

Minho gapes at him for a moment before looking back at the door to the lecture hall and then back at the Selkie.

‘He should be reported for being a dumbass,’ Minho states bluntly.

Chan pauses, phone already in hand, clearly ready to type out something before he bursts out into laughter, the small hiccupping sounds coming out of him again.

Minho ends up smiling too, feeling a little sheepish.

It’s not a big deal – lots of lecturers are like this Chan types out as they slowly make their way down the hall they seem to assume they need to do something extra for Selkie students but it’s not the case, even with linguistics majors

‘That just-,’ Minho frowns, ‘That just feels like something that shouldn’t be tolerated.’

Chan gives him a small smile as he types before showing him his screen.

I’m not tolerating it – there’s just some things that aren’t worth wasting my time on. Some people don’t want to learn regardless of the facts, its just as simple as that I guess.

Minho has to agree if he’s being honest. But he still sighs heavily to show his distaste that makes Chan smile again before he looks a bit sheepish and mouths café?

Right.

That.

But Minho feels a little better somehow and he nods, ‘Um, yeah of course.’

The walk to the café is a little strained, it’s a bit difficult to be in conversation when, first of all, you were both being really awkward (for very good reasons), and also because typing on your phone and paying attention to where you were heading wasn’t easy or advisable. Minho really needed to learn Selkie-Speak to at least glean a little of what Chan said without him having to type or write, limiting his ability to communicate.

They go to the same café but this time it’s another barista and Chan doesn’t seem to know him and they give their order. Chan also doesn’t drink coffee it would seem, or at least didn’t drink as much, and ordered himself a blueberry smoothie whereas Minho randomly selects iced matcha because Seungmin wouldn’t stop talking about it.

They go find a place to sit, a bit more people in the café this time around but still giving them a decent amount of privacy with empty spaces between where they were sitting and other people gathered there.

Chan starts writing at once and Minho is slightly nervous.

Are you Fae?

Minho blinks at the unexpected question.

‘My grandmother,’ Minho explains, ‘From my mum’s side. Light Fae.’

Chan nods to that, looking like it explained something that Minho isn’t sure about.

‘I uh, don’t have any magick,’ Minho finds himself explaining, ‘Mum’s is pretty weak too, but it was enough to really impress me when I was a kid.’

Chan looks at him for a moment, almost a bit surprised before studying him for a second before he smiles, nodding as he writes out: that’s cool, Lix is half Light-Fae and half nymph – he always shows off when we’re in the water.

‘Lix?’ Minho says slowly, unsure who Chan was referring to.

Ah, Chan mouths before writing quickly again.

Lee Yongbok – you were looking at his unit yesterday. His name is also Felix, but I call him Lix.

Okay that made sense. And honestly that was worth showing off, Minho can imagine how stunning Yongbok’s magick would be. He’s then painfully reminded of Yongbok/Felix/Lix’s reaction to him.

‘I’m uh, I hope I didn’t freak out your uh, friend,’ Minho mumbles, ‘That must have been a terrible way of like, well-,’ he gestures to himself with a wince.

Chan quickly shakes his head, writing a bit more.

No no- he was shocked more than anything. He also thought that maybe I recommended the place to you or something so he was confused! I think he uh

Chan pauses writing and gives him a small wince before he continues to write.

was more shocked when you said you weren’t stalking me.

Minho knows he’s turned red. And not in that sort of cute flushed way that Jeongin got when he was embarrassed, but rather in that splotchy way where Minho knows his ears are bright red.

‘Um, just to let you know,’ Minho tells Chan, ‘I won’t be taking the unit- um, Yongbok-shii’s unit.’

Chan looks a little surprised.

Not suitable?

Minho could laugh. No. It was very suitable, Minho was ready to sign the papers in fact.

‘Yeah,’ Minho lies, hoping it came off convincing, ‘I was looking for a better balcony situation for Soonie.’

Oh, Chan mouths, nodding to that and Minho has a sinking feeling Chan knows he’s lying. Maybe what Jeongin said about Chan having some sort of sense when it came to lying was true.

The barista comes with their drinks just in time and Minho takes this as an opportunity to down the icy drink in hopes of cooling off his face. And maybe he should head-butt Seungmin next time because what the fuck was this?!

Is it bad? Chan asks, pointing at his drink, noting his grimacing expression.

‘It tastes like photosynthesis.’

Chan wheezes silently, eyes turning into crescents, shoulders curling in with the force of his laughter as he leans back and forth.

Now that Minho has cooled down, thanks in part to the photosynthesis drink, he doesn’t know what else to say.

‘Uh,’ Minho begins, fidgeting with his drink a little, ‘Well, this is all just…a lot at once. I’m sorry for not contacting you yesterday – and well, I am grateful that you do believe me, but obviously it would have been really confusing and I uh,’ he grimaces a little, ‘I should have handled the situation better, I’m sorry for being weird about everything.’

Chan nods slowly to that, pen tapping a little on the paper before he writes, a bit slowly, as though thinking out what he wanted to say.

When I saw you yesterday with Lix I was taken aback but I didn’t think you were there out of any form of malicious intention

From the moment you returned my seal-skin to me I knew you were being honest with me the whole time

Chan pauses before he gives him a small smile.

You’re also a bad liar

Minho frowns immediately at that. He was great at pulling people’s legs; Jisung and Jeongin could testify to his deceptive prowess.

I also understand if you find all of this overwhelming Chan continues to write, expression turning serious we don’t have to communicate any further than you want, only just for Court related things. I was actually surprised that you’ve never suspected me.

Minho stares at the last sentence, even more confused.

‘Suspect you?’ he repeats, ‘About what?’

Like, intentionally setting you up? Chan writes with a wince there’s this

He pauses, sighing a bit before continuing to write.

Well, I guess there’s this idea or belief that comes with Selkies and their skins – a lot of people believe Selkies intentionally lose their skins to intentionally bind people to them and place high payment in exchange for a divorce

Minho has never heard of this angle. What the fuck?!

His expression must say it all because Chan chuckles silently again.

You really didn’t think any of this?

‘No!’ Minho gasps, ‘What the fuck?! People think like this?!’

There have been some cases of this taking place. It’s rare, but not entirely out of the realm of it happening Chan explains.

‘I-…I mean it would show really bad judgment on your part if you tried to set me up because I come from a painfully middle-class family and the most expensive thing I own is my degree.’

Chan grins at him, eyes twinkling with mirth.

‘I-…oh wow, guess I uh, learnt something new,’ Minho says slowly.

Chan shrugs, looking amused before he takes a sip of his drink.

‘Ah, right, this is not really my business but I uh, hope your family isn’t too stressed about what’s happening?’ Minho says carefully, ‘Do they live here too or-?’

Chan shakes his head quickly, expression turning a little guarded, smile a little strained.

No no, they’re back in Australia, it’s okay, no worries.

And well, Minho can clearly tell when someone doesn’t want to talk about something so he asks another question he was actually thinking about.

‘Uh, from what I was told yesterday, Yongbok-shii is leaving right?’

Chan nods, his smile genuine again.

He’s going back for a break, maybe a year! He hasn’t gone back home for nearly 7 years!

‘Oh wow,’ Minho hums, ‘Does that mean you’ll be leaving too?’

Chan shakes his head quickly.

No I’m not leaving. I’ve made the decision to stay here actually.

‘I see-.’

No worries, I won’t disappear and cause issues with our divorce :]

Minho finds himself wheezing at that.

He can feel his anxiety and horror of the situation slowly abating, leaving his system and making him very aware that he was quite hungry actually. He still felt wildly awkward for sure, but thankfully, Chan believed him.

They finish their drinks, talk some more and ask surface level questions and Chan tells him that he needs to head out for his work.

See you next class!

‘See you, have a good day Chan-shii.’

Chan beams at him before waving and turning around, heading towards the northern end of the university grounds.

Thankfully Minho didn’t have to turn up for his internship during the days he had class so he heads straight home.

He definitely felt better but now he’s more aware of Selkies and every minor and somewhat normalized passive aggressiveness they seemed to face.

Now that Minho thinks about it, the university had only implemented a secondary testing standard which Minho hadn’t really paid attention to it because he was neck-deep in trying to get approval for his thesis. But he remembers Jisung and Jeongin complaining about it and how redundant it was. Was that why Chan had to redo a whole other class even after graduating?

And their lecturer today.

What was that behavior?

The more Minho thinks about it the more upset he gets, scowling at the microwave as it heated his meal in the nearly icy-cool convenient store.

Cracking open a whole can of tuna over his excellently heated packaged fried rice Minho checks his phone to find messages from Jisung asking him for updates. Before he opens Jisung’s message to reply to him Minho notes that his realtor has messaged him, letting him know that she could set up another tour for him in the weekend as well as asking if he wanted to revisit any of the previous locations.

Right. He needs to think about this too.

But first, food.

He replies to her once he gets home, Soonie settled over his chest, purring softly. He honestly doesn’t remember much of the last apartment he’d been shown, so he asks if he can see it again and if there were any other places in that area within a similar price-range and confirming with a heavy heart that he wasn’t interested in the others.

He gets a confirmation half an hour later and an appointment schedule which he agrees to. Minho hopes this will be the last one because it wasn’t the cheapest hiring a realtor but this firm was recommended and vetted by the university and most of the students (and staff) used this firm to find housing and it would save Minho the headache of having to talk and negotiate with landlords and home owners directly.

As usual, a little after 6 in the evening Jisung comes back home from his internship. Minho’s not surprised when Jeongin follows in after Jisung. He is surprised to see Seungmin though and it’s mostly because he had said he wouldn’t even be in the city this week.

Minho is also not surprised that he’s been updated on everything that’s happened and Jeongin and Seungmin were both here for more details.

‘Can’t believe he’s known you for like, 8 hours all together and he already knows you so well, maybe this is intentional from his side,’ Seungmin grins from where he sits. ‘You are a bad liar.’

‘I’m not,’ Minho frowns.

‘Hyung,’ Jisung says patiently, ‘You being mischievous and pulling harmless pranks is not related to your ability to lie.’

‘You also have like, an unfortunate and obvious tell,’ Seungmin points out.

What nonsense, Minho has mastered a blank face since he was a child to the point where people said he came off cold and unapproachable.

‘Maybe Chan-shii is from like, one of those really strict prominent families,’ Jeongin surmises thoughtfully, ‘And he’s pulled himself away from like, rigid constraints and stuff.’

‘Oh yeah, that’s likely too,’ Jisung shrugs, ‘But you mentioned his roommate? Neighbour? If you’re in a duplex you’re like, what, roommates?’

‘Flat-mates?’ Seungmin offers.

‘That’s literally the same as roommate,’ Jeongin points out as Jisung whips his phone out.

‘I was looking him up too last time, and your husband is more present in this Yongbok Felix guy’s Instagram,’ Jisung says, turning the phone around, ‘This photo honestly made me think they were dating.’

It’s a photo of Chan and Yongbok, cheeks pressed together, beaming at the camera.

‘You know Chan asked me if we were dating?’ Minho tells Jisung.

Jeongin throws his head back with a hah! at that while Jisung makes a face.

‘I’m not interested in the elderly- ouch!’ Jisung pulls his foot away as Minho stomps on it.

‘Tumultuous start to your divorce, but hey, no divorce is easy even if it’s mutual,’ Seungmin says with a wise nod.

‘Tumultuous,’ Jeongin echoes, ‘You’re nowhere close to sitting for your bar exam stop using fancy words-.’

‘I’m not taking criticism from someone who used to eat sand-.’

‘-I was five-!’

Jisung grins at his boyfriend and friend arguing as he sidles over to him.

‘All okay though right hyung?’

‘Hm, yeah,’ Minho nods, ‘I mean, will I emotionally recover any time soon? Unlikely.’

Jisung snorts, stretching his legs out so that Soonie could clamber over to him.

‘I’ll be going end of the week to look at more places,’ Minho tells him before adding with a groan, ‘Ugh, you have it so easy!’

Jisung grins as Jeongin turns his attention to them.

‘I don’t know why you think the trauma that lead to me nearly being homeless was in any form lucky, I nearly lost all of my belongings!’

The somewhat questionable dorm that Jeongin used to stay in had what Minho considered to be one of the worst plumbing-related catastrophes. It resulted in nearly over half of the rooms, most of the bathrooms, and all of the common-kitchen spaces to literally explode with leaks from the ceilings and walls on a random afternoon when most of the occupants were out or in class.

Jeongin and his then roommate had been hastily informed by one of the other students who used to stay down the hall from them and they were nearly too late in rescuing their more important items before the whole plumbing system erupted, even breaking and cracking walls and ceilings in many of the rooms, and it even resulted in a few serious injuries.

All of the students, with the combined efforts of both parents and student council efforts, were duly reimbursed and were completely assisted in relocating. Jeongin was then in a unique position to find a new place plus a roommate of his choosing and so of course Jisung was the obvious choice.

Jeongin will fake-complain that if he hadn’t chosen Jisung his boyfriend would have been an inconsolable mess but Minho knows that it was Jeongin’s first immediate plan of action once he was informed of what would happen. He had stayed with them for nearly 3 weeks before he went and stayed with his aunt while things were being sorted though most days of the week he was here anyway. So together with Jisung, they found a place they both liked, in fact not too far from here, still close to the university but a little further out. Minho had gone to look at the space and found it to be quite nice and wondered if there was another unit in the building but unfortunately there was none. Jisung had been put out that they wouldn’t at least be able to be neighbours and it had nothing to do with the fact that it would be more convenient for him to raid his fridge that way of course.

Minho looks forward to living alone but he’s a little concerned about possibly feeling lonely. He’s never lived alone before, so that was going to be a new experience. He hopes Soonie will adjust well.

The next couple of days he goes through all of the photos and information his realtor sends him for the new places as well as the previous apartment from That Day™. None of them really spoke out to him the way the duplex did in all honesty but Minho knows it wasn’t an option anymore.

The Court doesn’t send any additional emails or information or calls him either. He’s expecting something but according to Seungmin it would take a while to process and as theirs was not an emergency situation or urgent it would definitely be on the back burner. Minho was sort of waiting for information from the Court on the next step before he tells his parents about his change in relationship status but that would have to wait for now.

Minho also starts to think about the process of divorce – from what he could find online it wasn’t a very complicated process though one that required a lot of time even if urgent. If the divorce was mutual then the processing was completely different compared to one filed by either Selkie or their bonded, and that also varied according to which Seely race you fell under.

As usual Minho ignores his thesis in favour of going through everything he can find about Selkies.

The fact that Minho has never actually met or interacted with a Selkie before takes him back a little. Selkies weren’t the most common but that didn’t mean they weren’t around. In general, Minho finds that he’s not really had much interaction with the Undine as a whole. There was a fairly decent population in the city itself though of course the most common and easily noticeable ones were the Mer and the Sirens. Minho had a good neighbour friend when he was 12, her whole family Sirens but they moved out when Minho was 14 and since then he’s never really had a closer/deeper interaction.

Chan would be the first Selkie he’s actually met and was now divorcing as well.

He also learns, or is reminded, that they could actually speak but only when in water. Chan was a coach in training, most definitely working with water and with other Undine, so he would be speaking out loud there.

Minho wonders if he’ll ever hear the Selkie speak.

He also takes time to brush up on the basics of Selkie-Speak, basic verbs, phrases, sentences. He asks Jisung to help him and his best-friend wheezes at him as he accidently signs I like to cook my friends for I like to cook for my friends.

Definitely more important than his thesis that was for sure.

And just like that Thursday rolls in and Minho gets ready to go to class.

‘Will you wow him with your new skills in Speak?’ Jisung grins, having a rare day off from his own internship, ready to rot away on the couch with Soonie and anime.

The idea of fucking up Selkie-Speak in front of Chan was enough to give Minho heart-burn. He needs to at least understand it- that was his base goal for now.

‘I don’t want him to think I’m a cannibal,’ Minho says dryly.

‘No bracelet?’ Jisung grins.

Honestly Minho wasn’t sure if he should or shouldn’t wear the bracelet. He’s looked at it every day since he got it, honestly touched by Chan’s reasoning for the colour of the glass.

He let Soonie completely sniff if it of course, and his cat pawed at it a little, looking at the sea-glass with some interest. It would make a very cool “aesthetic” collar on him but Soonie at best tolerated only a soft scarf so Minho wasn’t going to try. Besides he doesn’t want to risk any damages to it.

Chan had worn it every other time Minho saw him. He doesn’t think Chan expects him to wear it – this was definitely a gesture in kind to the one Minho made.

He doesn’t want to carry it loose just like that though.

He would definitely wear it when they had to go to court though. As a symbol of cooperation.

But while at work maybe not- they were usually advised not to wear jewelry anyway.

However, to class?

‘Uh, maybe not,’ Minho says.

Jisung hums in understanding, ‘I’m just teasing hyung, I get it.’

Minho exhales, ‘Chan-shii probably already thinks I’m a weirdo so honestly I don’t think I have much of an image to lose.’

‘But you’re the best weirdo hyung,’ Jisung grins, ‘Second only to me of course.’

Minho snorts, ‘Yeah, but you being a weirdo got you a loving boyfriend, mine got me a divorce.’

Jisung laughs until he has stitches.

Minho gets to class at the appropriate time with 5 minutes to spare. Chan isn’t in yet though and Minho goes to take his usual seat, giving the lecturer his fakest smile and greeting as he passes him.

A minute later Chan shows up, doesn’t even look at the lecturer, eyes sweeping the room before landing on him.

Chan gives him a smile and a small wave and Minho does the same.

There’s suddenly an awkward moment where Minho thinks Chan might come and sit next to him and for a moment it does look like, Chan’s steps looking like they were angling to head to the gap between the seats at the center before he sort of shuffles last second and goes to his usual seat.

Did he intend on coming up to where he was sitting and thought better of it?

Should they sit together? Why should they sit together?

But also why should they not sit together?

This was stupid, Minho frowns at himself a little.

They were going to have to see each other a lot and for something truly awkward for probably the entirety of this year, sitting together in class and chatting a little to each other like this was something they should probably do just to make this a more comfortable situation to deal with.

He gets his phone out, ready to message the Selkie and ask him if he could come sit next to him, because asking was always polite. He’s typed out the first word and that’s when he notices that Chan was also typing.

Minho looks up just in time to see Chan also looking up and then back around at him, clearly noticing the typing bubble pop up for him too.

Minho quickly glances over to the lecturer before he thumbs at the seat next to him, giving Chan a small smile and questioning shrug.

Chan gives him a small quick nod before picking his things up and making his way over.

Well, that cleared it up then.

‘Hey,’ Minho says as soon as Chan is in earshot, ‘How’s your week been?’

Chan gives him the so-so shrug and points at him.

‘It was okay,’ Minho tells him, ‘Just a lot of thesis work.’

No need to tell him most of it was spent with Minho looking up more information on Selkie culture and history. Speaking of which, he notes that Chan is wearing the bracelet once again.

Minho curses inwardly, he really should have worn his too.

How’s the search for a new place going? Chan asks, sliding a small and new spiral notebook over to him.

‘Going on Saturday,’ Minho replies quietly as the lecturer starts to call for attendance, ‘A few new places have popped up.’

Better balconies hopefully?

Oh, Chan definitely knew he was lying about that as he apparently had a really obvious tell when he lied.

‘Yes,’ Minho says, doubling down immediately.

Chan grins at that before raising his hand as his name is called.

Today was definitely nicer in every way between them – no awkward (too awkward) tension (mostly from his end for sure), no overcompensating (again, mostly from his end), and no tense hesitation to reach out.

Minho’s not sure if Chan was actually talkative or if he was just curious or if he just took advantage of passing notes to Minho as a taller classmate was sitting in front of them, definitely blocking the movement of their hands, because he had a lot of random questions for Minho.

How’s Soonie?

Is there a period of residency for vets the same way it is for doctors?

What are some of the most interesting pets you’ve seen?

What’s the required word count for your thesis?

Minho answers them all, writing back his response as he doesn’t think their lecturer will appreciate him verbally responding.

You’re ambidextrous!

Minho huffs out a quiet chuckle of amusement, nodding.

Oooh~ so kewl~

Minho grins down at his notebook before jotting down the Japanese word for fish on it and then reaching over to write his own questions that Chan responds back to.

Minho learns that sports science didn’t require them to write a thesis but rather many hours of practical work, research, a lot of team work, and quite a hefty number of hours in volunteer work. It all sounded physically exhausting to Minho and he’s barely able to hide his grimace and Chan does his best not to laugh out loud, head low, lips pressed down hard, and looking away from Minho.

Class ends all too soon and Minho is only vaguely aware of the new words they’ve learnt in the “Ordering From a Menu” lesson they had apparently spent just exchanging notes.

Minho firmly believes now that they could definitely be friends to an extent. It was obvious that Chan also wanted to ensure that they have a good relationship through out this process and Minho is more than willing to do what it takes to make this a reasonably bearable situation.

They’re able to chuckle freely as they step out of class and once they get out of the building make their way to their respective destinations, Minho heading back home, and Chan heading for the university training facilities.

Minho breathes out in relief and also satisfaction. Maybe now even if he didn’t have all of the full information in the process of how this divorce would be moving forward, maybe he can tell his parents about it.

He’s almost at the gates when Minho hears the sound of running, quick speedy strides making their way up behind him. Minho looks behind as he steps to the side to make way for whoever was running when he stops because it’s Chan.

‘What’s wrong-?!’ he only manages to get out, looking around in alarm, unsure why his first thought was zombies.

Chan, looking somewhat distressed, starts to sign but instead quickly points somewhere at the back where he’d come running from and hastens to take out his phone.

Injured creature, please help.

It takes Minho a second before his instincts kick in.

‘Lead the way-!’

And Chan is off and Minho is right behind him until they reach what Minho thinks is the IT and Cybernetics Faculty. Most of the buildings looked alike, most of them 7-8 storeys high and somewhat rectangular in shape with the exception of the administrative building which was U-shaped and the humanities building being which was L-shaped. The corners of all the buildings had a sort of thick brick bracket wedged around it, creating a ledge maybe 5 meters off the ground. Minho thinks it was designed to establish greenery zones around the buildings but the idea never quite took off.

And from one of the those ledges Minho can clearly hear what is most definitely a bird of some sort. As they get closer, slowing to a walk Minho notes that it did not sound like normal caws – much more like pained squawks.

I heard it when I was walking past Chan explains I wasn’t sure what it was but it sounded like it was in pain – I tried to get a look by climbing that tree there he points to the closest tree and I saw a black bird twisting around.

‘I’ll need a closer look,’ Minho frowns, looking around. ‘I think there should be like, maintenance staff who would have a ladder-?’

Chan tugs lightly at his sleeve before showing him his screen again and pointing up to the second tree.

‘Well. Shit,’ Minho frowns, noting the presence of not one but two hawks clearly vying for an opportunity to go at the injured bird. They had to act fast.

Then Chan briefly gestures and mimes to him.

‘…I don’t think that will work,’ Minho says slowly.

Chan gives him a look and Minho gives him a look back but then the bird squawks in pain some more, and Minho can hear the wings thrashing about even more. He sighs, taking his bag off and putting it on the ground and walking up to the wall.

‘Okay. But I don’t think this will end well-!’ he yelps as Chan rolls his eyes and ducking down a little, easily loops his around Minho’s lower-body and lifts him up way too fast and way too easily.

‘Oh my god oh my god-!’ Minho hisses but suddenly he’s at the ledge and he clambers over, managing to pull himself up and over before he can actually register much of anything. He thought Chan was saying he would give him a boost up, not physically lift him up like that.

‘What the fuck?’ he can only gasp out but wait, there was an animal in distress. Right. Priorities. Minho carefully pushes himself up to his hands and knees and immediately spots the distressed creature.

Larger than an average raven, waardar were also smarter, and also rare. Minho knows they weren’t always that common in cities, especially not ones like this. Maybe it lived in the parks around the university grounds? That would make sense.

One of its wing is clearly injured, some blood matting the dark feathers. It pauses, staring at Minho with understandable suspicion and wariness. There’s random left over construction material around, some broken clay pots, and Minho guesses it came here to try and hide a bit.

‘It’s a waardar!’ Minho calls down to Chan quietly, ‘Think it got into a fight, one of the wings is all funny.’

Chan looks up at him with worry and Minho has to look away because despite the fact that they were not even that high up he was not prepared to be here in the slightest.

‘I’ll check it out and see what we can do,’ he tells Chan who nods in response.

Turning back to the waardar Minho slowly approaches it, staying low and settling to sit down with some distance in between them, to allow the creature to assess him too.

‘Hi,’ he says quietly, ‘I’m not here to hurt you yeah? Just wanna see if you’re okay and how I can help.’

Minho looks around to see if there were any signs of struggle or a fight. There’s nothing, only some faint smudges here and there near the waardar suggesting it must have come here to hide and seek some sort of shelter after no longer being able to fly.

‘Did those hawks get you? Territory fight? It’s not egg-laying season yet though,’ Minho hums.

The waardar doesn’t move away, doesn’t try to escape Minho despite the fact that he’s left ample space on the other side for it to move away if needed.

‘Oh wow, your feathers are stunning,’ Minho says softly, ‘Very glossy, I’ve never seen shinier feathers on any other waardar.’

He slowly reaches out, first placing his hand ahead of himself, noting the waardar’s reaction. It doesn’t flinch or try to move away. Slowly he inches closer until he’s able to position himself in front of the creature and light strokes down its back.

‘Not gonna hurt you yeah? Just wanna see if you have anything stuck in you or not.’

It twitches and squawks a little when Minho carefully assesses its wing, hoping that it won’t try and claw him. He should have worn full sleeves at least today, it would at least be better than nothing.

He doesn’t want to poke and prod too much in case he antagonizes the poor creature so he stops once he’s certain it didn’t have any foreign objects in the wing.

‘All right, I’m gonna get you to the clinic where I work okay?’ Minho tells the waardar, ‘We’ll get you fixed up.’

He shuffles away slowly to the edge again and gets slightly dizzy looking back down where Chan was clearly very stressfully pacing, hands on hips.

‘I think I should take it to the clinic to get checked.’ Minho tells Chan who nods to that at once, ‘It’s not trying to attack me, so I think it knows I’m trying to help.’

Minho thinks fast, looking over to where his bag was.

‘Could you empty my bag and throw it up to me?’ he asks.

Chan quickly does as Minho asks, carefully putting his things away before tossing his bag up.

The waardar, aware that Minho was not about to try and hurt it doesn’t struggle much as he picks it up and puts it inside the bag.

‘Okay, just to transport you okay?’ Minho tells the bird, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of buddy.’

Once he’s satisfied with how the waardar is settled inside he extends the strap of his bag to the longest it can go before crawling over to the ledge and looking down where Chan was shuffling worriedly.

‘I’m gonna lower the waardar to you,’ Minho tells him, ‘It won’t try to escape I don’t think, just don’t jostle too much?’

Chan nods, raising his arms up at once.

Minho breathes out in relief once Chan has the bag and places it down carefully before looking up at his expectantly.

Most people would be okay jumping down this height, especially with a cushioned landing like the wild grass that’s all around the place.

But Minho is dizzy just even thinking about that. And maybe his expression wasn’t as neutral as he’d hope because Chan’s expression shifts, realization dawning in his eyes.

‘Yeah I uh, not great with heights,’ Minho tells him, clearing his throat, ‘Just give me a minute, I’ll make my way down-?’

Chan gestures again for him to jump, literally into his arms.

‘Are- are you insane?’ Minho splutters out, ‘Lifting me is one thing-.’

Chan gives him a look, hands on hips like Minho was being unreasonable. So Minho has to gesture back in the universal expression of are you fucking insane in return.

But wow he’s extremely dizzy and he needs to get to lower ground immediately. Also they needed to get the waardar to the clinic.

‘I think- for both of our safety, I’ll just, try and scale down and maybe you can balance me or something instead?’ Minho suggests instead.

Chan nods, stepping closer to the wall.

‘This is so lame,’ Minho whispers to himself, ‘You’re not even that high up, come on.’

Carefully, Minho edges closer to the edge, turning around as he lowers his legs, not daring to look down, clamping down on the ledge with his arms as he lowers himself. He feels Chan’s hands on his shins and okay, he wasn’t too high up – of course he wasn’t-!

Minho makes the mistake of looking down briefly and he sort of bonelessly loses his grip on the ledge and with a truly pathetic whimpering yelp Minho shuffles off of the ledge.

Rather than falling terribly and embarrassingly onto his ass and possibly giving himself a concussion Minho finds that he’s very securely lowered down, quiet literally seated on the ground already, ass safe, head safe.

He still refuses to open his eyes though, having closed them out of instinct, bracing himself for pain but there’s no pain, just Chan’s very secure hold around him.

He feels the most careful and hesitant pat on his knee and Minho breathes out, opening his eyes and nodding.

‘Yeah- yeah I’m okay, just a bit dizzy,’ Minho gets out, ‘Woah, I didn’t realize my fear of heights got that bad with only just that much.’

Chan lets go of him gently, looking over him with worry before holding his hands out.

‘Ah-,’ Minho looks at his hands and thankfully they’re not scraped or anything. ‘Oh- did I kick you or something on my way down-?’

Chan shakes his head, smiling.

No, you’re good he mouths.

‘I- thanks- thank you,’ Minho gets out.

Chan just smiles again before thumbing towards the bag.

‘Yeah, I uh, I can take it to my clinic,’ Minho tells him, shaking himself a little before getting onto his hands and knees, grounding himself a little and ignoring how he still felt a little dizzy. ‘I don’t think it’s in any immediate danger, but just to be safe and make sure it’ll be able to fly again.’

Chan helps him stand back up which is only just a little embarrassing but there’s nothing Minho can do about that now.

Minho assesses the waardar one more time while on stable ground and quickly messages the senior nurse at the clinic to alert him on the situation.

‘Okay, I let my clinic know,’ Minho tells Chan, heart pounding like he was the injured bird being approached by a creature 10 times its size, ‘I’ll take it-.’

I’ll go with you Chan mouths quickly and mimes to himself and then at Minho and pointing towards the northern gate Your stuff he adds, pointing to his file, charger, umbrella, and other stuff that was in his bag.

Right. Minho wouldn’t be able to securely take the waardar and everything else back just by himself.

‘But don’t you have work?’ Minho asks worriedly, ‘I think if you just uh, got me like a plastic bag for my other stuff it’s okay-.’

Chan shakes his head I’ll go with you he mouths again before giving him a thumb’s up it’s okay, this is important.

Chan puts Minho’s things into his bag and Minho firmly but gently carries his bag in his arms, making sure the waardar wouldn’t suffocate in there and together they head for the northern gate.

I should have brought my bike Chan tells him, looking regretful should I hail a taxi?

‘Traffic will be terrible right about now,’ Minho says and Chan nods to that. ‘Bike?’

Chan grins at that and nods before typing again.

Scooter actually.

Minho chuckles at that, ‘Sounds convenient.’

Chan nods seriously to that.

Good storage space – knees are protected during winter too.

And honestly that made sense for sure.

They aren’t able to talk much more after that, as Chan didn’t want to have them slow down or pause and further delay getting the waardar the medical aid it needed. They walk as quickly as they can without jostling the bird before making it to the clinic under 15 minutes.

Kang Younghyun, the senior nurse at the clinic was already expecting him and so was Minho’s supervisor Dr. Kim Kibum who thankfully didn’t have an appointment it would seem.

Minho quickly puts the bird down on the examination table in one of the examination rooms.

‘Oh, what a stunning waardar,’ Dr. Kim hums, nodding at the bird that was trembling probably from both pain and fear at this point. ‘All right, let’s see what’s going on.’

Minho mostly helps Dr. Kim by holding the waardar down securely and with protective gloves making sure it wouldn’t try and claw either of them. An x-ray shows that no bones were broken, thankfully, and after a light sedation so that they can reset the dislocation of the wing and clean up the bleeding the waardar sort of sploots on the floor of its crate where it would stay for observation and recovery for at least the night.

Minho quickly makes his way out, throwing his gloves out, painfully aware that he’d just sort of disappeared with Dr. Kim without saying anything more to Chan and finds that the Selkie hadn’t left like he was expecting. Instead Younghyun is talking to Chan, because of course Younghyun knew Selkie-Speak and-

‘Minho-yah,’ Younghyun says with a smile when he spots him, ‘I didn’t know you and Chan knew each other.’

Minho does a double-take.

‘-what?’

Chan looks almost sheepish as he smiles at him.

‘I was the university guide for Chan and some of his other classmates when they were freshman and I was a senior!’ Younghyun explains.

What the fuck.

‘How’s the waardar?’ the nurse asks.

‘O-oh- she’s doing okay sunbaenim, no broken bones,’ Minho replies, ‘Chan-shii, sorry for taking up your time like this.’

Chan just smiles, shaking his head and mouthing no problem! and pointing to the side where Minho’s things were neatly put on the edge of the reception counter.

But before Minho can say anything Dr. Kim comes out.

‘Ah! Minho-yah, and this is your friend who heard the waardar,’ Dr. Kim smiles at Chan who bows in greeting and signs a greeting.

Dr. Kim’s eyes go wide and Minho knows exactly what’s going to happen next-!

‘Ah, your husband,’ Dr. Kim grins, causing Younghyun to swivel his head towards Chan, eyes nearly popping out of his head.

‘Dr. Kim,’ Minho whisper-groans out but the man just guffaws heartily, ‘It’s nice to meet you! You’re Minho’s classmate right? You’re in vet-science too?’

Chan shakes his head, face pink, signing his answer.

‘Sports science!’ Dr. Kim exclaims, eyes widening, ‘Oh maybe you know my friend Choi Minho?’

Chan’s eyes widen and he nods, signing his response and Minho knows enough basic Speak to know he just said yes.

What the fuck, again.

‘That’s not surprising, does he go shirtless even when it’s not necessary,’ Dr. Kim asks in comic disdain.

Chan chuckles silently at that as he replies.

Wow, Minho really needs to pick up on Selkie-Speak because he’s vaguely picking up on one word here or there at best.

‘Well, it was nice meeting you! If you see my Minho around let him know I said hi!’ Dr. Kim says cheerily before heading back to his office.

Unfortunately now Minho comes face to face with Younghyun who looks at him and Chan with barely disguised interest.

‘It was an accident!’ Minho blurts out the same time as Chan hastily signs probably the same thing to the senior nurse.

Younghyun’s eyebrows go up into his hairline.

‘Uh, wow, I guess you really should get going,’ Minho stammers to Chan who nods a bit too enthusiastically, face turning pinker and pinker. ‘I uh, let me see you out!’

Chan hastily signs to Younghyun who has a grin on his face the whole time, waving goodbye to the Selkie. Minho isn’t an expert in Selkie-Speak but he thinks Chan might be stuttering his signs and losing out whole words.

Minho leads him out of the door and to the shared lobby space in the complex, both of them cringing at themselves before turning to face each other.

‘I-…’ Minho pauses before sighing heavily and Chan bursts out into laughter, squeaky hiccupping sounds coming out of him, hands on his knees, the ridiculousness of everything just really too much.

Minho goes to the opposite wall and sinks down against it, face in hands.

‘Well, at least you don’t have to see them any more after this,’ Minho tells Chan who crouches down too, still chuckling. ‘So does this Choi Minho person go shirtless frequently or-?’

Chan nearly falls back on his butt as he laughs, struggling a bit to take his phone out.

Considering how fit and ripped he is, not as much as most people would like. Also that would be against some rule in the university I think.

‘It better,’ Minho wheezes before saying, ‘Thanks for helping again.’

Please let me know how her recovery goes!

‘Yeah of course,’ Minho nods, slowly getting up and gearing up to head back inside, no doubt to answer Younghyun’s questions. ‘Thanks again.’

Chan beams at him as he also gets up.

See you in class.

‘See you,’ Minho says, giving him a small wave and stepping to the stairs with him.

Minho finds himself just standing on top of the stairs for no specific reason, watching after Chan who makes his way back towards the university.

And then Chan looks back.

Chan looks just as surprised to see Minho still there as Minho was with Chan turning to look back around.

He gives him a small wave again and even from here Chan’s dimples make themselves known as he smiles, waving back at Minho and ducking his head down a little as though embarrassed.

Minho immediately back peddles into the lobby.

When he goes back inside Younghyun gives him a look of amusement, a teasing glint in his eyes. Minho likes Younghyun, he likes Dr. Kim too – he’s actually very happy with his internship here and hopes that he’ll be able to stay on here after his internship.

But right now that whole thing about moving to another country looked really appealing.

‘You don’t have to tell me,’ Younghyun grins, ‘But uh-.’

Minho groans and walks over to the reception and takes a seat to tell the man what happened. Younghyun looks troubled as Minho tells him about how Chan was jumped by some Mer and his seal-skin was stolen and hidden from him. He looks like he does find it somehow amusing though, when he explains that they were processing their divorce, which was why he had taken that day off last time.

‘Wow,’ Younghyun exclaims and indeed, wow. Minho is not about to tell him about going to see the duplex though. No need to have to try and explain that too.

‘Chan’s a good kid,’ Younghyun smiles before adding, ‘I’m sorry it’s happened to you both though.’

‘Ah well,’ Minho shrugs, ‘It’s happened, and I guess we just uh, move forward as best as possible.’

‘That’s the spirit,’ Younghyun smiles, holding his fist out for him to bump, ‘So, you wanna clock in for today as you’re already here?’

Minho snorts but he nods, ‘I guess I might as well.’

*

Chapter Text

Telling his parents about his marriage and subsequent divorce process goes exactly how he thought it would.

Minho is promptly summoned back home and is practically interrogated by his parents. His father was a homeroom teacher and his mother an accountant so Minho makes his responses both short and under 500 words but also methodical and with full details.

‘What’s his full name, let me see if I can find details about him,’ his mother had said almost jokingly but definitely with a serious edge to her tone.

‘No mum,’ Minho says firmly, ‘We don’t need to sneak in on Chan-shii’s personal matters. We are both amicable in our decision to work together in this matter, and that’s all the matters.’

‘Show me his picture,’ his dad had requested with an amused expression.

Minho sighs, finding Chan’s contact and opening the distant photo.

Both his parents weren’t satisfied.

So Minho had to go find the man on Instagram and remembering what Jisung had said, instead went to his followers list and found Felix/Yongbok and found a photo of the Selkie.

‘Oh!’ both his parents had exclaimed at the same time.

At this point Minho would not be surprised if they somehow knew him. But it was not the case.

‘He looks like a nice boy,’ his mother had declared, the tenseness in her brows easing up.

His dad nods too, and adds, ‘He’s handsome.’

Minho gives him parents, mostly his dad, a look of incredulity.

‘I-, well, either way, just letting you guys know.’ Minho tells them, ‘Not sure how long it will take, but Yubin-shii says anywhere between 6 to 9 months.’

‘What about the cost?’ his mother asks.

‘Cost? He echoes.

He had never thought about that for some reason.

‘Divorces aren’t cheap,’ his mother tells him, ‘I’ve never had to process things related to divorces, but a friend of mine works at a law firm – divorces are not cheap.’

Shit. Shit. He needs to talk to Chan about this – was it because they were still in the process of, well, processing, that the cost was never brought up? Or were accidental Selkie marriage cases different?

‘I’ll get more details once this part is done,’ is what Minho settles for.

‘Is he nice?’ his mum asks carefully.

Minho nods at once.

Chan was really nice – too nice maybe, Minho’s not sure.

‘You know Speak?’ his dad asks in surprise.

‘No,’ Minho sighs, ‘Just like, basic things we learnt in primary school, but I don’t remember much else.’

‘How does he talk to you?’

‘Notes, like, writing on paper, or he’ll type on his phone,’ Minho explains. And maybe hopefully not for too long or at least not too much because Minho has already found an excellent playlist on YouTube from a Selkie tutor that lots of online forums and posts had really praised as a solid source to learn Speak especially for older students starting from scratch. In fact, just last night as a means of taking a break from finding the original sources for his citations, Minho had learnt how to use numbers in Speak which he was relieved to find was quite a simple method.

His parents ask more questions before moving on to a discussion about any new place he was looking at.

And that’s where Minho was really hitting every possible pit stop because the place he’d been hopeful about after the duplex had already been taken up by another renter, leaving him not just in square one but literally in square zero.

‘You can just move back in with us, you know that right?’ his mum told him gently, reminding him again that if he couldn’t find a place that it would be simple and easier for him to just do so.

And honestly at this point, considering his upcoming thesis deadline and submission, and also his continued desire to work at his internship to try and get placement there, and his divorce, he doesn’t need to think about finding a new place to stay. Also he can save up more of his money, especially if divorces were going to get expensive. He’d save up on rent and the deposit for sure. He might have to spend some on transport though.

It would absolutely be a trip to make to and back from home to work, but it wasn’t something that couldn’t be done. He would have a place to stay, guaranteed, and no need to have that added concern over his head. His mum could drop him off at the station on her way to work, and Minho would be able to take the train to the second university stop and proceed on foot and get to the clinic.

‘I’ll give it another week,’ Minho tells them, ‘I don’t want to make things confusing or difficult for Soonie.’

He’d gone to four other places and each worse than the last somehow. One of the studios reeked of mold when he opened the cupboard beneath the sink in the bathroom and both he and the realtor shared looks of alarm at that before making their way out. She didn’t even bother asking him his opinion, quickly shuffling him back out so they could look at another unit.

‘I’ll ask my hyung if he knows any places,’ Jeongin tells him as they head towards a BBQ place as Minho updates him and Seungmin on his current situation. Jisung, Jeongin, and Seungmin wanted to eat ssam, and insisted that Minho join them as he’d been working on his thesis nonstop, concentrating so much that he was forgetting to eat most times unless Jisung reminded him. Minho feels a little drained – the upcoming final check-in with his adviser coming in way too soon to his liking and he wasn’t satisfied with the final chapter so he’d written it three times over. He supposes some meat will help get his brain working again.

‘I think my place has a room,’ Seungmin adds. ‘I know it’s not like, the best option but I’ll check.’

‘Thanks,’ Minho sighs, ‘But honestly I might just end up staying with mum and dad. At least for now and after I’m done with submitting my thesis – one thing less to worry about you know? And for now I won’t be asking for additional days of leave to go look for places from the clinic.’

‘You could stay at our place,’ Jisung grins.

‘I don’t think there will be space for me,’ Minho says dryly, ‘You’re both going to need professional organizers at this point.’

He had helped Jisung start packing up to start shifting his things to his new place with Jeongin. Neither of them were particularly the neatest or the most organized. Not that Minho could judge, but because he had Soonie he tried to make things orderly so that his cat wouldn’t get into trouble or hurt himself in some way.

‘The kitchen,’ Seungmin supplies, ‘As neither of them will be using it all that much.’

Neither Jeongin or Jisung can argue that and instead sort of shrug and nod in bemused agreement.

‘By the way, nice bracelet.’ Seungmin grins.

Minho had decided he would start wearing it after his talk with Chan. Besides, it was nice and complimented his usual choice of clothing quite well.

Minho swiftly elbows Seungmin in the ribs for that which he only just barely dodges, laughing maniacally in the process.

They enter their usual BBQ place – it was catered more for students so it was cheap but also good quality. They don’t get any seating outside unfortunately, where it was open and windy but it was still nice and cool indoors but that just meant they would be smelling like smoke and meat to some degree.

They’re chatting and eating when Jeongin suddenly waves and smiles at someone past Minho.

When he turns around he nearly chokes on his wrap because it’s Chan’s friends from That Day, Hwang Hyunjin and Seo Changbin, and two other people Minho doesn’t know, both girls around their age.

Chan isn’t with them though.

Minho doesn’t know if he’s relieved or not by that fact.

Hyunjin is beaming back at Jeongin and then at the same time both him and Changbin notice him, their eyes meeting his at the same time and they both freeze for a split second.

Minho hastily greets them both from where he was sitting and the couple wave at him too, smiling a little before making their way to their seats on the other side of the restaurant. The girls with them don’t seem to know who he is so they both just gives a polite smiles at them all as well.

‘Oh-,’ Jisung’s eyes are wide as saucers, ‘Those-?’

‘Yeap,’ Jeongin nods, ‘Minho-hyung’s husband’s friends.’

‘Why did you have to say it like that,’ Minho groans, feeling his face flush.

‘He’s technically not wrong,’ Seungmin chuckles.

But nothing else happens after that. They continue to eat their meal and they get up to pay and leave the restaurant, bellies full and pant waists adjusted accordingly.

They’re stepping out into the summer heat, agreeing to get something cold and sweet to eat when Minho hears his name being called.

‘Minho-shii!’

Minho turns around, heart leaping out of his chest as he notes that it’s Changbin who has come out after them.

‘Changbin-shii,’ Minho bows awkwardly a little, ‘Hi.’

‘Uh, yeah, um – is it okay if I talk to you for a bit?’ Changbin asks hesitantly, glancing over at the others sheepishly.

‘Oh, yeah sure,’ Minho nods before looking back at his friends, ‘Um, you guys go ahead? I’ll catch up.’

‘We’ll be at the convenient store near the stop,’ Jisung tells him before giving him a quick meaningful look that clearly meant they would be close by if he needed them.

‘Okay,’ Minho nods.

Changbin gestures to the side near where some cars were parked in front of some closed shutters.

‘Uh,’ Changbin begins, hands awkwardly in his pockets, ‘I just wanted to first say that I’m sorry for how accusatory Hyunjin and I must have come off when we first met.’

‘No no, not at all,’ Minho says quickly, ‘It’s understandable, honestly – I get it.’

‘Yeah well, we still feel kinda bad about it, and well, hyung’s been very clear with the fact that you’re a good guy,’ Changbin tells him, ‘And well, now that things have settled a bit, we thought it would be good to just um, yeah, let you know that we feel bad, and hope you understand.’

‘Yeah of course,’ Minho nods, ‘Again, I understand your reaction, I really do. Honestly I still feel like Chan-shii is maybe too calm with all of this.’

Changbin groans a little like he can’t help himself, minutely nodding in agreement.

‘So um, just that, and well, thank you for uh-.’

‘-not being a weirdo creep?’ Minho supplies.

Changbin tries valiantly not to laugh but he bursts out into delighted laughter that has Minho laughing too.

‘Thank you for hearing me out Minho-shii,’ Changbin tells him.

‘Yeah of course,’ Minho nods, taking a step back, ‘Thank you for reaching out.’

Changbin reaches out his hand and Minho shakes it of course. That’s when Changbin’s eyes zero in on the bracelet on Minho’s wrist.

The handshake lasts a second too long before he lets go.

He smiles even wider at him after that and heads back inside.

Minho nearly jumps out of his skin when he notices that all three of his friends were literally just around the corner, clearly waiting and spying on him as best as they could.

‘I thought you guys were getting ice-cream,’ he grumbles, patting at his chest to exaggerate his shock at finding them there.

‘What happened?’ Jisung asks, looking serious and concerned, glancing back at the BBQ place.

‘It was okay,’ Minho tells them, ‘He mostly wanted to apologize for how we all first met.’

‘I think their reactions were wholly justified,’ Seungmin says with a shrug.

‘That’s what I said,’ Minho tells them as they start walking slowly.

‘He’s nice,’ Jeongin supplies, ‘When we were talking at the Court when you and Chan-shii were applying for your divorce I could tell that they didn’t suspect you for anything bad, they were just really worried about Chan and his situation.’

‘Those idiots who jumped him are facing jail time right?’ Jisung asks seriously.

‘Well, they were definitely charged from what I know, but I don’t know about serving any sentencing,’ Jeongin tells them before looking at him, ‘Do you know anything about that?’

Minho shrugs a little, ‘Chan-shii doesn’t talk about it, also not really in my place to be like hey what happened to the people who stole your seal-skin that I accidentally picked up and returned to you which got us married now is it?’

‘It could be,’ Seungmin chuckles, ‘Wonder how many more things like police interviews he’ll have to attend as well, considering the situation.’

Minho grimaces, sighing out. What a bunch of bullshit honestly – in Minho’s private opinion, in situations like this, there shouldn’t even have to be a “process”. Those idiots who attacked Chan were obviously caught in the act, confessed to what they did, and they should be throw into prison for the allotted time given to a crime of that degree and Chan shouldn’t have to do anything more than provide the obvious evidence for what happened. Then he gets compensated for what happened, be it medical fees for the obvious injuries he was sporting or something else. And done.

At least that’s how Minho thinks it should be done. But what does he know?

Minho finds himself looking forward to his Japanese classes now, not just because these were essentially “breaks” for him because even though he did enjoy his internship and the work he did there, he was just like every nearly completely graduated student who just wanted a break. But now he can look forward to something Minho can comfortably call the beginnings of a nice friendship.

They would be divorcing yes, but Minho would like to call Chan a good friend by the end of all of this.

He gets to the Linguistics building just as Chan does, the Selkie waving at him in greeting.

‘How was your weekend?’ Minho asks as they enter the thankfully cool faculty building. The weather was shifting around a lot, humidity going up and down, clouds low and weird, blocking out the sun and making things sticky and swampy and gross in general. Minho hates this sort of weather – one mistake and he knows he was going to catch a cold or get sick in some way.

Chan gestures in a way that says so-so, before pointing at Minho and then he frowns a bit, looking over his face with some concern.

‘Just my thesis slowly murdering me,’ Minho huffs as they head for the stairs, wiping at his face, ‘I have to submit the final draft next week, and the final submission is coming up right after that – literally the same day as the midterms.’

Chan gives him a wincing expression and mouths that’s in two weeks!

‘Yeah, but thankfully this class is easy,’ Minho shrugs, trying not to show how tired he felt going up the stairs. Their classroom was just one floor above, there was no point in taking the elevator for something like that. ‘Not too worried about the scheduling in that sense.’

Chan mimes a bird and Minho knows he’s asking about the waardar.

‘Oh! We’ll be able to release her tomorrow,’ Minho tells him. ‘She’s recovering very well, just needed to help heal and realign her hurt wing – final night of observation and she’s good to go.’

Chan exhales out in relief at that, smiling.

They sit where Minho usually sits and Minho keys in on Chan’s bracelet at once. He’d been a little shy to wear it out so openly today for some reason, and instead wore a full-sleeve despite the weather, covering his wrist and hiding the fact that he was wearing the bracelet from view.

I was reading some things about waardar Chan tells him, looking quite pleased with himself they have really good memory! It’s really likely she might remember you if she sees you again.

‘Yeah, you can apparently train them or something?’ Minho says with a nod, ‘But it’s illegal to have them as pets.’

I imagine that would be quite cruel, Chan says in agreement, I didn’t know that they were somewhat rare?

‘Well, here at least they’re a bit rare,’ Minho tells him, ‘Especially in cities like this, but I guess our parks are good enough for her.’

I hope she has friends and she’s not alone :]

Minho smiles at that.

‘They’re pretty social,’ Minho hums, thinking hard about everything he knew about waardars, ‘They get along well with crows and ravens – we have plenty of those in the city.’

They’re unable to continue to talk aloud once the lecturer comes in – well, they still share notes time to time throughout the class especially when it starts to drag as they repeat practicing words and phrases. At least today Minho is not chosen to read out sentences; his ears always go bright red, knowing everyone was looking at him.

At one point they start playing hangman on Chan’s spiral notepad and Minho nearly misses a question the lecturer asks that they were all supposed to answer one by one.

Chan is barely able to maintain a neutral expression as Minho struggles to remember purple in Japanese despite the fact that he does know what it was. He manages to get it out in time and exhales quietly in relief before giving Chan his deadliest side-eye which has Chan practically shaking as he tries not to laugh.

But Minho appreciates it, otherwise he would have been struggling to stay awake and focus in class.

‘My life flashed before my eyes,’ Minho grumbles as they leave class.

Chan laughs, making those small hiccup sounds in the process.

They part ways in front of the building, Minho headed for the east exit and Chan towards the training facility when a sudden idea forms in Minho’s mind. He only hesitates a moment before making up his mind.

‘Chan-shii-!’ he calls as he turns around only to find that Chan had also just turned around, looking back at him.

The Selkie turns bright pink but stops, properly turning around.

Feeling a little flustered Minho walks over to the Selkie who sort of shuffles his feet where he stood.

‘Uh, do you want to help me release the waardar tomorrow?’ Minho asks.

Chan’s eyes light up and he nods enthusiastically. He then taps at his wrist, clearly asking what time.

‘I was going to do it after work,’ Minho explains, ‘Does 6:15 suit you? I can meet you at the northern entrance.’

Chan nods again, grinning brightly.

‘Okay, I’ll message you before I leave the clinic,’ Minho tells him.

Chan makes a small cheering motion with his hands before looking a little flustered and then waving again walks off towards the training facilities.

Minho finds himself smiling the entire way to the university entrance and quickly schools his features to a more neutral one once he realizes he was just smiling.

When he gets home though he has very little to smile about because his thesis is waiting for him to round up everything he’s written and to be sent off for the final check-in with his adviser.

Minho usually always tried to strictly keep a routine that got him at least 5-6 hours of sleep every night no matter how many assignments he had. As a result it meant whenever he did sleep less it effected him terribly. Unfortunately though, a combination of real panic, guilt over procrastinating, and desperation over his thesis pushes him to pull an all-nighter.

He feels very much like a zombie come morning and Jisung worriedly pats his head.

‘You’re so dim,’ his best-friend points out, ‘Take it easy hm?’

‘I’ll try,’ Minho groans, feeling dim, before cursing as he looks at the time, ‘Ah, should get ready to head to work.’

‘I’ll drop you off hyung,’ Jisung tells him thoughtfully, ‘Please don’t get sick or I will get sick.’

Minho rolls his eyes and makes a mental note to take some medication.

Showered, with some breakfast in his system, a strong cup of coffee, and medication, Minho feels a little better and Jisung drops him off at the clinic and tells him he would bring back the soup dumpling from the restaurant near his internship later that evening.

‘If you need me to come get you let me know,’ he tells Minho, before pointing sternly at him, eyes all round and serious, ‘Hey! I mean it! Don’t push yourself!’

‘Yes yes,’ Minho says, flapping his hand at him, ‘Thank you Hannie.’

Minho is grateful that it’s not too busy at the clinic today – just two appointments, and a walk-in.

There’s a moment of distraction when his bracelet gets snagged on the latch of one of their kennel doors at the back when Minho goes to pick up one of the dogs who was getting discharged today after a minor surgery. He’s filled with horror at the idea that his bracelet would snap or get damaged. So after lunch he goes to the stationary shop not too far and finds some nice looking cords that matched the colour of the bracelet and makes a sort of necklace out of it, not quite trusting himself to not have it on his person. It felt wrong to not wear it in one way or another.

When he gets back to the clinic Minho takes some more meds just in case. He would be fine after tonight he knows, he just needed some sleep to reset.

However as the day comes to an end, at least in terms of work, Younghyun as well as the head nurse, Seo Juhyun, tell him he can go back home early. But Minho is determined to see through his work hours on days when he can. But as 6 o’clock comes Minho is filled with relief at the thought of going home – he’d been nearly dozing off in the staff room for the past hour now.

With Juhyun’s help Minho gets the waardar into a secure carrier and takes his leave from work for the day. He messages Chan, letting him know he was on his way.

Chan sees his message almost immediately and lets him know he would be waiting at the northern gate.  

‘All right miss, let’s go,’ Minho says to the waardar who seemed to figure out that she was being released and shifts around somewhat excitedly.

It takes Minho a little longer than usual to get to the university. Chan is already waiting for him, wearing a loose full-sleeve shirt over board-shorts. Minho guesses there was no specific dress code for his work and if he was working in the pools most of the time, what he wore outside of it probably didn’t really matter. He has a cap pulled over his head that he was adjusting here and there before he spots Minho and waves, smile and dimple obvious even from this distance.

Minho holds up the carrier a little higher and Chan does a small cheer.

‘Hi,’ Minho says as soon as he’s in earshot, ‘She’s ready to be set free.’

Chan smiles but his expression shifts to one of concern as he gives him a look over.

Minho guesses he looks more unwell than he thought he did.

‘I’m okay,’ Minho finds himself saying, ‘Been losing some sleep recently, you know, thesis and all that. And also the weird weather shift kinda hit me and I’m a bit under the weather – nothing infectious!’

I got my flu shots earlier this year so I’m not worried Chan writes.

‘Should have been me,’ Minho sighs before he points at the carrier, ‘Wanna say hi?’

Chan grins, bending his knees a little to look into the carrier where the waardar was just chilling. He gives the waardar a tiny wave and signs a greeting.

Where are you releasing her Chan asks as they make their way into the university grounds.

‘There’s a spot in the canopies,’ Minho explains before asking with a slight wince, ‘I’m not stopping you from uh, being on duty?’

With some guidance from one of his professors, Minho had talked to the university groundskeeper and asked him if he knew of a good location or spot to release the waardar and had been recommended the pine groves at the top of the small hill in the middle of the university grounds. Minho has been here many times, it was nice walking through the multiple canopies of different tree species, plus it always smelt incredible. It would be quite the Walk today though, but Minho focuses on powering through.

Chan shakes his head, quickly typing on his phone.

I finish work at 6 most days!

‘Ah, okay,’ Minho nods, ‘You’re not pressured to do overtime?’

Chan shakes his head with amusement, typing immediately.

You can’t do overtime when there’s no one to train or coach

We do have special evening hours catered for people who want to use the facilities after their work hours but it’s not every night

And they aren’t the ones who usually need help either

‘I’ve never been to any of the training facilities, even during the tour of the university,’ Minho says, glancing over to the massive domed buildings, ‘I’m just like, imagining massive swimming pools, is it like that?’

Chan shakes his head, looking excited and swiping over his phone to show him some photos of the facilities. Chan holds up three fingers – so there were three kinds of facilities. The first one seems like a regular sort of swimming pool, rectangular, with a deep end and a shallow end. This was clearly the type they used for swimming competitions and other related events. The second one takes Minho by surprise because why did no one tell him there was something like a literal wild wetlands except it was all indoors? The water isn’t clear, rather it’s dark, lots of aquatic plants growing all around. The edges of the massive lake aren’t traditional tile walls but rather stone and slab and pebbles, all clearly designed and made to mimic the environment of ponds, swamps, and creeks. Minho thinks this might be specifically for Nixies, Naiads, and Rusalka.

This all looked incredibly well funded and established.

The final facility makes Minho breathe out in amazement.

‘Woah, it’s like there’s a whole lake in there – I had no idea,’ Minho says.

Honestly he has no idea how they did it, an architectural feat no doubt, blending beautifully with magick-based engineering no doubt. The lake, or maybe even something that could be a shore line with dark sand surround parts of the edges. The water is clearer here, and the roof is all glass, which meant it was the largest domed structure Minho has noticed and had just assumed it was housing several pools when it was in fact housing a whole lake it would seem. There’s even a bridge that spans over one area.

I mostly work in the first pool with kids, to help them gain more strength and familiarity with water before moving on to either the freshwater or salt water.

‘Wow, I feel so lame not knowing this was all here,’ Minho says.

Chan gestures ahead towards the canopies and types out: I’ve never really been here properly, so I’m feeling a bit lame too

Minho snorts, ‘Just wait till we hit the trails, they’re intentionally unkempt.’

Do you need something before we go in though? Water? Chan asks worriedly.

‘I’m okay, I’m already on meds,’ Minho explains, ‘This is my fault, I’m the kind of person who needs 7 hours of sleep to function or I’ll die – besides, every time we get weird weather like this I always tend to get sick.’

Chan looks at him thoughtfully before asking during the winters too?

Not a question Minho was expecting but he nods.

‘Ugh, it was worse when I was younger,’ Minho grumbles, ‘Have you heard of SAD? It’s seasonal affective disorder and it was so bad when I was a teenager.’

Chan grins at that.

‘Obviously I’m not like that anymore,’ Minho explains as he glances up at the weird sun-less cloudy skies they’d been having for a while now, ‘Mum says it’s because I’m like, 10% Fae – out of all the things to remain in my DNA.’

Chan wheezes at his comically dark deadpan tone.

‘But anyway, the season change during this time always gets me.’ Minho tells him, ‘I’ll be okay with sleep and meds, no worries.’

They reach the edges of the more manicured side of the park and they’re able to pick out wildflowers and even fairy rings cropping up.

I’ve never been to this side of the parks Chan tells him as they reach the first few trees this feels more like a hiking trail

Minho chuckles, ‘I kid you not we were once sent here for 3 whole classes to find insects and grubs which we would then feed to our poultry coop.’

Chan looks horrified at that, whole body cringing as he looks around.

I’m not good with insects he types, shuddering for effect.

‘So should I not tell you about the centipede on your shoulder-?’

Chan leaps through the air, twisting around and trying to look over his shoulder before he realizes Minho was pulling his leg and he groans.

They walk further in a bit more until Minho thinks they reach a good point. Also he was getting more tired, feeling both cold and warm. He was starting to get a bit of cold sweat and his eyes were starting to burn. He needed another round of medication and sleep for at least 10 hours.

Placing the carrier down on a fallen tree, Minho wipes at his cooler than expected face before getting ready to release the waardar.

‘Uh, maybe stand in the back, don’t know if she’ll be offended or agitated,’ Minho tells Chan who nods and goes to stand behind him.

Minho angles the carrier towards the tall pine trees and then slowly undoes the hatch.

‘Okay, you can go now,’ Minho says gently.

Both he and Chan wait a moment, anticipating wings but there’s nothing. Instead a few seconds later, the waardar hops out onto the fallen tree, pausing, looking around before hopping over to the carrier and looking at him and Chan.

Birds and other avian creatures were always a little unpredictable in Minho’s opinion, so he’s not sure what the waardar was doing.

Slowly, Chan signs to the waardar. Minho picks up on some words – get better, home, see you.

‘Stay safe,’ Minho adds, ‘I think you know where the clinic is at this point, so if you’re not feeling well, just come there?’

He has no idea how much of what he was saying was at all understood by the creature but he knows they’re intelligent.

The waardar caws at them and shakes her whole body, unfurling her wings and cawing again before flying up and away.

Minho hears Chan exhale out, looking delighted as he follows the waardar’s flight up to the pines before clapping his hands together and then beaming at him.

Minho returns the smile, glancing back over at where the waardar has vanished, suddenly shivering lightly.

Ugh, he really needs to get back home, stuff his face with meds, and pass out. Maybe he can complain and whine enough at Jisung so he could sing to him, it always ensured him a deep dreamless sleep that way. He’d also probably be very pleased that he made Minho take an extra layer because he was now tugging on the thin flannel he had thrown into his bag and pulls it on.

It wasn’t, by any means, remotely cool enough for a layer and Chan gives him a concerned look as he pulls the extra layer on. Instead of saying anything else Chan picks up the carrier as Minho adjusts his shirt and puts his bag on properly again.

He’s going to tell Chan that they can head back now when the Selkie points at him, more specifically near his neck.

‘Hm?’ Minho looks down briefly when he realizes that Chan is looking at the bracelet-turned-necklace. ‘Oh yeah, I was worried that while working it would get snagged or something- so I made it so that I could uh, wear it as a necklace instead- at least for today. It’s not- oh shit, was I not meant to do that?’

Chan shakes his head rapidly, putting down the carrier before typing hurriedly.

Not at all!

He hesitates before writing out the second bit.

Just surprised you wore it.

‘Well, yeah of course I would,’ Minho says a bit sheepishly, ‘It’s part of your culture, it would be disrespectful.’ He then points to the bracelet on Chan’s wrist, ‘Also you wear the one I gave you – I should too right?’

Chan shakes his head, no no not at all! he mouths as he starts to type once again but before he can Minho stops him. Chan pauses too, looking up at him with wide eyes.

‘And besides,’ Minho pauses and then just like how he practiced while taking breaks from his thesis in the middle of the night, signs we’re friends, right?

Chan’s eyes light up at once, giving him a wide delighted grin.

Yes he signs we’re friends.

Minho chuckles a little sheepishly before he says, ‘So yeah, we can get going now.’

Chan looks back towards the pines one more time before they make their way downhill, much to Minho’s relief.

He takes the carrier from Chan as they part ways.

‘See you on Thursday,’ Minho tells him.

Chan nods, giving him a small wave, not walking away just yet, looking a bit thoughtful. Minho turns and starts walking towards his usual exit. From this point of the university grounds Minho is at a considerable additional distance and he sighs quietly to himself. Maybe just for today he should hail a taxi? But the distance wasn’t something taxi drivers were particularly fond of. Maybe he should call Jisung to pick him up but Minho thinks if he sits and waits he might get worse while he’s out.

And either he’s very slow or Chan moved very fast because he hears the sound of a vehicle approaching and with a slight frown, because Minho doesn’t think he’s seen a vehicle in the university grounds during all of summer semester, looks back behind him only to realize Chan is driving in his scooter towards him.

‘What the fuck-?’

Chan’s smile is a bit sheepish even from this distance and when he’s close enough gives him a sort of awkward wave before he slows to a stop next to him.

Then he mimes what Minho can only guess means I’ll drive you back home.

‘Do I truly look that sick and pathetic,’ Minho groans.

Chan chuckles but he does look concerned, taking up his phone and typing.

Should I take you to a clinic?

‘No,’ Minho says firmly, ‘Like I said, this happens every year – this time around it’s just this whole thing with my thesis. I actually had it worse 2 years ago, I was throwing up and everything.’

Chan looks genuinely disturbed.

I don’t think you should be walking back Chan tells him I’ll drop you off to your place, it’s no problem for me

‘Are you sure?’ Minho asks even though he’s already so relieved he doesn’t need to walk back.

Chan nods, getting off of his scooter and from the storage space beneath the seat he produces another helmet and hands it to him.

‘Thank you,’ Minho tells him gratefully.

Chan takes the carrier and puts it at the space in front of his feet on the scooter and gets on. Minho pulls on the helmet and whoever wore this before had an incredibly small head because the strap won’t reach. Chan grins and helps him lengthen the strap before he snaps it close.

Okay? Chan mouths, pointing at the helmet.

‘Well, I guess we’ll see if I fall off and whether or not my head cracks open.’

Chan gives him a comically horrified expression but Minho just laughs.

‘I’ve uh, never been on a scooter before,’ he says just as he realizes this.

Chan animatedly mimes that he won’t go super fast and to not worry.

Carefully Minho gets on the backseat and after some minor adjustment, not sure how much he could squirm around because he doesn’t want to tilt them over even though both of Chan’s feet were securely planted on the ground, he gives Chan a small pat.

‘Okay, I’m good.’

Chan looks back and points at him and then mimes the directions.

‘I’ll let you know which turns,’ Minho tells him.

Chan quickly taps out something on his phone and holds it up for him to read.

You can tap on my shoulders for the directions

It can get difficult to hear with the helmet sometimes

No need to exert yourself by yelling

^_^

‘Okay,’ Minho breathes out, ‘Thank you again.’

Chan gives him a thumb’s up and starts his scooter. For a moment Minho doesn’t know where to place his hands, exerting his core for no reason before he grips the support bar behind him with one hand, leaving one hand free.

It doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to get to his apartment and Chan is driving at a moderate speed at that too. Maybe Minho should invest in a scooter too.

He taps Chan’s shoulders for left and right and each time Chan gives him a nod.

‘Here,’ he tells Chan, patting both of his shoulders as they pull up to the apartment building. Chan carefully pulls up the driveway and towards the main entrance and comes to a stop.

Minho does his best not to wobble as he gets off. It’s a short ride, so his legs don’t ache thankfully. He unclips the helmet and hands it to Chan who then hands him the carrier and points at him and mimes sleeping, hands clasped together under his cheek, even closing his eyes.

‘Yes, I’ll rest,’ Minho grins, ‘Thank you again Chan-shii.’

Chan mimes at him to go, mouthing go in, hurry hurry as well.

‘See you in class! I’ll be 100% healthy by Thursday, you’ll see!’ Minho says, stepping towards the doorway.

Good, Chan mouths before he signs bye friend.

Minho grins, signing back the same and waving.

When he gets back home, with his remaining energy Minho immediately heads straight to the shower. He knows that if he sits down he was not going to be getting back up.

Minho doesn’t have to whine at Jisung to sing a little because his best-friend immediately shoos him to his room to rest, asks if he’s had meds and manages to get him to eat some terribly cubed watermelon as Minho didn’t think he could stomach the soup dumpling before humming softly under his breath, songs specific to his clan, specific to the music from the ancient oak that heralded generations of his family.

Without realizing it, he reaches for and fiddles with his bracelet, thumbing at the smooth sea-glass, letting the magick of the moment lull him to a peaceful and healing sleep.

Minho wakes up feeling much better. Jisung cheers when he steps out of his room, instantly telling Minho he needs to pay him for singing to him.

Minho’s about to reach the clinic when his phone buzzes with a message.

It’s from Chan.

Minho realizes this is the first time they’ve contacted each other.

Bang Chan:

Hope you’re feeling better today!

Make sure you’re hydrated!

Lee Minho:

I am!

Told you id be in full health

He sends a smug-faced sticker.

Chan immediately replies with a cheering sticker and Minho has to tap down his smile before clocking into work.

And he’s indeed completely healthy by Thursday, walking up to where Chan was already sitting where Minho usually sat. Last night he learnt how to sign strong as a horse specifically for this moment.

Hearing Chan hiccup his laughter is completely worth the complicated struggle for this specific phrase and Minho feels very pleased with himself.

The lecturer enters as Minho makes himself comfortable but then Chan slides over the small spiral notebook he used exclusively, it would seem, to just chat to him.

Can you give me your bracelet for a moment?

Minho doesn’t question it but he is a little confused so he takes the bracelet off and hands it to Chan.

Class starts and Minho is somewhat in the dark about what Chan was going to do but it’s only for a while because the Selkie takes out a small scissor, a smooth braided leather cord with a fastener.

Chan was making him an adjustable extension for the bracelet so that he could wear it properly as a necklace. He fidgets and braids and reties the whole bracelet throughout class, not heeding any of the lessons in particular so Minho takes it upon himself to make sure he could recount what was being taught. Thankfully the student in front of them mostly blocks what Chan was doing so the lecturer doesn’t notice Chan’s lack of attention.

15 minutes before the class ends Chan hands him the bracelet turned necklace with a pleased smile. Minho could still wear it as a bracelet if he wanted, he’d have an additional loop around his wrist, but he could also wear it at a comfortable length around his neck while he worked.

Minho does his best to be discreet as he wears the necklace before turning slightly to Chan, giving him a small smile and raising his eyebrow.

Okay? He signs.

Chan seems at a loss for words for a moment before he flushes a little with colour and nods.

Okay he signs back, looking back down at the table before him and cleaning up the small bits of scraps from his adjustments and cuttings, looking a little bashful.

When he tells Jisung what happened his best-friend gives him a comically sly smile.

‘You know, you two make very good husbands,’ he points out.

Minho snorts, ‘That would mean that the standard of a good married relationship is to see each other twice a week for an hour and a half.’

‘If it works, it works!’ Jisung grins.

And then as though hearing his words, the universe seems to think Minho should spend more time with Chan because they’re set for two appointments in the same week. Together.

I think this is supposed to be an interview Chan says worriedly as they head out of class, dressed a little smarter and neater than usual (no boardshorts in sight) because they were headed for the Court after class. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to bring any other documents – I heard that during this time they ask for your official documents and things.

‘Shit,’ Minho curses, ‘I wonder if having a digital copy would suffice – most of my original copies of stuff is actually still with my parents.’

Mine too, I hope they don’t ask for original copies Chan says worriedly.

Oh that would be terrible for Chan. Sending anything from overseas was extremely expensive especially if it was urgent delivery.

And then Minho is suddenly reminded of what his mother has asked him about the divorce.

‘By the way,’ Minho says hesitantly, ‘Uh, what’s the cost of all of this?’

Chan looks at him with some confusion, tilting his head a little as though asking him what he meant.

‘The divorce,’ Minho clarifies.

Oh, Chan mouths.

He looks a little taken aback and then he flushes a bit with colour before he starts typing.

Usually the fees are different depending on the category of your divorce, especially when it comes to Selkies, so right now I’m not sure about it myself

Well, that made sense-

Don’t worry about the cost!

Minho stares at Chan’s words and then back at him.

‘Chan-shii.’

Chan gives him a hesitant smile.

‘I hope you’re not trying to imply or say that you’ll cover the fees.’

Chan starts typing and before Minho can read he continues.

‘We are both getting a divorce, we both pay the costs equally!’ Minho says quickly, ‘And like you said to me many times before, this was neither of our fault, it happened like some weird freak accident, not a result of our direct actions. Meaning neither of us bears the direct responsibility, therefore the financial cost for it either!’

Minho is very pleased that he sounded quite smart because Chan looks like he’s struggling for a counter argument.

‘My friend is a soon-to-be-lawyer, and I will use his brain to prove my point Chan-shii,’ Minho tells him firmly.

We can discuss it more when the time comes? Chan offers instead.

‘Well yes, because it will be split evenly,’ Minho says clearly and slowly, giving Chan his mock-threatening look.

Okay okay no need to be scary!! Chan types out with a short laugh before he takes a step to the side and holds his arms up and does a 360 and gestures to his outfit and gives him a questioning look.

‘Yes, you look very ready to get divorced,’ Minho tells him before he does the same and looks at Chan for a response.

Chan types and holds up his screen to him.

Very divorce worthy.

‘…is that a compliment or a diss.’

Chan’s eyebrows nearly go up into his hairline as he realizes what his comment could very easily translated into.

NO NO NONON NO oN he hastily types very un-divorce!

Minho cackles, reaching over and whacking Chan on the back.

They don’t need any of their documents or anything they were overthinking and stressing about. Instead, as it would turn out, the process for divorce required them both, who were technically complete strangers, to sit through something similar to couples counselling.

It’s about 10 minutes into the interview (that they wait half an hour for before they’re called in, during which they play some more hangman in which Minho cheats and puts in a complicated chemical compound name that has Chan wiping at his face in stress) that they both come to this realization at the same time.

Minho doesn’t know what to say or ask at this point, because he wants to point out that he and Chan, up to the literal day of their accidental marriage, had been complete strangers, and questions like how do you handle disagreements when you’re in public and what are some behavior or characteristic traits that you find disagreeable were not viable to either of them.

‘Chan-shii and I don’t have like, an actual relationship like, a marriage,’ Minho manages to interject in between questions once Chan is done stiffly answering the question what are some things that you’ve learnt about yourself during your relationship that the divorce counsellor asks them. ‘We’ve known each other maybe a month.’

The divorce counsellor doesn’t seem particularly fazed, just with a sort of disdain but also indifference to what he was doing and saying.

‘Mr. Lee, we’re just following protocol,’ he tells him, ‘I have to ask these questions, regardless of the nature or history of your relationship.’

Chan asks a questions, his body language relaxed but he’s clearly not happy with with the situation either.

‘That’s neither here nor there Mr. Bang,’ the divorce counsellor replies before he looks back at his papers and asks Chan, ‘Have there been moments where you’ve felt threatened by your spouse?’

Minho is so taken aback by the question that he loses his ability to do anything but sort of gape at the man. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Chan very firmly sign no, brows deeply furrowed, looking quietly furious. He’s doing a better job at schooling his expressions but Minho, while his responses were still polite and without any expletives and without raising his voice despite the fact that he wants to scream in this mans face, doesn’t bother schooling his features.

They’re both sitting on basic office chairs next to each other, Minho keeping his hands as calmly as he could on the arm-rest, trying not to let his hands ball into fists. Chan’s hand twitches next to his randomly as though about to reach out to him but stopping himself.

When they’re done they step out in equal silence and once they enter the elevator which is thankfully empty they both exhale out at the same time.

‘What the fuck,’ Minho whispers, hands coming over his face in frustration, ‘What the fuck?!’

Chan looks how Minho feels, somewhat traumatized, eyes slightly glazed and staring at nothing in particular.

They step out of the elevator and make a beeline for the vending machine. There’s a selection of chocolates and candies and drink and without thinking much about it Minho immediately gets them both Bounty and they find a bench and slump into it.

‘I didn’t realize it was going to be so…so invasive,’ Minho shudders. ‘The way some of those questions came off were so accusatory!’

Chan nods fervently, chewing through the coconut-chocolate bar with gusto and then stuffing the last bit into his mouth before getting his phone and furiously typing on it.

I was expecting some sort of questioning but I thought considering that we don’t know each other and this was filed under accidental marriage we would be processed differently – I can’t believe we’re going to have to go through this

‘Do you think they make things intentionally uncomfortable to like, deter people from wanting to go through the process?’ Minho asks, ‘Seungmin, my friend who’s studying to be a lawyer, said that sometimes a lot of processes are done in a way where it discourages people from trying to file their issues.’

Chan looks deeply concerned at that, chewing a little slower as he thinks.

If that’s the case, it makes sense that the process takes so long

‘I hope tomorrow’s session is better,’ Minho sighs, ‘I was worried I might be late for tomorrow but it seems we’re always being made to wait for everything here at the Court so maybe I’m okay.’

Late?

‘I’m meeting my advisor tomorrow to submit my final draft,’ Minho explains, ‘If she approves, I just need to change and adjust the format, cite my sources properly, and check for errors.’

You don’t do it online?

‘I have to do both,’ Minho groans, ‘It’s also like, I guess a way of making sure the students are plagiarizing, it’s basically a one-on-one presentation in a way.’

Makes me really glad I didn’t have to do something like that Chan writes with a wince before he sighs, looking around ah, this just really sucks :\

Minho huffs out a breath and nods, ‘Yeah, maybe we should have just stayed married.’

Chan wheezes at that, elbowing him.

‘Uh, by the way is it okay if I ask you about what happened to the people who stole your seal-skin?’ Minho asks.

Chan doesn’t seem to mind, nodding as he types.

They’re serving some time in prison

But they’re going to have a hearing in a couple of months

A few of them are from rich prominent families, so I think things will lean forward for them

‘You’re kidding,’ Minho frowns, ‘I was already thinking that 7 years was too less a punishment.’

Chan gives him a rueful expression, shrugging a little as he types.

I’m just grateful I got my seal-skin back

‘…I mean, I guess you could say it cost you.’ Minho says, gesturing around at the Court.

Chan chuckles and shakes his head and signs friend and points at him, as though to say he got a friend out of all of this.

‘Chan-shii, I can assure you that we could have been friends without needing a divorce.’

Chan wheezes, nearly upsetting his last bit of Bounty in the process.

‘These appointments won’t be an issue for you at your work will it?’ Minho asks, ‘It seems the timing is all wack – at least on days I have class I know I don’t have to worry about adjusting the hours of leave I’ll have to take from work, if not, well.’

He grimaces.

The appointment time they had been given today had been 1:30 to 2:30 and Minho assumed that was the timeframe of their interview, not the estimated time when they could be expected to be seen.

Most of my coaching appointments are later in the afternoon into the evening Chan explains or very early in the morning sometimes so I’m okay. He hesitates a moment before writing maybe we can ask for like, some sort of document to show at your clinic? Like how you have medical forms for missing out on work?

Minho chuckles, shaking his head.

‘Thankfully Dr. Kwon is really nice, she’s the head of the clinic,’ Minho explains, ‘She was very understanding and just told me to make sure I inform Dr. Kim in advance.’

I’m assuming they’ve never had an intern going through divorce? Chan asks with a small wince.

‘I don’t think so,’ Minho wheezes, ‘I’ll offer to work weekends to make sure I cover my hours though.’

I’m sorry about all of this Chan says with a heavy sigh before quickly typing I know it’s not “my fault” but still, I’m just sorry that you’re doing all of this.

‘Well, I’m sorry you’re going through all of this too,’ Minho tells him.

Chan gives him a small smile at that before he types out should we get going?

‘Yeah,’ Minho sighs before looking over himself, ‘I’m not even going to bother trying to look smart tomorrow.’

Chan grins at that and types I’ll come wearing my diving gear.

‘If I said I would give you money, would you actually do that.’

Chan gives him a comical look, eyes narrowing as though considering Minho’s offer before he types: how much are we talking.

‘Like, enough for a fancy cup of coffee. Maybe.’

Tempting, but I’ll pass.

‘Your loss.’

The next day Minho fairly runs out of his adviser’s office, already 10 minutes late, practically sprinting down the length of the university grounds, the relief and elation of getting the green light from his adviser really making him faster than usual. That one solid week of sacrificing his sleep and sanity really paid off.

He’s able to get a taxi almost immediately and Chan messages him to let him know that he was still waiting and to not worry about being late.

Minho manages to cool down a little inside the taxi, a sort of giddy high from the approval from his adviser making him unable to sit all too still. Even the horribly humid gross weather doesn’t wear him down.

Jisung responds to his voice-note message of him just roaring right into the phone in joy with first an all caps reprimand of the sheer volume of his message followed by an equally loud yell of congratulations.

He’s feels as though his steps are rather bouncy as he makes his way into the Court- he’s never been this happy while being inside the Court that was one thing for sure.

Chan does a double-take when he approaches the Selkie. Minho doesn’t bother hiding the fact that he was very pleased, though he does try not to just beam like a madman. And it was probably very obvious because Chan’s already smiling before Minho can say anything.

‘Hi,’ Minho exhales out in a rush, ‘Sorry, talk with my adviser went on further than I thought but it’s all good she approved and now my suffering has come to an end!’

Minho collapses into the uncomfortable plastic seat in a heap.

Chan claps as quietly but as enthusiastically as he can considering their current location.

Congratulations! He types out quickly, Do you just have to finalize and submit it now?

‘Yeah,’ Minho nods, ‘Obviously go over it to make sure there are no errors- might send it to my dad to have him proofread it.’

Chan grins at that and claps for him again and makes cheering motions.

Will you celebrate?

‘Not today,’ Minho says firmly, ‘Just because it’s been approved right now doesn’t mean anything in a sense – it needs to read by the head of faculty and approved and then I’ll celebrate. For today I dunno, maybe I’ll have a whole round of pizza or something.’

Pizza is good celebration.

‘Yes,’ Minho nods, narrowing his eyes at the thought of melty processed cheese before he remembers he’s here for a divorce. ‘Were you here long?’

Chan shakes his head.

Got here maybe 10 minutes ago

I don’t even think the person we’re supposed to see today is here yet

Minho snorts, shaking his head.

‘If it’s the same person as yesterday I might explode.’

Please don’t explode, I don’t legally want to be a widower.

Chan is lucky because it’s not the same person as yesterday, but instead a pleasantly smiling woman named Lee Sunmi who profusely apologizes to them for being late. As it would turn out, she’s their lawyer of sorts, as neither of them had lawyers of their own and were filing the divorce under an accidental clause but were still required to have some legal representation.

She’s very nice, speaking smoothly and calmly. She was definitely giving Minho Undine vibes but once more he’s not too certain which of the Undine races she might be.

She says she needs to talk to them one by one and Chan immediately excuses himself before Minho can try and let him go first.

‘Well, Minho-shii, again, allow me to extend my apologies for this situation,’ Sunmi tells him, ‘All of this must be so odd to you.’

‘It’s been an experience,’ Minho winces, ‘But honestly, it’s uh, I guess it’s okay? Obviously never thought I’d be getting a divorce so young but well.’

He shrugs at the end, making Sunmi chuckle.

‘All right, I just need to gloss over some questions with you, and then let you know the process of how we will approach the next few months,’ Sunmi tells him.

Finally, Minho thinks. Not having an idea of how things would move forward was honestly probably the most unsettling thing in all of this. He and Chan were on equal footing and agreement with all of this for sure, but at least this way they would know how to plan the upcoming months and know what to expect.

‘So this is just something we will be having to go over every time you come in,’ Sunmi explains, ‘This is, again, just protocol, and a way of us knowing all members of this situation are safe.’

Minho can understand that.

‘Has Chan-shii been treating you politely.’

Minho wants to laugh at the wording of the question.

‘Yes. Chan-shii has been really nice, no weird behavior, nothing. Honestly we’ve become friends now.’ Minho explains. ‘It was an uncomfortable start for sure. But we’ve been able to uh, communicate with each other, and understand things better I guess? We just want to do this as clearly and as uh, I guess properly? And have it behind us.’ He tugs a little on his collar to show the bracelet-turned necklace. ‘We exchanged small um, gifts? Sort of as like, a pledge to work through this together.’

Sunmi nods to that, giving him a slightly surprised but pleased smile.

‘That’s great to hear. You’re previously acquainted with Chan-shii? You’re classmates?’

Minho explains that they have Japanese classes together for the summer and Sunmi nods, making quick notes. The questions she asks aren’t too different from what the officer from yesterday had asked him but they’re much more palatable and normal coming from Sunmi – she also gives him the reasons behind each question and doesn’t take his answers with disdain or a condescending expression.

She also gives him a tentative schedule of the next dates he’ll have to come into the Court- to his alarm there’s interviews with Court police, a few more interviews of this nature which as Minho understood, was a way of keeping tabs on both him and Chan to make sure no one would run way and also for safety and security for both of them just in case. Minho has to remind himself that these rules and protocols were set in place due to all sorts of people taking advantage of the Selkie culture and their magick. While they might seem extreme for him and for Chan and their specific situation, he can see why they were in place at all.

However, based on what he’s seeing in the tentative schedule of interviews, there is a lot in just this month. There’s another one tomorrow in fact, but it’s only for Chan it would seem. And thankfully, at least for this month, the scheduled time does not clash with his classes. The appointment tomorrow would be early in the morning too, meaning Minho can at least do half a day at work.

Minho inquires if he can get something like an official paper regarding these upcoming dates so that he can show work. He had already emailed Dr. Kwon to let her know that in order to make up for his hours he would work during the weekends too and he was just waiting for a confirmation from her about it.

Sunmi nods in understanding and tells him she’ll have it for him once they were done for the day.

Minho then leaves and Chan goes in for his interview with the lawyer (?) and Minho sends both Jisung and his parents updates. He also messages Seungmin because he would probably be able to understand more of this than Minho despite not directly being involved. He’s not too surprised that Chan’s interview lasts a bit longer.

He’s messaging his parents and lets them know he’ll call in the evening to give them more details when Chan opens the door and thumbs behind him.

Minho gets up and re-enters the office.

‘All right, you’ll be meeting with me once a week at least for this month,’ Sunmi tells them, ‘And after discussing with both of you I believe Thursday afternoons would work for the both of you?’

It definitely would – it was already on a day Minho didn’t have to go to the clinic, and they could then probably head to class after meeting with Sunmi.

‘Great – I can at least fix this so that it best suits the two of you, however the police interviews as well as other Court appointments is out of my hands,’ she tells them apologetically.

Honestly as long as they never have to meet that man from yesterday, Minho is more than fine.

Sunmi prints out a very official looking summary of the scheduled appointments they would have to attend and hands them both two copies each.

I was so ready to be mentally drained again today Chan tells him as they wait for the elevator, both of their moods a complete 180 from yesterday. I’m happy this appointment didn’t put a damper in your good news!

Minho smiles at him, ‘Yeah, me too. Sunmi-shii seems really nice, I guess we lucked out?’

Chan sighs in relief and nods.

They part ways at the elevator, Chan heading down for the parking floor and Minho out into the main lobby. Today was a really good day as he gets a taxi in the process of it dropping off some people.

They make it out into the road and slow to a pause at a junction at a red light. A car pulls up next to the taxi and Minho doesn’t think much about it but he has a sudden feeling that someone was intently looking at him so he turns and-

Chan is in the car next to the taxi.

They both blink at each other for a moment before breaking out into amused grins.

Work? Chan mouths at him.

Minho nods.

It’s hilarious because they’re literally neighbouring each other the entire time on the road. Chan keeps glancing over, expression bemused. Minho is pushing down the urge to laugh. When they’re literally side by side on a red light Chan has both hands on the wheel, lips pressed down hard, doing his best to look forward the whole time while Minho fights for his life trying not to laugh and make the taxi driver think he lost his mind.

Of course they would be headed back the same direction. It’s only when they reach the university that Chan turns away, giving him a small quick look before doing so and Minho heads for the clinic, smiling down at his hands, shaking his head a little.

Dr. Kwon was thankfully in and not attending a patient and Minho is able to talk to her, giving her the paper from Sunmi. She agrees in letting Minho work the weekends but telling him that it would only be to cover the hours he wasn’t clocked in for during the weekdays so there was no need to overdo it by coming everyday.

‘Besides, there are strict laws about interns and I don’t want be flagged for intern abuse,’ she chuckles.

Minho thanks her profusely and heads to the staff room to change and clock in his hours.

Now that his thesis was practically complete and approved by his adviser, the divorce process somewhat cleared up, and his talk with Dr. Kwon a success, Minho feels like he could float from relief.

And what’s more, the weather finally stops mucking around and all of the weeks of gross humid muggy weather literally breaks overhead out of nowhere in the middle of class.

What starts as a nice and pleasant rain that had everyone looking out from the classroom as welcome change from the grossness of the day switches up in less than 10 minutes as it grows dark rather dramatically, the rain falling even harder.

Minho and Chan share a look of alarm at the resounding thunder that booms overhead.

The whole class flinches actually, the glare of lightning that soon follows making a few people exclaim. Their lecturer looks out at the windows with concern but doesn’t stop the class.

Just minutes later rain starts to literally pour and Minho is grateful that he carried his umbrella though considering how the weather was progressing, Minho wonders if the umbrella (a cheap UV umbrella not designed for strong summer storm winds) will do much to shield him from the storm.

He glances at Chan who looked worried, gnawing at the inner lining of his cheek as he glances out of the windows.

Did you bring an umbrella? Minho asks, slipping the spiral notepad over to the Selkie.

No >_< but it’s not that far for me so it’s okay

Besides it’s not like I’m not gonna get soaked either way

Minho snorts faintly.

The rain does not let up and as class ends people are already groaning quietly, a few people checking the app for traffic conditions and every line on the map is red. Minho knows the traffic was going to be brutal. It’s not like he lived far, but wow was he not looking forward to it. Maybe he could just hang back at a café somewhere? The rain would let up surely.

They head downstairs and out here, not inside a contained classroom the storm sounds worse.

Everyone is sort of frozen in place inside the hallways, looking out uncertainly.

You’re not going to walk out in this rain are you? Chan asks him worriedly.

‘I mean, you were too,’ Minho tells him.

Mine’s not that far, compared to yours Chan says looking thoughtful.

‘I thought I’d go sit in a café till it lets up a bit,’ Minho tells him, both of them flinching a little at the clap of thunder.

They both watch as someone tries to brave the rain, opening the door out of the building.

The sound is worse and the door actually slams back shut from the force of the wind as though telling the person to stay indoors.

Everyone looks around at each other rather sheepishly, shaking their heads at the weather. A few have umbrellas like Minho but this was the kind of rain where an umbrella was not going to save you.

Do you want to wait the weather out at the gym instead? Chan asks.

Now that Minho thinks about it, they could actually cut through a few buildings, under covered courtyards and awning covered pathways and actually get to the training facilities without much issue.

We also have a coffee machine Chan adds, eyebrows wriggling.

‘Say less,’ Minho says solemnly and Chan grins before pointing to the other side where the second entrance was.

Sharing his umbrella they brave the short but chaotic walk to the neighbouring building that had wide awnings all around the side of it. Then they take turns leading in a single file under narrow shielded building ledges as they pass by different faculty buildings, some of them locked up, a few open for them to catch their breaths and for Minho to shake off excess water from his umbrella before heading back out into the rain.

The bottom of his pants get soaked and his shoes are unpleasantly damp even though they’ve managed to stay out of the direct rain for most of the part. At one point it turns alarmingly dark and he and Chan exchange looks of incredulity before scurrying quickly through the awning covered pathway that wound through the larger section of the park. They have to make a quick short run under the umbrella to get to the main training facility building and pause at the entryway.

Chan shakes off water from his arms as Minho aggressively shakes off water from his umbrella and shakes his head as well, having been splashed a bit due to the wind.

Chan is grinning, exhaling in relief and pushing his slightly damp hair back as he peers out to look at the low dark clouds. Minho absently notes that Chan had a really nice nose. He quickly looks away and instead looks up at the entryway banner.

‘Is this facility new because that thing hasn’t aged one bit,’ he points out to the wide placard, ‘My building is so old people say it’s haunted.’

Chan gives him an incredulous look at that before he gingerly takes out his phone that has a few streaks of water over the screen and starts typing.

Is it haunted?

‘I’ve never experienced anything creepy or scary in there,’ Minho shrugs, adjusting his clothes a bit, ‘Well, that’s a lie – Professor Song is a nightmare.’

Chan wheezes, reaching out to shove him lightly before gesturing to the doors.

They walk inside into a comically large and rather echoing chamber that’s rather bereft of any décor. But the moment they turn the corner Minho is met with large potted plants, a sort of distinct smell of water, and most of the pathways covered in non-slip tiles. There are escalators and lifts to one side, and what appeared to be a legitimate gymnasium to one side where Minho can see a few people and on the left a sort of reception area where a young woman was sitting, already beaming at the sight of Chan.

‘Hi!’ the young woman says brightly as she stands up, waving both hands above her head like they wouldn’t see her when she most definitely stood taller than both of them. Minho immediately can tell she’s Undine, but he can’t figure out which of the Undine race. Her hair is loose and extremely long and seemed to somehow move as though underwater, not quite following the laws of gravity. She’s wearing a sports hoodie over those athletic swimwear Minho has seen lifeguards wear and practical water swim-shoes in violently neon red.

‘Oppa, I don’t think we’re gonna be getting most the appointments today,’ she says with a put out expression before gesturing to Minho, ‘Unless you brought a new student with you!’

‘Oh, no no,’ Minho chuckles as Chan also grins, signing to the young woman. Minho can tell he’s being introduced and there’s that look of realization in the young woman’s eyes that make Minho know that she knew exactly who he was. Minho quickly tries to see Chan spelling his name out to make sure he was doing it right himself but Chan’s hands move too fast for him to catch up with.

‘I’m Yuna!’ she says brightly and bowing her head, ‘It’s so nice to finally meet you! I didn’t think I’d ever meet you!’

Chan gives him a slightly sheepish expression.

‘It’s nice to meet you too, let’s say today is take your husband to work day,’ Minho grins.

Yuna laughs brightly at that, slapping the surface of the reception desk with glee as Chan laughs as well, looking embarrassed but mostly amused.

He signs to Yuna who’s eyes widen as she nods.

‘Ooh! Yeah, I can arrange a tour,’ she says enthusiastically, ‘Please let Coach Minhyuk know I did extra work so that it gets added to my report?’

Chan rolls his eyes but he nods good-naturedly.

‘All right, I need to sign you in first,’ Yuna declares, ‘Can I have your university ID or any other ID you might have on you?’

Minho supplies her with his university ID as Chan goes around the reception to one of the other computers, clearly signing in for his work hours for the day. He’s asked for his shoe size and promptly handed a pair of crocs to wear instead of his shoes, probably to prevent accidents and also to not track in dirt into the pools.

‘Okay! Please follow me!’ Yuna says brightly, gesturing with both hands to one side.

Minho looks over at Chan who smiles and thumbs behind him and gestures changing out of his clothes.

‘Minho-shii I heard you work as a vet-technician! That’s so cool!’ Yuna says as he makes his way to her and follows her.

‘Oh, thank you, yes,’ Minho nods, ‘I’m just in an intern position right now, hoping that I’ll be accepted as a long term employee though.’

‘Chan-oppa says you were very professional and cool when you rescued that waardar!’ Yuna exclaims, ‘I’m sure you’ll be accepted!’

‘Ah, Chan-shii was being too generous,’ Minho says sheepishly, ‘Without him I wouldn’t have been able to get the waardar.’

‘Good teamwork then,’ Yuna acquiesces before gesturing to the side, ‘All right, first our swimming pools!’

The photos don’t really do them any justice in Minho’s personal opinion. They’re way bigger than what Minho was expecting. He’s also not hit with the smell of chlorine like he was expecting.

Yuna explains that they use salt water, something to mimic sea-water and also to avoid any potential allergic reactions to the more traditional chlorine used in other swimming pools. They do a full lap around the large pool and Yuna tells him about how every year they have swimming competitions with other universities.

‘I placed first,’ Yuna tells him excitedly, ‘Last year, in the Rusalka race!’

Yuna was Rusalka, that made so much sense.

‘Congratulations,’ Minho tells her sincerely.

‘Chan-oppa won first place 3 years in a row!’ Yuna adds, ‘Did he tell you?’

‘No,’ Minho blinks, ‘Oh wow, that’s really cool.’

‘Yes! In two different events!’ Yuna exclaims, ‘The competition was insane, it was the full Undine track!’

Minho was aware of the Undine, specifically the Mer, being very proactive in water-based sports and were often in sports teams, both mixed and in Undine specific competitions. He doesn’t think he’s heard specifically of a Selkie athlete or he was just shamefully very unaware.

‘It’s also why there’s a lot of jealousy and hostility,’ Yuna adds with a grimace, ‘Which is stupid.’

Was this why Chan was targeted? Not only the usual Undine hierarchy but mixed with jealousy as well?

‘But oppa has graduated so he won’t be participating in competitions anymore, I know Coach Hyunwoo was disappointed he didn’t go into competitive sports, but I think that was never oppa’s intentions,’ Yuna says thoughtfully, ‘Besides! We get to have him here and that’s great!’

Minho chuckles at that.

‘Have you ever come swimming here?’ Yuna asks him as they make it back to the front, the rain falling even harder, Minho can barely make out the cityscape from the large windows of the gymnasium.

‘This is my first time here,’ Minho tells her, ‘I’m uh, not a swimmer. I actually don’t know how to.’

‘Oh!’ Yuna’s eyes turn large and round, shocked to hear that someone couldn’t swim. ‘You can sign up for adult-swimming classes?’

Minho laughs at that, shaking his head, ‘Ah, I’m afraid I don’t have the time for that.’

Suddenly Yuna bursts out laughing and she covers her whole face when Minho gives her a slightly worried questioning look.

‘Ah, no, I’m not laughing because you can’t swim!’ she explains a little desperately, ‘It’s just- I find it so funny that you’re “married” to Chan-oppa, and you can’t swim!’

Minho laughs at that too. That was actually hilarious in all honesty.

‘Well, being married to a Selkie won’t automatically make me a swimmer,’ Minho chuckles.

‘My girlfriend isn’t the fondest of water either,’ Yuna tells him, ‘The most she does is splash her feet – she says there’s too much hassle with changing and washing up after getting into the water.’

‘She has a point too,’ Minho says somberly.

Yuna is showing him the second zone, obviously her favourite as she was Rusalka and this area was built and designed for her people and others of the freshwater Undine community when Chan shows up.

He’s wearing those water-based athletic gear, similar to the one Yuna was wearing under her sports jacket and shorts. Chan usually wore rather baggy shapeless clothes so Minho has to do his best not to stare at the Selkie’s very athletic built. Minho could tell from that time he carried him that he was strong, he knew his shoulders were broad, and logically he was definitely very fit. But right now Minho doesn’t know where exactly to look – broad shoulders and toned chest a little too well defined under the fitted swimwear, strong arms that were usually hidden under loose long sleeves; at least he’s wearing boardshorts over the swimming leggings. Minho instead focuses on the squeaky water-shoes he’s wearing and grins at them.

Yuna giggles as well and Chan gives them both a comical reprimanding look before he signs at Yuna carefully with one hand.

‘Oh! Okay, thank you oppa!’ she says before turning to him, ‘I have to cut my side of the tour for now, but it was really nice meeting you Minho-shii!’

‘It was nice meeting you too,’ Minho tells her sincerely.

Sorry took a bit long, had to talk to head coach Chan tells him after he hands him the paper cup of coffee. It’s just regular coffee I’m afraid.

‘It’s okay- and this smells really nice,’ Minho thumbs behind him as he takes a sip of the coffee, ‘This is really cool. Now I’m tempted to bring a kappa and see what happens.’

Chan wheezes at that, shaking his head and pretending to shoo him out.

I’ll finish the tour instead of Yuna Chan tells him.

‘I prefer Yuna.’

Most people do Chan says with so much sincere despondency Minho hastily apologizes.

‘Oh wow,’ Minho breathes out as they enter the largest space in the gymnasium which was saying quite a lot considering how large the other two spaces were. But this one really took it far, literally and figuratively.

‘Woah,’ he says again, really unable to help himself as he looks around, ‘This is really so cool.’

Chan grins, looking quite pleased.

You wanna swim? He asks, looking quite excited by the prospect.

‘I can’t swim,’ Minho says sheepishly.

Chan reacts almost exactly like Yuna, eyes widening as though this was the first time he’s met someone who couldn’t swim.

Oh he mouths before there’s a sudden twinkle of glee in his eyes and he quickly types out: the rule is that once you’re in here you HAVE to swim.

‘Is this revenge for that time I said you have a centipede on your shoulder?’ Minho deadpans at once.

Chan gives him an amused shrug, one eyebrow going up as though to say am I?

‘Fair enough I guess.’ Minho huffs, ‘Okay, please tell me all of the cool details of this place, I am expecting information I would have heard from Yuna-shii.’

Who do you think taught her? Chan says, pretending to be huffy but he takes Minho around the place, pointing out to different locations and spots, the shallow basins where younglings were taught how to shift safely. Just because they were born with the innate ability to swim didn’t mean there weren’t risks and dangers involved obviously. There were shallow regions and Minho can see the dark gritty sand at the bottom.

His whole back turns icy cold as Chan shows him the deepest section of the lake, explaining that they even had a network of underwater tunnels – they weren’t complex or anything but made for good training for young Undine children. Minho sort of only skirts the vicinity of the area, his expression probably a little spooked because Chan gives him a questioning look when Minho hesitates to walk over the bridge that extended over an area.

‘It’s not that I only don’t know how to swim,’ Minho tells him, ‘I’m not great with water- I think I’m mostly uh, have a fear of depths – depth and height – with the swimming pool I could see the bottom, and it doesn’t freak me out as much, and the freshwater area I knew wasn’t deep. But uh, this is kinda creepy.’

Chan nods in understanding.

‘But in general, just from like an engineering perspective, this is really cool.’ Minho adds, giving Chan two thumb’s up as he comes down from the bridge.

It’s okay Chan signs to him before he quickly types it out.

‘I uh, understood that,’ Minho tells him, ‘I can pick out some words here and there – basic things like that.’

Oh, Chan mouths again before smiling and signing something that Minho is 72% sure meant that’s cool.

So he signs back thank you.

Chan smiles even wider.

‘Uh, I’ve been learning some phrases and like, words here and there,’ Minho tells him sheepishly as they turn back around, ‘Thought that, especially when we’re at the Court, it takes time to properly communicate things when we’re talking to Yubin-shii, and now definitely with Sunmi-shii – and I don’t want you to have to like, constantly do extra work to make sure I’m in the loop and stuff.’

It’s not a problem for me Chan tells him, predictively.

‘Well, either way, I thought it was a good thing to like, pick up on some stuff,’ Minho tells him, ‘Useful too – that way I’ll know if you’re dissing me.’

Chan wheezes at that before gesturing to one of the benches at the side.

‘It’s also embarrassing that both Jeongin and Jisung can Speak, pretty sure Seungmin can too, I can’t be the only one who can’t,’ Minho grumbles.

Where are you learning Speak from?

‘Mostly online – I ask Jisungie for input sometimes, but I feel like what he knows comes exclusively from like, niche internet content so I don’t know if it’s like, regional-specific slang to some of the Speak.’ Minho tells Chan.

Chan throws his head back, small hiccupping sounds as he laughs heartily before he types hastily.

That explains the way he Speaks – even I don’t know which dialect he uses, I understand it, but it’s unique!

Minho grins at that.

I can teach you Chan types out a little hesitantly, maybe words and terms you might hear more from the Court to help you understand things.

‘That would be great,’ Minho nods immediately, ‘More helpful than learning shopping phrases in Speak.’

Oh? What can you buy in Speak? Chan asks, looking amused.

Minho gives him a look before he puts his half-empty cup to the side and sits up a bit straight and carefully signs I would like a kilo of grapes and 5 apples please.

Chan wheezes, rocking back and forth.

‘I don’t know when grapes and apples will come up in Court,’ Minho chuckles, ‘And I know basics are important, but uh, yeah, shopping it is for now.’

Grape is a tough word to sign! You did well!

‘I did?’ Minho asks, feeling quite accomplished, ‘Maybe those online classes are good.’

What would you like to know?

Minho stops to think – now that he’s faced with the question he’s not sure exactly where to start. But one thing he’s been curious about, so maybe he’ll start there.

‘How would you sign my name?’ Minho asks curiously. ‘Because I thought I’d be spelling it out but I saw some of the online instructors not spelling it out?’

Chan looks a little embarrassed but also thoughtful for a while before he writes, usually we have nicknames or two words merged together, kinda like a nickname that’s associated with the person we’re talking about

‘Oh, so it’s not just spelled out?’ Minho asks.

Chan shakes his head slowly, not always – when Yubin-shii refers to you, she basically just addresses you as this man as reference

‘Ah, that’s all I am,’ Minho sighs comically and Chan chortles at that, bumping his knee against his.

It’s actually the formal and polite way of doing it he explains and we actually do end up having multiple ways of signing our names – it varies between friends, family, workplace.

‘Oh,’ Minho never knew that- in fact he wonders how many people knew that.

For example, Yuna grew up knowing Selkies, so she knows her own unique Speak for her name, and I use that for her Chan explains and then signs Yuna’s name for him. And then there’s Hyunjin – his aunt is Selkie actually, and she has his name in Speak for him and that’s how he introduces himself in Speak to other Selkies. But prior to meeting me, Changbin wasn’t familiar or close with other Selkie, so I gave him his name in Speak basically.  

‘What are Hyunjin-shii and Changbin-shii’s names in Speak? Can you show me?’ Minho asks. Chan nods at once and types away again.

Pretty dumpling = Hyunjin

Bicep chop = Changbin

Minho can’t help but laugh, somehow seeing the connection of the meanings.

Chan signs and points at pretty and then signs again for dumpling, then he signs them combined and Minho can see where Chan sort of splices them together to create a new word.

‘Should mine be tired vet-tech,’ Minho chuckles but Chan shakes his head, typing quickly.

Something nice, that will suit you.

‘Tired vet-tech suits me and is accurate, especially for the upcoming years,’ Minho laughs.

NO

Minho wheezes.

Or just this Chan grins at him and signs a word.

Minho squints at the sign, it seemed very familiar, could it be-?

‘It’s short,’ he remarks slowly, ‘What is it?’

Chan looks a bit embarrassed but he’s grinning and types a word.

Husband.

Minho laughs, ‘I mean, you’re not wrong - it'll be awkward later though.’

I’ll have to think about it Chan tells him something nice and fitting.

Minho smiles at that, knees bouncing a little.

‘Will you teach me yours?’

Chan looks very pleased at the request and nods.

‘What does it mean, or like, is there a combination to yours?’ Minho asks. ‘Is it “3 times first place swim champion”?’

Chan laughs, leaning away, face turning red from embarrassment and laughter. He manages to sit up right again and looking even more embarrassed and scratching at the side of his neck he starts typing.

Water pup

‘You’re kidding,’ Minho wheezes, ‘That’s so cute!’

Stuck since I was a kid. I used to hate being on land, had to be dragged out of the water – and seal babies are called pups

‘Did you throw tantrums because you didn’t want to leave the water?’ Minho grins.

Chan sighs heavily and nods.

‘Heh, it’s cute,’ Minho tells him but Chan waves a hand, clearly trying to push past the topic, ‘Can you teach me?’

Chan nods, raising his hands but then he pauses a moment, as though thinking before he signs his name, and then adds something else to it.

Minho tilts his head questioningly.

Chan he types out and signs it, then adds the other sign: hyung.

‘Oh,’ Minho finds himself saying, his hands already halfway through learning the motions.

I mean, we’re married, so I think we can drop the formalities? Chan says with a slightly embarrassed but genuine smile and then signs friends, right?

Minho has to stop himself from reaching out and poking Chan right at his dimple.

Yes, friends he signs instead with a smile, ‘Can you show me your name again?’

Chan nods and slows down the motion of his hands, allowing Minho to carefully follow.

‘Chan-hyung,’ Minho says as he signs it again.

Chan looks away for a moment, looking a bit shy for a moment, cheeks turning a little pink before giving him a thumb’s up.

‘Thank you, Chan-hyung,’ Minho says as he signs it together.

Chan claps for him, looking pleased.

Fast learner he types out.

‘Good teacher,’ Minho tells him and he means it.

Chan looks bashful, face flushing with colour before he claps his hands together and types out quickly: first lesson and then points up at the sky and wiggles his fingers in a downward motion and writes rain and then signs it for Minho to follow.

Rain Minho signs slowly and carefully.

Chan grins and gestures for him to do it again.

They loop through 5 words: rain, thunder, lightning, clouds, and shelter.

Minho is having difficulty with shelter in specific but after a few tries Minho thinks he’s improved. He carefully mimics the motion and looks at Chan for approval. Chan reaches forward, carefully angling his hand and putting slight pressure for him to turn his wrist a bit more.

Not a good time to blush.

Again Chan signs.

Minho signs it again and Chan gives him a thumb’s up again.

‘Thank you Coach Chan.’

He puts on a mock serious face, crossing his arms over his chest and nodding firmly at Minho.

Again!

Minho grins and starts from the top of the list again.

Chapter Text

It hits Minho on a random Saturday afternoon as he sorts out his and Jisung’s random collection of kitchenware and items that his best-friend was no longer the wide-eyed home-schooled teenager that latched onto him and squirreled his way into his heart, securing himself as his best-friend but was now a confident, sweet, and deeply wise almost graduated young man about to start living with his boyfriend of 2 years.

‘-I don’t even remember the last time I reached for a peeler so I think this is definitely more in your ballpark hyung,’ Jisung is saying, staring at not one but three vegetable peelers they had. ‘I mean, I feel like I’d only use a peeler for potatoes but you get frozen potatoes that are already peeled and cut.’

Minho has no idea why but he’s suddenly emotional. Jisung looks over at him when he doesn’t respond and he frowns a little. He also doesn’t know why or how they have three peelers.

‘Hyung?’ Jisung tilts his head a bit in concern.

‘Take one just in case – you never know.’ Minho tells him. ‘Impress Jeongin with your peeling abilities.’

Jisung looks at the peeler seriously and shrugs and adds it to his pile.

‘I can’t believe we had all this space but it was mostly occupied by junk,’ Jisung says as he looks at the trash pile which mostly consisted of take-away containers and utensils. ‘I know we’ve collected so much and we’ve never really used them but now I’m like, maybe I do need some?’

Minho snorts, ‘I highly doubt you’ll run out of new containers once you move out, when was the last time you cooked and didn’t order in?’

Jisung doesn’t even pause to think as he says, ‘Why would I cook when we both know I shouldn’t?’

‘Exactly, you can start your own collection of takeaway containers in your new apartment afresh,’ Minho tells him, pushing away another full bag of random junk and rubbish before Soonie could get his teeth into them.

‘I still can’t believe you have Court dates on a weekend,’ Jisung huffs out, ‘And you’re also doing extra hours at the clinic.’

‘They’re not extra, I’m making up for the normal ones I have to miss because of the Court dates,’ Minho corrects him with a sigh. He was supposed to go tomorrow to the Court, requested by Sunmi for both him and Chan to come to her office to discuss and confirm more future dates and a timetable for their appointments to prepare all of their documents, statements, and details before the processing segment of their case would officially start.

If Minho remembers correctly, if they got over this specific segment, they wouldn’t have to go to the Court as much and Minho will finally be able to focus on his internship and work the correct hours once more.

‘Well, it’s also blocking your free time to learn Speak and wow your husband,’ Jisung grins, ‘What else have you learnt today?’

Fuck you Minho signs at once, making Jisung laugh brightly before signing back the same and more.

‘Greet Chan-shii like that tomorrow, make the divorce a real messy one,’ Jisung wheezes.

Minho does no such thing.

Instead he practices a little bit of Speak and the words Chan taught him earlier in the week with determination inside the taxi as he makes his way to the Court.

Chan is there before him, typing on his phone with a serious expression on his face. The moment he sees Minho though he smiles brightly, waving at him.

Hi Chan-hyung Minho signs instead – a nice proper greeting instead of curse words.

Hi M-I-N-H-O,’ Chan signs back with a grin. How’re you?

Minho takes a seat next to him and carefully signs back I’m good, the weather is nice today. What about you. And then tacks on hyung a beat too late.

Chan chuckles but gives him two thumb’s-up of approval.

I’m good. Fast learner.

Minho thinks hard, hoping he remembers this correctly before signing good teacher very.

Very good teacher Chan corrects him gently.

‘It’s always the grammar,’ Minho sighs before doing it again.

You’re genuinely doing a very good job Chan types out, looking sincere, you’re picking up really fast, I’m impressed!

Thank you Minho signs and then with a grin adds Coach Chan.

Chan laughs.

Of all the things you could learn! He types out but he looks delighted, what else did you learn.

‘Behold,’ Minho says solemnly. I am an internship vet. I love pudding. I love cats. I love horror movies. I hate divorces.

Chan was nodding along to everything, giving him tiny claps with each near-perfect sentences and the last one makes him squeak out small sounds as he laughs heartily.

‘Oh, and this one too,’ Minho grins. My thesis is death me straight to a fast grave.

Chan physically turns away from him, attempting to control his laughter, shaking his head. It’s just a joke at this point- Minho had already sent his thesis for printing and binding and it was sitting very safely inside his nightstand drawer away from any harm, ready to be hand delivered to his advisor.

‘Admittedly I got help from Jisung for that so I don’t know if it even makes sense,’ Minho chuckles, leaning back on his chair smugly.

Chan is nearly shaking as he types.

Those were very good. Very glad you’re learning all the important things.

‘I know my priorities very well,’ Minho tells him loftily before asking, ‘Okay but did those make sense at all.’

They did Chan reassures him some grammar mistakes, but definitely understandable

‘As long as I make sense for the situation?’ Minho laughs.

Chan nods emphatically.

‘How was your weekend- well, Saturday hyung?’

Chan is telling him about how he went to help Felix find gifts to take back home and how they ran away from modeling agency head-hunters who were trying to convince Felix to audition for a modeling position in their company when Sunmi calls for them.

She gives them both, mostly Minho, a sort of approving smile, as though happy to see them talking and laughing and getting along. Minho supposes it must be a nice switch from having to consult and talk to two people who at best were civil with each other or worse just downright cruel.

Thankfully they don’t see other people who were processing their divorces, at least not yet, so both Minho and Chan are spared the truly uncomfortable sight.

First starting by apologizing to them for bringing them out on a weekend day, Sunmi hands them both a tentative schedule for the remainder of the month and Minho can’t help the way his eyes nearly pop out of his head. The next two weeks were going to be packed. But true to Sunmi’s word, she does her best to cram all of the dates on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as during the early morning hours so that at least both Chan and Minho would be able to head back to work after lunch hour at the latest. There’s literally an appointment for tomorrow as well.

‘I know,’ Sunmi tells them with a sympathetic smile, ‘This is the best we can do considering how packed the system is.’

It’s okay Chan tells Sunmi before adding some more things Minho can’t quite catch up with though he sees the words grateful and work around thrown in there and Minho guesses he’s saying they don’t mind finding a way to work around the dates. And well, Chan is right – because if they rescheduled these dates, who knew how long they would be delayed even more – they could be looking at a year long process and Minho really doesn’t need that.

‘Sunmi-shii, my address will be changing soon,’ Minho tells the woman once they confirm the upcoming dates for the rest of what was going to be an intensely busy month for sure.

‘Oh?’ Sunmi nods, ‘Are you moving?’

‘Well, my lease is up at the end of the coming month,’ Minho explains, ‘I’ll be moving back with my parents for now until things clear up and I’m able to find suitable accommodations.’

‘I see,’ Sunmi nods in understanding, quickly typing into her computer, ‘If you’re sure about your new address, I’ll have to ask you to fill in a petition form to notify the system and change your registered address.’

‘Of course,’ Minho nods at once.

‘That will be done by Yubin-shii,’ Sunmi explains, ‘It could take time to change and register the new address, but it’s definitely better than changing your phone number I’ll tell you that.’

‘Where can I get the form-?’

‘I’ve emailed it to you,’ Sunmi tells him, ‘Just print it out, fill it out, and then give it to Yubin-shii the next time you meet her.’

‘Thank you so much,’ Minho tells her fervently.

‘Any changes for you Chan-shii?’ Sunmi asks Chan who grins and shakes his head.

‘Then that’s it for today,’ Sunmi nods, ‘Don’t be late for tomorrow’s schedule – that one is definitely important.’

‘Of course,’ Minho nods hastily. No need to be told that an appointment with the police was important and being punctual would be important.

‘Chan-shii, you’re headed up?’

Minho looks over at Chan before he can help himself, a bit surprised.

Chan nods quickly, signing quickly to Sunmi, none of the words he’s using make sense to Minho and maybe he should have learnt important words rather than coming up with funny sentences because he’s in the dark as to where and why Chan was headed to another appointment within the Court.

‘All right,’ Sunmi nods, ‘I’ll be seeing you two again later this week then.’

Once they thank Sunmi again and take her leave Minho asks Chan if he needed to go with him too to whatever this was as they head for the elevator.

No no Chan replies at once this one you don’t have to

‘Oh,’ Minho blinks. He has a feeling it’s not something Chan wants to really tell him about. ‘Okay hyung, I’ll see you tomorrow.’

Chan gives him a small sheepish smile and waves at him as he gets on the elevator heading down, Chan waiting for the next one to take him up.

Have a good day coach he manages to sign, making Chan laugh before the elevator doors close.

The next day, to Minho’s surprise he’s earlier than Chan. He tries his best to not look as lost as he felt trying to find the “police” department of the Court because the floor plan was a little confusing.

He gets a message from Chan asking him if he was already there and if he was, how he got there because the directions were really confusing. Minho is able to send him the directions and after a few minutes the Selkie appears, a little flustered, head covered in cap.

He nervously glances at the clock but he’s not late and Chan exhales in relief, taking a seat next to Minho.

Monday traffic he explains before adding The directions are so weird for this place.

Minho nods vehemently to that.

‘I had to ask for directions 3 separate times,’ Minho tells him as he points to the wall to the side, ‘Their sign is like, so hidden.’

Chan frowns, not having noticed the small placard on the wall, overshadowed by the large bright infographic posters next to it.

Having an appointment with the Court police felt a bit too serious to be cracking jokes or practicing Speak so they both fidget a little, glancing around nervously.

Minho had been hoping that as this was a police related interview, they might be processed faster, but it’s not the case. First they wait nearly half an hour with no one calling their names or even seemingly noticing them. But then Chan is called in first and he gives Minho a nervous smile before following an officer in uniform.

It takes nearly an hour for Chan to come back and he looks exhausted. Minho doesn’t have time to ask him how it went and what they asked him because he’s summoned.

Minho is expecting the worst but thankfully it’s not as bad and he’s done in half an hour. When he comes out though, Chan is nowhere to be seen. Unsure, Minho takes a seat where they’d been sitting and gets his phone out, wondering if maybe Chan left first but he doesn’t think the Selkie would do that, at least not without letting him know. Right?

He shoots him a message anyway and waits a little.

Chan comes out from another office at the end of the department.

He looks around, clearly searching for him, and his eyes widen a little as though surprised to see him there.

‘Hey,’ Minho says as Chan comes to sit next to him. ‘What happened? Am I expected to go in there too?’

Minho had been dismissed after finalizing the incident of his marriage and how he found Chan’s seal-skin and signing  bunch of documents Sunmi had told him he would need to sign. He was a little relieved seeing her name on all of the documents, knowing that this was part of the process. He had of course still read through all of the documents just to be sure he knew what he signing. After that Minho had been told he was free to leave. So why was Chan called away?

I needed to make a second testimony Chan explains.

‘Oh,’ Minho blinks, ‘About?’

Just some extra stuff that happened Chan tells him rather evasively before asking you’re done right? they said you could leave?

‘Yeah,’ Minho nods, adjusting his bag strap.

Chan gives him a sort of amused but sheepish smile before he types quickly.

If you’re headed to work I can drop you off? It’s on the way for me

‘Oh is it?’ Minho wheezes, thinking about the last time they left the Court at the same time as they both stand.

Chan chuckles as well.

‘You have a car and scooter?’ Minho asks.

Chan shakes his head.

It’s not mine. It belongs to Changbin, do you remember him?

Oh boy does Minho remember him all right.

‘Yes,’ Minho replies instead with a straight face.

He told me to borrow his car anytime I had to go to the Court. Apparently it will help me make a better impression than showing up in my scooter Chan looks affronted by this but he also sighs like he has to agree.

‘Changbin-shii won’t mind you using his car to drop me off? He doesn’t know me,’ Minho says.

Chan firmly shakes his head.

Not at all he tells him he’d probably tell me off if he knew I didn’t at least offer. Like I said, it’s on the way ^_^

‘I don’t know, I thought it was hilarious driving side by side on the road,’ Minho says thoughtfully.

Chan snorts, elbowing him.

‘If it’s really okay, then yeah, thank you hyung.’

Chan just waves him off, shaking his head and smiling.

There’s not much talking inside the car though Minho does appraise Changbin’s car, squinting a little at the vehicle. He’s not too sure about car models and stuff like that, but he’s pretty sure this was a relatively pricey car. Jeongin might know if Minho bothers to remember the logo on the steering wheel. Minho pauses a moment to point at the nauseatingly cute photo display on the center console of the car. It’s a polaroid of Changbin and Hyunjin in one of those photo-sleeve things Minho has seen Jisung put his special Pokémon cards in to put on display.

‘Are they a nauseating couple or are they chill?’

Both Chan mouths with amusement.

They stop at a red light and Chan quickly types out on his phone: they’re not a grossly pda kind of couple but they practically function as a unit in everything they do

‘Ah, so they’re the kind who say “we” when anyone mentions anything to them?’ Minho chuckles.

Chan nods, looking amused but fond before he points at him.

For a wild moment Minho thinks Chan was talking about him as though he might be in a relationship then he realizes he’s talking about Jisung.

‘Oh, Jisungie?’ Minho asks and Chan nods. ‘Honestly most people don’t know they’re dating from just like, looking at them. Jeongin’s not much of a touchy person, which I fully support because I’m the same. Jisung literally calls him bro, which is why a lot of people, like you, understandably think we are dating.’

Chan laughs, quickly signing sorry.

‘It’s okay – a lot of people assume that. Jisung just takes advantage of the fact that he’s one of the few people I don’t mind in my personal space,’ Minho snorts.

You said he’s moving in with his bf? So he already has a place? will he move out first?

‘Yeah,’ Minho nods, ‘He could move in now but he wants to finish his internship before making the move, not do everything in one go.’

Chan hums, nodding in agreement with Jisung’s approach.

How long have you known each other?

‘Too long,’ Minho deadpans but he ends up smiling as he says, ‘We met when I was 17 and he was 15 – he moved into my neighbourhood after moving back to the country with his family – we became close rather instantly.’

That’s sweet

‘Well, the truth is that I haven’t been able to get rid of him,’ Minho says in a grave tone, making Chan laugh. ‘Obviously I’m just kidding, I’m actually feeling a weird sense of like, realization I guess? You have siblings right?’

Chan nods to that.

‘Jisungie is like a younger brother to me in many ways I guess,’ Minho hums, ‘Now he’s all grown up, moving in with his boyfriend, has a very promising career in the most niche field possible, ugh.’

Chan gives him a small smile, a look of understanding in his eyes. He glances at the countdown of the traffic lights and quickly types.

Lix is like that to me Chan tells him I knew him since he was a scrawny small boy and now I’m suddenly so aware that we’re the same height, he also deadlifts more than me, his voice goes down to the ocean floor and he’s graduated and just AN ADULT and it’s so bizarre

‘Oh, you really get it,’ Minho sighs out, ‘Now I’m like, I guess this is what being a parent is like.’

Chan grins at that.

The chicks are flying out of the coop Chan manages to type before the light turns green.

‘Felix-shii already left?’ Minho asks.

Chan shakes his head before lifting three fingers.

‘Three weeks? Or days-? Ah, weeks- almost around the same time as when Jisung is moving out,’ Minho hums.

Chan gives him a thoughtful look and points at him questioningly.

‘Ah, well the lease is till another 4 weeks-ish,’ Minho sighs out, ‘I’m just going to move back with my parents for now – want to finish things without being worried about realtor fees and taking out more time from my internship hours to look for places and all of that. At least my thesis is pretty much done now.’

Chan looks thoughtful at that, nodding along but there’s not much talking after that as they make their way to Minho’s clinic.

See you in class, Chan signs to him as Minho gets out of the car.

‘You too hyung,’ Minho says, signing it as well and nearly fucking up the words in a way that has Chan wheezing at him. Thank you again! He adds and Chan signs back what Minho is 98% sure meant you’re welcome, see you tomorrow before driving off.

‘Are you divorced yet?’ Dr. Kim asks him when he walks in, a very fuzzy poodle on his lap.

‘Not yet Dr. Kim,’ Minho chuckles, ‘Today was basically all just police stuff.’

‘Police stuff-?’ Dr. Kim gasps before he pauses, ‘Ah right, of course that makes sense. Minho, my Minho,’ he corrects himself, ‘Was telling me how they had all been worried about Chan had he and another person hadn’t been nearby at that time.’

Minho pauses in the middle of patting the poodle who cheerily wags her tail at him.

‘Your Minho was there to witness it?’

‘He’s the one who called the police,’ Dr. Kim tells him, looking surprised that Minho didn’t know. ‘I spoke to him about you and your husband-.’

Minho hopes he doesn’t blush too obviously.

‘-and he told me about what happened,’ Dr. Kim continues, ‘Seems your husband is something of a gifted athlete – but it got him a lot of sore jealous enemies in the form of entitled Mers from rich families.’

Minho grimaces at that.

‘But according to my Minho, your husband wasn’t interested in joining competitive sports or any teams,’ Dr. Kim continues, adding to what Minho had picked up from Yuna. ‘And because he didn’t take up the spot, it went to the person after him-.’

‘-oh. Oh,’ Minho winces.

‘But,’ Dr. Kim pauses and gives him a look, ‘You didn’t hear this from me and you know nothing.’

Minho nods at once.

‘The second place athlete from the same year had been disqualified from national level because of substance abuse – performance enhancing supplements,’ Dr. Kim tells him in a dramatic whisper.

‘What?’ Minho gapes at the vet.

‘So the spot went to the third place,’ Dr. Kim continues, ‘It was all really embarrassing, and the university even stripped that student due to the scandal.’

Minho was truly very far removed from any sort of sporting news because how has he not heard of any of this before.

‘Anyway it seems this idiot of a kid felt it was your husband’s fault,’ Dr. Kim continues, ‘According to my Minho he was always rude and aggressive towards him – he’s even tried to sabotage him before, clearly trying to injure him.’

Minho feels a rush of hot anger at Dr. Kim’s words.

‘But there wasn’t anything they could directly prove- and your husband was a scholarship student, so if anything were to happen…’ Dr. Kim pauses before he leans in some more, ‘Okay you really didn’t hear anything from me, but this kid, the Mer, his family is rich right? They have like connections and stuff within the university itself. Minho told me that if they were to raise an issue against him, his family would have ruined your husband’s chances at graduating or jeopardize his scholarship too.’

‘What?!’ Minho can’t believe what he’s hearing. This sort of shit only happened in like, dramas and stuff right?

‘But due to the discovery of the substance abuse, it was out of the control of anyone in the university that he was disqualified,’ Dr. Kim explains, ‘And obviously the university couldn’t have someone like that representing them regardless, and at this point your husband had already graduated. So they were able to strip the Mer athlete of his degree too.’

‘What the fuck,’ Minho says quietly.

‘I know!’ Dr. Kim exclaims, ‘I had no idea things could get so messy with sports! Minho never tells me these things, I just always assumed it was a bunch of buff half-naked men all smacking each other’s asses and biceps and going on ungodly long runs and eating a kilo of protein a day.’

Minho can’t help but laugh at that.

‘So uh, Minho-shii broke up the fight?’

‘Something like that,’ Dr. Kim says with a surprisingly sly grin, ‘Your husband can fight – apparently he took on three Mer against him and he wasn’t the one that needed to stay in the hospital overnight.’

Minho feels his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline.

He remembers the injuries on Chan’s face, the bruises and contusions on his hands too. He fought three people who jumped him?! Was that why he had to do more police reports and why he didn’t want to mention it much to Minho? Also Minho is somewhat taken aback because he can’t imagine Chan being angry and actually fighting. What a horrible situation he must have been in – and it was three Mer too.

‘But it seems things have settled,’ Dr. Kim says thoughtfully, ‘It seems a restraining order has been set up. Minho said your husband was doing extra stuff in regards to that too.’

Minho actually sags a bit in relief at the words. It also explained why Chan was going on more appointments and meetings. And honestly the more Minho finds out about Chan and what happened before he showed up all sounded like a nightmare and definitely something that would have called for legal action way before applying for a divorce of all things.

He thinks back to what Jeongin had mentioned to him about those Mer who attacked Chan, and how the police only took proper action once Changbin was involved because apparently he came from some level of influence.

‘It seems the upcoming weeks are going to be rough on you,’ Dr. Kim tells him sympathetically. Minho had presented his Court dates to him yesterday to let him know what days he would be missing hours in.

‘Yeah,’ Minho sighs out, ‘Thank you for understanding again, Dr. Kim.’

‘Honestly it’s kinda entertaining,’ Dr. Kim shrugs, ‘Minho was telling me that everyone finds it a little funny at the center – not in a bad way, I think there’s a lot of relief knowing that considering what happened, his star pupil will not be all caught up in a messy divorce.’

‘I’m very pleasant to get divorced from,’ Minho deadpans, making Dr. Kim throw his head back as he laughs.

‘All right all right, enough chit-chat, come and tell me what’s wrong with our little angel here,’ Dr. Kim tells him as he bounces the poodle in his arms, ‘Her mum is a good friend of mine and she’s let me know her symptoms are excessive paw licking, not eating her food, and drinking more water than usual.’

Minho puts Chan and their divorce and subsequent new information he’s learnt in the back of his mind for now and focuses on the poodle instead.

However when the day ends Minho speeds back home, knowing there was a very high chance of Jeongin being there and he’s not disappointed to see the Fae sprawled over the couch, helping Jisung sort out his clothes. Jisung had made the executive decision to get rid of some of his clothes and so of course Jeongin was there to help him sort them out (steal some more like).

‘I need information,’ Minho declares before he even takes his shoes off.

‘Uh,’ Jeongin blinks at him, unmoving, ‘A…bout?’

‘Seo Changbin,’ Minho states, nearly tripping in his haste to remove his shoes to the side and rushing in.

Jisung looks up at him from where he was sitting with a small curious frown.

‘Why?’ Jeongin asks, eyes narrowing with interest.

‘I found out some interesting information – I need to add things up,’ Minho replies before shoving some of Jisung’s stacked clothes to the side and sitting on the only other seat in the apartment.

‘What did you find out?’ Jisung asks before he points at the pile Minho knocked over, ‘By the way, those are all yours hyung.’

Minho stares at the pile for a moment.

‘I fucking knew you stole my best smart shirt,’ he says at once, picking it out from the pile.

‘And now I’m returning it to you!’ Jisung says at once.

‘Wait, you didn’t answer my question,’ Jeongin interjects at once.

Minho tells them both a shortened version of what Dr. Kim told him and both Jisung and Jeongin sit up straight, barely blink- Minho wonders if they’re even breathing.

‘Ugh!’ Jeongin groans, ‘I don’t know much other than the fact that Changbin-shii comes from like, a significantly rich background and that he and Chan-shii have been really good friends ever since Chan-shii came here!’

‘Rich and influential enough to override those idiots,’ Jisung frowns, finally leaning back and looking thoughtful, ‘Wow, I already felt bad for the guy, I feel worse now.’

‘I wonder if I can ask Hyunjin-sunbaenim some more questions,’ Jeongin says thoughtfully, ‘He told me that he met Changbin-shii through Chan-shii actually.’

‘What?’ Minho blinks and Jisung looks at him like he was slightly offended he wasn’t aware of this information.

‘Yeah,’ Jeongin nods, ‘Hyunjin-shii was in the swim-team during his freshman and second year! Chan-shii was his senior and that’s how he met Changbin-shii – they’re both in sports science.’

‘I had no idea you could join the sports team without being in the sports-science department,’ Jisung says with surprise.

‘Considering the two of you should never be allowed to play any sports it’s not surprising you both don’t know,’ Jeongin says with a teasing grin before asking Minho curiously, ‘Oh yeah, have you met his parents?’

‘What? No!’ Minho splutters, ‘Why should I-? Wait, should I?’

‘Hm,’ Jeongin hums, stretching his arms overhead a little, ‘Traditionally speaking yes, even if it’s accidental. They’re a small community you know? There’s safety and protection by being tight-knit – if one thing happens to one Selkie, everyone knows about.’

‘That sounds good,’ Jisung says thoughtfully, ‘But I feel like you’re going to say something now that will make me rethink that statement.’

Jeongin grins.

‘It can also be overbearing – very much a “for the sake of the community” sort of thing,’ Jeongin explains, ‘From what I understand it sort of pigeon-holes a lot of Selkies in terms of what they feel like they can or can’t do, express what they want depending on what is deemed good for the community versus not.’

Jisung grimaces a little and Minho can see how that could definitely happen.

‘It’s why I was mostly surprised Chan-shii is here on his own without any family,’ Jeongin explains, ‘They don’t really stray from their community, let alone family. And you said he’s planning on staying here?’

‘Yeah,’ Minho nods. ‘I think he’s maybe still in contact with his siblings? He gets updates and photos of their family dog.’

‘Interesting,’ Jeongin says with a nod, ‘I’ll see what else I can find out – Chan-shii should be a part of the Selkie community here at the very least.’

‘There’s no need to snoop,’ Minho says hastily, ‘I was just asking in case you knew.’

‘Oh, but now I’m interested hyung,’ Jeongin grins before adding with a more serious expression, ‘He seems like a good person, but now knowing about those Mer who have been bullying him and with him seemingly not having any sort of proper ties to the Undine community at large here, I want to make sure that nothing spills over to you.’

Minho pauses, staring at the young man with surprise.

‘What?’ Jeongin asks defensively, ‘It’s not an exaggerated concern-!’

Minho throws himself at Jeongin who squawks indignantly but gives up and lets Minho squeeze him affectionately.

‘Do something,’ Jeongin groans at Jisung.

‘I imagine it could be quite lonely, especially if you grew up within like, such a strong-knit community,’ Jisung says pensively instead, ignoring Jeongin’s wail as Minho messes his hair up affectionately and then lets go of him.

‘Or maybe weirdly freeing too,’ Jeongin says as he puts as much distance between himself and Minho before asking, ‘So, do you remember the logo of the car he was driving?’

After finding out that Changbin drove a limited edition car model and hearing Jeongin screech about it for about 5 minutes Minho thinks back to the hesitation and evasiveness Chan always had every time his family or hometown was mentioned. Minho just hopes that it was a decision made willingly and for the better and not one out of desperation or worse.

‘Will you do anything tomorrow?’ Jeongin asks him once he’s recovered and Jisung has sorted exactly 3 shirts during the whole time.

‘What are you referring to – going to the Court, my Japanese midterms, or submitting my thesis,’ Minho asks blandly.

‘For your thesis!’ Jeongin exclaims, ‘That’s the most important- and you could score full marks on your midterms half asleep that’s not even a concern of mine.’

Minho snorts, shaking his head, ‘Not really? I know my classmates want to celebrate and hangout but I’ve got midterms right after, and honestly I just want to come home and disassociate.’

‘I’m so happy I don’t have to do research and write for my thesis,’ Jeongin groans in relief, ‘Seungmin-hyung is already writing his dissertation from now.’

‘We should get something to eat to celebrate at least hyung,’ Jisung tells him, ‘It’s cool that you’ve finished this – maybe in the weekend?’

Minho smiles at his best-friend and nods, ‘Yeah, that sounds good too. I’m thinking sushi.’

Both Jeongin and Jisung cheer.

Minho thinks that might be the end of any further discussion about his thesis, something he was just looking forward to leave behind him forever now, when he’s accosted by Jisung as he tries to leave the next day.

‘I need to take photos!’ Jisung argues with him, trying to usher him to a neat spot in their apartment to take a photo of him with his thesis.

‘You already saw it,’ Minho groans though he takes it out of his bag anyway.

‘I need to take a photo of you with it!’ Jisung argues back, trying to find the best spot for Minho to stand that wasn’t going to have partially packed boxes and random mess in the background. ‘Okay, by the window come on!’

As usual Jisung successfully wheedles Minho into doing what he wants but that didn’t mean Minho was going to make it easy, holding up the thesis and physically turning away.

‘No! Stop oh my god,’ Jisung complains, ‘You take photos of me doing the dumbest things, but this for one isn’t dumb it’s so cool! Now pose properly!’

Minho sighs.

‘Stop acting nonchalant, now look here and smile.’

Minho gives Jisung his best creepy smile and his best-friend levels him with a glare before Minho acquiesces and with a wildly uncomfortable and embarrassed smile, holds up his thesis.

‘I will print this and frame it and put it on top of Jeonginnie and my bed,’ Jisung tells him, turning his phone over to show Minho himself.

‘Why would you put me in the worst spot in your hovel of an apartment?’ Minho demands.

‘Fine. Above the toilet.’ Jisung fires back.

‘As your patron saint of healthy bowel movement?’

‘Yes, now one more pose and please be normal.’

After decidedly not being normal for any of the photos Minho makes his way to the university. His group chat with his classmates was buzzing and humming – a few who were panicking over their word count (both under and over), a few who noticed random writing mistakes after printing and binding their thesis (Minho has already seen 6 mistakes and honestly at this point he doesn’t care anymore), and a couple truly despondent ones that were already lamenting having to redo their thesis. Minho is fairly confident his thesis will be approved and he will graduate when he’s supposed to – the grade he would get however was up for debate, but he knows he won’t have to redo it.

The vet science faculty is abuzz with a bunch of them, pacing around as they wait to be called in to see their respective advisors. Minho catches up with a few of his classmates before he’s called in. He’s nervous of course, but mostly relieved. Finally after nearly 3 semesters of planning, drafting, researching, and writing his thesis he was Done.

He talks to his advisor a little on his internship, more about his thesis, and then he’s done.

Minho’s classmates, a majority of whom were lucky enough to have already completed and fulfilled all of their credit all eagerly agree to go get something to eat and drink to celebrate once everyone has submitted their thesis. Minho and a few others had exams and so excuse themselves from the small celebration.

It was nice meeting his classmates after a while, a lot of them had already managed to secure placements in their internships and Minho hopes he’ll be one of them soon in that regard.

It’s a bit early to sit for the Japanese exam but it was all right as Minho takes a leisurely walk around the university, basking in the freedom of no longer being shackled down by his thesis.

He sends a truly spectacularly back-lit horribly angled selfie to his group-chat with Jisung, Jeongin, and Seungmin and a much nicer one to his parents to let them know he submitted his thesis. Jeongin, having clearly saved this meme for a while now, immediately responds with a GIF of something definitely from Lord of the Rings and a truly drained looking person saying it’s done and Minho relates to it heavily.

He’s just going through some of his notes outside of the exam room when Chan shows up, carrying with him a small paper bag other than his usual backpack. He waves both hands, smiling at Minho and immediately signing: hi friend.

Minho grins, signing back the same and adding it’s not that hot today.

Chan gives him an impressed look and two thumb’s up before taking a seat next to him and taking his spiral notebook out.

Thesis submitted?

‘Submitted, and wait-,’ Minho turns with a serious expression to face Chan who looks a little taken aback and signs: submitted, buried, laid to rest, has continued to the after life, rest in peace with a victorious smile.

Chan gapes at him for a moment before wheezing almost hysterically.

You did those so well! He types out, he was laughing but his expression also depicted something like confusion as though questioning Minho’s choices of Speak signs.

‘I’m just glad that I never have to ever think about it again,’ Minho tells him.

Shaking his head Chan holds his hand out for Minho to bump which he does very enthusiastically.

Did you study for this exam at all? Chan asks.

‘Just now,’ Minho laughs, ‘You?’

I will now Chan chuckles.

But he doesn’t. Instead he asks Minho about random things and shows him new photo updates of his family dog. Minho has to of course show Chan photos he took of Soonie the other night, trying soda water for the first time. Chan has tears in his eyes as he laughs, clutching at his middle when Minho shows him the video as well, Soonie’s indignant yowls piercing and hilarious.

He’s dabbing at the corner of his eyes, struggling to breathe a little as they enter the classroom to sit for the exams.

When Minho chances a glance back at Chan who was sitting 2 seats behind him the Selkie starts shaking with laughter again.

I had to focus so hard Chan tells him when they leave the exam room together quite quickly. The exam was easy, Minho could have done it semi-conscious. But I kept thinking about Soonie’s expression of disgust, I was shaking for a while.

‘I’m sorry!’ Minho wheezes. ‘But you got everything right?’

Chan nods and asks him what about you? Did you remember what purple is?

‘Yes,’ Minho glares at him, ‘How dare you bring up something traumatic.’

Chan grins at him before holds up the paper bag he’d brought with him and hands it to him.

‘What’s this-?’ Minho asks after staring at it for a moment and then carefully taking it and looking in to find a triangular take-away cake container.

Celebratory treat Chan smiles, for submitting your thesis and finishing midterms.

‘What?’ Minho breathes out with a laugh, taking the container out to reveal a marvelously plump slice of layered crepe cream cake.

Chan mimes celebration again and then chuckles as though embarrassed before he starts typing.

I was told this is one of the best flavours in the bakery and it sells out quickly so I hope you like fresh cream with layers of toasted caramel?

‘Thank you hyung,’ Minho grins as he puts the cake back inside, ‘Honestly I don’t think you can go wrong with that flavour combination.’

Chan exhales in exaggerated relief.

It also wouldn’t melt or become too gooey they said Chan adds I hope it won’t be mush by the time you eat it.

‘It should still be fine,’ Minho chuckles and adds, ‘You know, you are a good husband.’

Chan throws his head back laughing.

‘Can I buy you something as a thank you then?’ Minho asks, nodding towards the café in the distance, ‘My treat for midterms well done?’

Chan shakes his head apologetically, thumbing behind him.

I have to go – staff meeting soon.

‘Ah,’ Minho hums, ‘Well-.’

He signs thank you hyung and pauses to think hard and tries I will eat…that…happy

Chan grins and signs this happily and Minho groans, sighing a little about grammar before copying Chan.

I will eat this happily.

Chan gives him a thumb’s up before quickly typing: you can say “rest in peace” but struggle with demonstrative adjectives?

‘Priorities,’ Minho deadpans.

Chan just laughs before he asks ready for the coming weeks?

Minho sighs, ‘As long as we can avoid Mr. Yoo as much as possible I think I’m okay.’

Chan nods fervently to that.

‘We got this,’ Minho tells Chan, holding his hand out for him to bump again.

Chan makes a cheering motion once more before bumping his fist back. And then signing congratulations to him one more time the Selkie turns and heads down to the training facilities.

When Minho gets home he happily tucks into his cake after letting Soonie sniff it a little.

‘Good?’ he asks his cat who licks some of the cream from his finger. Maybe next time they’re at the university café or at the Court he can get Chan a drink or something.

And the opportunity does come but in the least likely place as their particularly soul-crushing session with Mr. Yoo unfortunately extends past lunch hour. The Court had a rather large and surprisingly well established food court and if that meant neither of them have to step out into the humid weird half-rain, half-sun weather outside then they would definitely eat at the food court.

‘It feels slightly illegal to be here,’ Minho tells Chan quietly as they cue to get their trays, looking around at all of the Court employees and their lanyards in smart clothes. Minho feels like they somewhat painfully stick out in their casual clothing.

Chan nods to that, looking around a bit before nodding towards what was clearly a family, definitely doing Court related cases considering the hefty files they were lugging around and also the unfortunate member who was in a wheelchair, their left leg in a cast. They both catch the glare one of the family members sends to another family, where one of them was also injured, a neck-brace on, arm in a cast.

Minho is guessing there was some sort of accident, and maybe they were both suing each other?

‘Ah,’ Minho says as Chan winces a little. ‘I uh, hope they’re able to sort out whatever happened.’

It reminds Minho about what he learnt from Dr. Kim about how Chan came out of his attack leaving one of his attackers in need of overnight medical attention and he’s tempted to ask the Selkie about it. But Chan was always evasive talking about it so Minho won’t push – maybe he didn’t want to present himself in an aggressive light but honestly Minho thinks Chan was definitely in the right and should have been given a weapon to even the odds a bit more. At least Minho would do that.

‘I’ll buy your lunch,’ Minho says quickly as they find a stall with cold noodles.

Looking surprised Chan starts shaking his head, unable to Speak or even mime as he was carrying his tray and Minho takes full advantage of this.

‘No no, you got me cake, and consider this a thank you for the free rides too,’ Minho tells him quickly.

Chan looks like he’s trying to give him a stern look, shaking his head even more but Minho fakes a double-take past Chan.

‘Oh, Sunmi-shii-!’

Chan turns and Minho scans the QR code for payment for both of their noodles, taking a wide step away from Chan in the process.

Chan sighs in defeat when he realizes Minho tricked him. Minho in turn gives Chan his best most polite smile that Jisung once said made him look like Soonie when he was scheming.

‘Do not use the “older” card here,’ Minho says the moment they find a table and sit down, ‘This is just being fair – or if it makes you feel better, considering dropping me off today as a thank you for the noodles.’

Chan looks at him with comically narrowed eyes before he points down at his noodles and his bag then at Minho again as though to say to watch it for him and then he stands up, determination in his eyes.

‘Hyung,’ Minho says at once with some alarm, ‘Hyung what-?’

But Chan quickly makes his way around over to the food stalls again and Minho loses track of him for a moment. Chan comes back 5 minutes later with a small tray of an assortment of side dishes and other tasty looking treats.

He looks a bit smug, even putting down bottles of water he had under his arm to balance everything.

Minho gives him an unimpressed look which Chan cheerfully smiles at, evidently pleased with himself before noticing Minho’s untouched bowl with some surprise and signs eat eat! when he realizes Minho was making no moves to pick up his chopsticks as he cracks open his bottle of water.

‘I’m waiting for my husband to take the first bite-?’

Chan nearly spits his water back out into his bottle.

‘Yes, see?’ Minho tells him, ‘Ridiculous isn’t it?’

Hands twitching a little as though to Speak to Minho in some form of retaliation but realizing Minho wouldn’t be able to understand Chan just sighs with comic heaviness before he signs okay okay I got it. Then he pauses a moment before adding friend but he does it with a hilarious flare that makes Minho laugh before he can stop himself.

‘What was that?!’ he wheezes.

It’s apparently a new like, trendy way of saying friend, I guess you could say it’s like saying bestie

‘Never call me bestie again.’ Minho tells him firmly before holding up his fork, ‘Or I’ll skin you.’

Chan pretends to be scared but he’s smiling widely as though the threat of being flayed was particularly funny.

‘Who showed you that,’ Minho chortles.

Some of the kids I coach Chan explains they were using it and I didn’t recognize it – made me feel really old

He sighs heavily at that.

‘Well, hyung, I guess you really are.’

Chan gives him a look before writing down in all caps.

YOU’RE ONLY A YEAR YOUNGER THAN ME

‘Yeah, that’s a whole year, 360 days, it’s a lot.’ Minho hums, shrugging after he signs 360 days in Speak. ‘Which explains why you’re so old-fashioned.’

Chan lightly kicks his foot as he starts on the side-dishes.

‘This is spousal abuse,’ Minho says at once, holding his fork up again, ‘Remember, I will skin you.’

Chan, still chewing his food, casually reaches into his bag and grabs his seal-skin and hands it over to him.

‘Are you insane?!’ Minho hisses as he pushes the hoodie back quickly.

Chan nearly chokes as he laughs at Minho’s reaction.

‘Hyung!’ Minho hisses admonishingly, ‘Just because we’re legally married doesn’t mean you should just hand me your seal-skin like that!’

It’s exactly because we’re married Chan chuckles at this moment it doesn’t matter if you take my seal-skin, it’s technically yours too

‘Still!’ Minho exclaims before groaning because Chan is still laughing. ‘How do you Speak are you insane because I feel like that’s going to come real useful.’

Chan just continues to laugh at him.

‘What would happen now if someone tried to take your seal-skin right now?’ Minho asks curiously once Chan has stopped trying to give Minho heart attacks in public.

Someone other than you?

Minho nods.

Well, I wouldn’t be married twice. It would actually be considered something of a challenge Chan explains looking thoughtful.

‘Challenge…as in a challenge against me? Like it’d be a challenge against me for you?’

Chan nods.

‘Oh my god, I always knew I’d have to fight someone one day,’ Minho says, dramatically leaning away and closing his eyes.

Chan wheezes no no, no fighting!

‘Fighting is good,’ Minho tells Chan at once. Maybe this was Minho could let him know that he would not judge him for defending himself if that was Chan’s concern, ‘Especially if it’s something you believe in. Fight and win.’

I don’t know if this can be considered good advice or not

‘It’s not advice,’ Minho tells him pedantically, ‘It’s a lifestyle.’

Chan gives him a hilariously exasperated look to which Minho responds with yet another polite benign smile.

actually Chan tells him it’s one of the ways in which in the past Selkies got out of unwanted marriages. They asked a trusted friend to steal their seal-skin in turn. Then they’re able to make a choice, and then agree on a divorce

Minho grimaces, ‘This is all so-,’ he briefly gestures rather despondently, ‘-so terrible.’

Changbin had offered to steal it from you, so to speak, if you weren’t going to agree with the divorce Chan tells him with amusement. But you were very quick to return it back to me so he didn’t think he’d have to physically take it from you at least.

Minho thinks back to Changbin, his influential background, and his obviously muscly built.

‘Yeah, I’m not fighting Changbin-shii,’ Minho declares, ‘I hope you have a blissful married life together, you have my blessings.’

Chan laughs at that before writing oh it’s not Changbin you’ll have to worry about – he’s all muscle but he’s the sweetest softest person – genuinely the best person ever. It’s his best-friend you have to watch out for.

‘Uh, Hyunjin-shii?’

Chan shakes his head, Chaeryeong, they’ve known each other since they were like, 5

‘Good to know, valuable information I’ll need when I’m challenged for your hand in marriage,’ Minho says solemnly making Chan shake his head, laughing at Minho’s words.

But then Minho pauses to think.

‘Wait- wait hyung, will this be an issue if like, someone asks you out or you go on a date?’ Minho asks worriedly.

Chan’s eyes widen at the question, as though he hadn’t thought about it.

‘I mean, of course no problem from me,’ Minho says hastily, ‘Like, obviously I have no right to say anything about that and-.’

Chan starts hastily typing out on his phone.

‘-it’s of course not my business at all but just, in any case-.’

No no not a problem. for you too, please date any one you want to

Ofc this is not like a permission thing its nothing like that

Its not my business either

This whole marriage/divorce thing wont cause any problems!

Minho pauses a moment and then says slowly, ‘Legally though, it would be considered cheating right?’

Chan looks like he’s short-circuiting, mouth closing and opening, hands sort of twitching as he thinks hard.

I guess legally – but it’s uh, not like that with us in our situation? He says, giving Minho a sort of grimace before quickly writing I’m not really much in the dating scene myself so that’s not something I think

Chan pauses, looking wildly uncomfortable and also distressed but also somewhat amused.

I don’t think it’s something that will effect the divorce

‘I guess if we do find ourselves in a position where we are dating someone we just don’t mention it to anyone, specially Mr. Yoo.’ Minho finds himself saying.

Chan sighs at that, nodding.

Minho will bet all of his savings that Mr. Yoo would do everything to make things even more complicated than it was if this were to happen and if he were to find out.

All though, Chan begins to type, looking amused and somewhat mischievous, I have no problem being your very public husband if it means getting out of pesky situations

Minho laughs, ‘You know what, same – pull the husband card hyung. No doubt people are clamouring for a chance to be with three-times-swim champion-!’

Minho can’t complete his teasing because Chan, who goes bright pink, physically turns away in his seat, groaning and covering his face.

Yuna! He signs despondently when he turns back around.

Minho has to contain his laughter, they were after all, in a public space with respectable employees as well as families (injured and uninjured) all around. No need to blast them with his gleeful cackling laughter.

The more they converse, not just during the short few minutes before and after class and the walk outside of the Linguistic building, Minho feels more and more comfortable talking to Chan.

He was just really nice and genuine. He was also funny, passionate about his work. He could be teasing one moment, very sincere the next.

Minho also picks up more of Speak – now with no more thesis to hound his free time, Minho is able to really go through more practice and more videos. Jisung gives him a teasing smile but joins him randomly and practices alongside him and could now proudly sign there’s a fire, it’s dangerous to Jeongin’s fond amusement. Minho always learns something new to sign to Chan and greets him with increasingly unhinged things to say like “never turn down the blessing of a lizard” and “the moon is an alien” and “oyster sauce is the ultimate condiment” making Chan really question Minho’s priorities in learning Speak but always clapping for Minho and encouraging him.

There was no pretense in what Chan did or said and Minho actually really enjoys their time together as they wait in the Court or have their lunch (which Minho never succeeds in buying for Chan after the first time). The drive back to the university was also something Minho really enjoyed – it wasn’t easy finding someone you could share comfortable silences with, and it was easy with Chan.

By the end of the intense two weeks of going to the Court on 7 different occasions (Chan going nine times), they’re both very familiar with the food court offerings, had their favourites, they sometimes sit in concentrated silence as they go through rounds of word-games on Chan’s phone, trying to come up with as many 5 letter words that started with L under 30 seconds. Minho also finds out more about the Selkie past just surface questions. He learns that Chan has a low spice tolerance, was very invested in his online games (he spends 15 minutes showing Minho his characters and all of the special items for his game he “farmed” and “saved up” for), and that he wasn’t very good at sleeping but when he slept he was a heavy sleeper, and was a meticulous organizer. Minho also finds out Chan was a licensed emergency responder, a licensed lifeguard, and he was considering getting a license to practice physiotherapy sometime in the future.

Minho also learns from just observation of the man that he was genuinely just a really good person; Minho can tell from the way he talks about his friends, his coworkers, his students – he can tell from the way he’s still polite and nice to Mr. Yoo even though he’s been nothing but particularly rude to Chan in a lot of instances.

Chan was also observant – noting Minho’s preferred drinks and getting him a can or bottle when he went to the vending machine. He was also very good at meeting Minho and his humor and responding in kind – Chan seemed to genuinely think he was funny even if Minho sometimes threatens him with medieval torture references, only giving Minho admonishing looks if he made jokes at his own expense.

He also remembered the random things Minho would tell him about in terms of the patients he was looking after at the clinic and would ask for updates. It gets Minho to start sending Chan photos of the different pets they sometimes had stay overnight at the clinic, including a pet tarantula that has the Selkie threatening him with a block.

Minho guesses they might be the only people to actually find enjoyment in the process of a divorce because the meetings and schedules fly by and isn’t as horrible as it would have been if it weren’t for Chan. Minho hopes it’s not too bad on Chan’s end as well, that he’s been a good friend through all of this, and that he also enjoyed their time spent together like this. Obviously it would be great if neither of them have to go through this, but Minho supposes out of everyone he wouldn’t mind going through a divorce if it’s with Chan.

They also develop a good relationship with Sunmi as well as Yubin who they’re both happy to see again during the second week. Thankfully they only have to meet with Mr. Yoo three times. Minho has a sneaking suspicion that Yubin was doing her best to help them avoid the tedious work related to Mr. Yoo’s department and he’s extremely grateful for that.

On the last day of their intense Court dates, with the next schedule being next month both Minho and Chan decide to treat themselves to a frankly disturbing amount of ice-cream.

Minho doesn’t even remember what they were laughing about that day but it was something that made him laugh till his stomach hurt and his eyes water.

Minho guesses now that they won’t have to meet as regularly- just in class for the next 6 weeks or so. He’s a little taken aback by how he’s instantly filled with a sort of regret and disappointment at the idea that once the summer semester was over, the only time he and Chan would meet would be during Court dates and those would start lessening. Sunmi had said they might only have to come in once or twice a month later.

Because despite the fact that all of this started as a result of their accidental marriage, Minho honestly starts to forget that they were going through a divorce when they talk and hang out. Chan also seemed to be forgetting about it, the sort of polite and careful front he put on lowering down completely as he jokes and teases and exclaims freely, throwing in a lot of Speak here and there that Minho was honestly doing quite well in picking up.

It felt so easy and natural, like how it felt to hang out with Jisung, Jeongin, and Seungmin, people he’s had in his life for years, not just 2 months or so.

He’s only reminded of it when they discuss things with Sunmi and Yubin or Mr. Yoo. Even at the food court at the Court Minho forgets that they’re only here talking to each other like this because they’re getting a divorce.

And after this, well, they wouldn’t be required to meet up or see each other as much anymore.

But there were clearly things happening that seemed determined to have them meet because while they did message each other sometimes Minho is not expecting half of his notifications on his phone to be from Chan when he finishes up a surgery he was assisting Dr. Kim and Dr. Seo in.

The surgery lasts nearly an hour where he observes and listens to both the vets intensively, and an extra hour where Minho performs the prep for both pre and post operation, following Younghyun’s instructions while supervised by Dr. Kim. He’d been really focused and anticipating this day because it would be the first time he was allowed to participate other than just to observe all the steps – this was practical training in the sort of work he wanted to do.

He spends some more time talking to both Younghyun and Dr. Kim about the surgery before he heads to the locker room and checks his phone mostly to check if that offer on fried chicken was still on when he sees the notifications from Chan.

Bang Chan:

Hey sorry to disturb you during work!

But the court called me

And I think maybe you’re in the middle of something as they couldn’t reach you

But they’ve sent documents to me for both of us

As your address has changed but its not registered yet or something >_<

Sunmi-shii asked if it was okay to just send them to me and I said okay

Really sorry about this!

I don’t know when you’ll see this, but I won’t be able to answer my phone after 5

I can post the documents to you or you can come pick them up at the facility

If you come here let Yuna know and she’ll come get me!

If not I can post it to you too!

This message was sent nearly 3 hours ago and he’s had multiple missed calls from the Court and from Sunmi too.

Cursing under his breath Minho quickly messages Sunmi to first apologize and thank her and then tries anyway to call Chan even though it was nearly 6:30.

He obviously doesn’t pick up and Minho fairly flies through washing up and changing out of his scrubs and clocking out. He’s practically jogging back to the university, slowing down a moment to let Jisung know he would be late getting home.

When he reaches the training facilities it’s a lot livelier than the first time he was here – today was certainly a busy day, as what appeared to be a whole sports team of sorts were rowdily training inside the extensive gym to one side. At the reception area, either getting ready for what was clearly a swimming session or just finishing one up are a bunch of university students, also probably students from sports science. Yuna is at the reception, and there’s another man with her, wearing rather official looking sports clothing – he was maybe one of the senior coaches?

Minho takes a moment to catch his breath, patting at his face, grateful that it wasn’t as swampy and hot these days.

Yuna beams at him when she spots him, eyes lighting up in realization because Chan must have told her that he might be showing up.

‘Minho-shii!’ Yuna exclaims, ‘Chan-oppa said you might show up!’

‘Yeah,’ Minho winces a little, ducking his head in a short greeting towards the man behind her who looked over at the sound of his name. ‘Uh, I’m guessing he’s quite busy right now?’

Yuna nods, giving him a regretful look.

‘I’ll let him know though – he’ll come out the moment he’s able to secure some time,’ Yuna tells him, going around the reception desk.

‘Thank you so much,’ Minho tells her sincerely.

He goes and takes a seat at one of the benches and tries to make himself invisible because the coach at the reception most definitely knew who he was and Minho can tell he was Undine too. Obviously as this was Chan’s workplace, a lot of the people here at a senior level, would know about Chan’s situation. Plus the whole thing with Selkie communities as well as their place within the Undine community being taken into consideration, Minho supposes a good chunk of the people who worked here knew of him.

The students all leave, bidding the coach farewell and then the man also leaves, heading off to the gym where half a dozen students were starting to do some intense cardio in the form of high-knees. The waiting atrium area is quiet and empty though Minho can still hear the people inside the gym, the echoing sounds from the different areas that opened into the pools. Or as Minho found out, were called natatoriums.

Marriages were truly educational.

Minho is in the middle of choosing himself something to drink from the vending machine when he hears his name being called.

‘Minho!’

Minho turns around at the sound of his name and-

That was Chan.

That was Chan.

‘Uh-?’

‘I’m sorry you had to come out here,’ Chan is saying – he was speaking to Minho. With his voice. ‘But I guess this way at least we can send it back at the same time?’

He’s completely soaked, wet hair pushed back, leaving wet footprints behind him on the grip mats on the floor. Minho can tell he’s tried to remove the excess water off of himself in some way but he clearly just left the pool and-

‘I- yeah,’ Minho nods hastily, ‘Yeah, no I’m sorry this all ended up being your responsibility hyung.’

‘Sunmi-shii asked if she should send it to your clinic, but wasn’t sure if that would be okay so I just said to have it sent to me,’ he says sheepishly.

‘Yeah that’s totally fine hyung,’ Minho says, pulling himself together. Chan looked like he was feeling a little self-conscious so Minho does his best to move on. ‘What are these documents for anyway? I don’t remember Sunmi-shii saying anything about it.’

‘I’ve actually not had the time to look at them,’ Chan winces, ‘They arrived just as I was getting ready to start my sessions. I’ll go get them, I put them in my locker.’

Minho nods and Chan quickly rushes back, passing the gym and turning down the far end of the hallway where the locker-rooms were located.

Minho sort of just stands there, a bit stunned.

This was the first time in nearly 6 weeks of knowing each other that Minho has heard the Selkie speak.

And it was nice.

He had a very pleasant timber- soft but not weak or thin, warm but not pushy.

Right of course Chan would be able to use his voice right now – he’s been in the water for hours, of course, Minho should have expected this. This was totally normal, there was no reason for him to be reacting any differently – besides he doesn’t want Chan to feel self-conscious about himself.

When Chan comes back Minho has his head and thoughts in order and is ready to tackle whatever documents have been sent over but he’s not expecting the literal fucking box Chan was carrying over to him.

‘What the fuck?’ is all Minho can say, staring at the box.

‘That’s more or less what I said when it was delivered,’ Chan tells him with a wince, placing it down on the bench. It was still sealed and Chan reaches over the side of the reception desk and pulls out a scissor.

‘I mean, surely this is just to make sure nothing gets crumpled-?’ Minho says hesitantly as Chan cuts the safety tape around the box to reveal that it’s nearly filled to the brim with thick envelopes and files.

They both stare at the contents of the box, blinking as though hoping this was maybe an illusion or mesmer at play but unfortunately it’s not.

Minho takes out the files first as Chan seemed hesitant considering his wetsuit which was, well, wet.

‘I thought these were just- just going to be a few documents-?’ Minho says slowly before he spots the name on the stamped section of the file. ‘You’re fucking kidding me.’

Chan leans in a little, frowning as Minho angles the file to him.

‘Oh my god,’ he groans, collapsing back to the wall, ‘Should have expected this from him.’

It would seem these were all files and documents Mr. Yoo required them to go through.

‘Without any instructions?’ Chan frowns, sitting up again and gingerly sifting through the files. Minho immediately keys in on his bracelet. ‘Not even like, an explanation?’

‘He didn’t call you?’ Minho asks worriedly, ‘I had a bunch of missed calls from the Court and Sunmi-shii.’

‘Just from Sunmi-shii,’ Chan tells him before he angles his head to read a file, ‘Wait, this says something about financial statements.’

Minho pulls the file out and realizes there’s two of the same.

‘I think it’s one each,’ Minho tells him, ‘One set for you and one for me.’

There’s a loud chorusing sound from the natatorium and Chan turns around, jumping a bit.

Right, he was in the middle of coaching his students.

‘I should head back,’ Chan tells him apologetically, ‘Shouldn’t let Yuna take over, I think it might be considered intern abuse.’

‘I don’t mind waiting,’ Minho tells him, frowning at the hefty files. He was expecting maybe a document or two – what the fuck was this all about? ‘We should probably look them through together I guess.’

‘Are you sure? My session lasts till 8 today,’ Chan says with a small wince.

‘I don’t mind,’ Minho says firmly, ‘I’ll read through these and if I find out any information about it I’ll let you know.’

Chan hesitates a moment, looking around, before he nods.

‘Um, if you want something hot to drink, just ask Yuna and she can get you something from the staff room.’ Chan tells him.

‘From one intern to another,’ Minho grins.

Chan laughs and Minho tries to be incredibly normal that this is the first time he’s hearing Chan’s full laughter out loud.

He’s not even sure why it was effecting him all that much in the first place. But Minho did read about how so many people have never heard their Selkie friends or neighbours or even sometimes relatives speak especially when they were in the city and away from easy access to the beach or bodies of water.

Minho was incredibly lucky to hear Chan actually speak.

Or he just had very odd chances with everything when it came to Chan in a way.

Yuna returns, her shoes squeaking a little but other than that she’s relatively dry. She smiles at him at once before her eyes key in on the box and she gives him a look of alarm.

‘Oh- oh wow,’ she gapes at the box, ‘I uh, wow.’

‘Yeah,’ Minho sighs out, ‘That’s honestly the best thing to say about this.’

‘I uh, never realized it would be so complicated,’ Yuna says hesitantly as she heads around to the reception desk to take her usual seat.

‘Me too,’ Minho groans.

‘Channie-oppa asked me to make sure you were comfortable while you were waiting,’ Yuna tells him, ‘There’s a nice sitting area past the gym and they have nicer vending machines, with like, actual nice snacks if you want to go there instead?’

‘Oh,’ Minho blinks, ‘Is it okay for me to go? I’m like, not uh, a gym member or anything?’

‘It’s okay!’ Yuna reassures him, ‘This is actually a secret study spot for a lot of students – it’s kinda like the library in a sense, and you’re still a student too!’

Minho hands Yuna his university ID once more and she gives him some crocs to change into and leads him to a surprisingly nice waiting area. Yuna explains this was meant for sports-science students to have a place to study while also being close to their specific facilities they would require.

There are comfortable sofa-chairs to one side, large wide tables and benches and smaller desk-like tables and study chairs on one side. Minho thanks Yuna again and goes to one of the tables and settles in to go through the heavy files. Once he’s done separating the ones with his name on it he gets to opening the files in order of thickness. He notes that Chan had 2 extra files compared to him.

Minho snaps a photo of the files and folders and captions it with can you fucking believe this shit and sends it to Jisung with a short explanation of what happened. Jisung lets him know that he was going to be staying at Jeongin’s place- well, technically their place tonight but to let Jisung know if he needed him for anything.

Some of the documents make sense – they were just physical copies of the divorce process, statements they had already discussed and were in agreement with. Some of them however, were truly sending Minho into a full state of disbelief because, again, surely there had to be a different process for people who were accidentally married.

He has to look up some of the more complicated words and even looks up common laws regarding all of this. Minho knew how much this would be a headache he just didn’t realize it would feel more like he was splitting his head over this.

Nearly an hour and 3 cups of sliced fruits from the vending machine later the door to the study room opens and Yuna pokes her head in from the doorway. She’s no longer in the sports jacket but wearing what appeared to be normal clothes.

‘Hi,’ Yuna says with an apologetic smile as she walks over, ‘I just came here to tell you that I’m done for the day, and while this area is open until 9, there won’t be anyone at the reception now.’

‘Ah,’ Minho nods in understanding, ‘I see, thank you for letting me know.’

‘It can get pretty empty around here so do you wanna go in and sit at the pools?’ Yuna asks, ‘It might be a bit noisy but…?’ She trails off and gives him a small shrug.

‘I can?’

‘Yeah! A few of oppa’s friends sometimes come and swim too, and people still come to use the pool as the kids learn in the shallow area! Actually you could try to learn and swim in the shallow pools?’ Yuna asks eagerly.

‘I think I’m very happy being dry,’ Minho chuckles, ‘But yeah I uh, I guess if it’s okay.’

Not being a sports science student Minho does feel a bit awkward using their room especially with Yuna leaving and Chan still occupied.

Minho follows Yuna out and answers her eager questions about vet science. Minho comes to find that Yuna had two family dogs and was looking forward to one day adopt a rescue or maybe even partake in fostering which Minho very quickly encourages her to do so.

‘Tonight is when most families are able to come and have joint swimming sessions- the lake is nearly entirely full with Undine families!’ Yuna tells him as different disembodied sounds ring out from different parts of the vast facility, ‘But you also have some of the younglings come in after school to get some coaching.’

‘Did you used to get coaching when you were younger?’ Minho asks curiously.

‘I did,’ Yuna says brightly, ‘Thankfully my family used to live near a really lake when we were younger – I was lucky in that sense, but a lot of younglings in the city don’t really have it. There’s a lot of worry in regards to urban isolation and withdrawal when you’re in the city – and as adults we’re better at handling it, but for younglings it’s important especially as they’re learning how to adjust.’

Minho doesn’t fully understand in a way, but he supposes it’s similar with how Jisung always took a trip back home to his family oak tree once a year even if he did have his acorn, or how Jeongin being Light Fae always wore a sun-quartz ring or he would literally physically wither and become incredibly ill during colder months or when the sun was hidden for too long. Jisung had said how being abroad for long extended periods of time had been tough on the whole family as they were so physically far from their ancestral oak and Jeongin had mentioned in passing once how even with his sun-quartz during the rainy season he often had terrible energy and it was worse when he was a kid.

‘These pools are some of the best developed in the whole city,’ Yuna tells him with pride, ‘During the weekends it’s very busy, it’s always much more manageable during the weekdays but tonight is specifically a bit more packed. We call it the Wednesday special.’

‘Oh, we have a thing too,’ Minho tells her, ‘Full moon aftermath.’

‘No way,’ Yuna exclaims, ‘That’s a thing?!’

‘Yeap,’ Minho chuckles, ‘We always have more pets coming in right after a full moon.’

‘I’m gonna tell my parents to keep an eye out for any unusual behavior on full moon nights now,’ Yuna says with a determined nod.

She drops him off at the doorway to the natatorium and bids him goodbye and Minho thanks her again before entering the place. There’s loud bright laughter the moment Minho makes his way inside.

All the lights are switched on unlike last time and a fourth of the pool, the most shallow area, has been sectioned off neatly with wide bright pink fencing. Standing in the hip deep water is Chan who hasn’t noticed him just yet, focused on the three kids before him, one of them with arm floaties on.

Minho finds a dry bench next to a bench that was already occupied with some other items that Minho guesses belonged to Chan. He puts his things down on the bench, putting his phone away into his bag because he’s not comfortable having it out with so much water around.

He hears Chan laughing before clapping his hands together to bring the kids back to attention. He’s saying something but Minho isn’t close enough to distinguish it over the sound of the water.

Minho finds himself smiling as Chan shows them some practiced moves, the kids focusing fully on him and mimicking his actions.

‘Hi.’

Minho nearly jumps out of his skin when a small voice reaches out to him from the side. He hadn’t heard the young boy approach him. He’s maybe 9 or 10, dripping wet, and definitely a Selkie because he’s wearing a soft fuzzy hoodie that despite definitely being soaked, was quite dry and fluffy.

‘Hi,’ Minho smiles, scooting higher up the bench. The boy takes a seat, studying him a bit.

‘You’re not a Selkie or any of the Undine,’ the little boy points out.

‘No I’m not,’ Minho nods.

‘Why are you here?’ the boy asks curiously.

Minho pauses to think quickly – this was boy was Selkie, and Yuna had mentioned some families being around.

‘Uh, my husband is the coach,’ Minho points at Chan who was counting the kids down in a water exercise.

‘Oh! Channie-saem,’ the boy squints a little.

‘Yeah,’ Minho grins.

‘He’s my coach,’ the boy grins, kicking his feet a little. ‘But I don’t feel too well today.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,’ Minho says to the boy.

‘It’s okay, I still got to stay with mum in the lake, but I wanted to come and say hi to my friends,’ the boy tells him.

‘Jisoo-yah!’

The boy hops off of the bench and grins, quickly bowing as though remembering to.

‘Channie-saem!’ he waves, walking over to where Chan was wading over to. ‘I didn’t know you got married!’

Chan looks over at him briefly, surprise in his eyes.

‘Yeah I did,’ Chan chuckles, ‘Did you introduce yourself?’

The boy shakes his head, glancing over at Minho a bit sheepishly.

‘We just started talking,’ Minho explains.

‘Nice to meet you,’ the boy bows politely to him, ‘I’m Cho Jisoo.’

‘Nice to meet you Jisoo, I’m Lee Minho,’ Minho smiles as he stands up to walk over.

‘You’re feeling better?’ Chan asks Jisoo gently, ‘You wanna join us?’

‘Um, not really saem,’ Jisoo says, looking a little down, ‘Just wanted to say hi.’

Chan smiles at the boy, dimples popping up.

‘That’s okay too. Maybe we can take a short break for a bit for you to say hi, wanna sit here?’

The boy nods happily, immediately lowering himself so that his legs were in the water as he takes a seat on the ledge of the pool.

‘Guys, we can take a break,’ Chan tells the kids who were whispering amongst themselves, looking at him curiously.

To Minho’s surprise the kids don’t cheer or do anything in light of their break but seem to talk amongst themselves before waving Chan over.

Chan wades over to them and the moment he’s close enough the kids all whisper something loudly to Chan who had ducked down a little to hear them better. They’re clearly talking about him because the kids, though trying their best to appear nonchalant, are making it glaringly obvious that they’re talk to Chan about him.

Chan replies to something they say and all three kids gasp at the same time in unison before their mouths hang open and they stare at him. They push in closer to Chan, asking more questions and Minho feels himself flush a little.

Chan laughs, nodding to what they’re saying but also trying to get them to not talk over each other. But the kids are obviously more interested in Minho than in anything else. Chan says something that has them all gasp again and then they’re pleading with him and Chan looks over to him, a somewhat apologetic look before he says something to them and there’s a clamoring response.

Minho is suddenly nervous.

Chan is saying something before they make their way over.

‘Okay everyone,’ Chan says, ‘This is Lee Minho, and yes he’s my husband-.’

Minho hopes he doesn’t turn bright red.

‘-and yes, he is an animal doctor-.’

Jisoo gasps loudly next to him, looking up at him with wide eyes.

‘Now introduce yourselves, and then you can ask him permission.’

Permission for what?!

‘I’m Cho Jisoo,’ the boy says again quickly, twisting around to look up at him.

‘I’m Min Gahyun,’ the second of the two boys says.

‘I’m Kim Yeri,’ the girl with the arm floaties says, clearly the youngest here.

‘I’m Kim Haseul,’ the last girl says before hurriedly asking, ‘Can we ask you questions about animals.’

Chan, standing behind them gives Minho the quickest and slightest shake of his head.

‘Ye-no, no. Not right now,’ Minho manages, coming to squat down to be more at their eye-level. ‘You guys have to take your classes right?’

The boy Gahyun literally throws himself into the water in despair much to Chan’s surprise, quickly making his way over to right the boy in the water. All kids look incredibly put out and as though practiced, turn to look up at Chan with wide eyes and pouting mouths.

Minho can literally see Chan cracking under their united front.

‘Okay how about you can ask me whatever question after you’re done with your class?’ Minho suggests, drawing their attention towards him.

The kids all turn to Chan who looks at Minho in surprise before looking back down at the kids.

‘Well, that sounds good to me so we should start our exercises and-.’

Before Chan even completes his sentence the kids rush back to where they were standing, clearly ready to start their lessons to complete it quickly.

Chan looks back at him with a slightly apologetic look and Minho just grins at him, shrugging before he takes a seat on the edge as well, rolling up his pant legs.

‘Can I stay and ask questions too,’ Jisoo asks as Minho carefully dips his toes in first, testing the water out carefully.

‘That’s okay with me,’ Minho tells the boy as he slowly dips one foot in first and then the other. The water comes up just a little below his knees and it was actually really nice.

‘What’s your favourite animal?’ the boy asks him seriously.

‘Kappa,’ Minho replies at once.

‘Really?’ the boys eyes widen with interest, ‘My noona says they’re gross! And weird! But I think they’re okay.’

‘They’re a bit weird,’ Minho admits, ‘But they’re really cool.’

‘How come?’ Jisoo asks curiously.

Minho is not about to unload the contents of his thesis onto this young boy so he gives him a filtered down explanation.

‘No!’ one of the girls yells somewhat desperately in their direction, ‘I want to know things too!’

It’s Minho’s turn to give Chan a somewhat apologetic grimace that the Selkie responds to with a it is what it is sort of shrug. He’s only able to manage to get the kids through half of what was clearly the routine for the day before he gives in and the kids come over to Minho eagerly.

Chan comes to lean against the edge of the pool that Minho was sitting on as the kids ply him with a variety of questions. Minho has to think fast because kids asked both the strangest yet most damning questions with a level of innocence he has to be very careful not to break or ruin with scientific fact and harsh realities like deforestation and climate change.

He hasn’t had to use his brain like this in a while and despite the fact that he’s feeling slightly overwhelmed, Minho enjoys answering the questions the kids have for him.

‘Do you have a pet?’ Haseul asks, giving Minho a much needed change of topics from puffin populations and if their meat was tasty or not.

‘Yes,’ Minho says quickly, ‘A cat, and his name is Soonie.’

‘Is he a good boy?’ Yeri asks him seriously.

‘A very good boy- in fact, I’d say he’s the best boy,’ Minho replies just as seriously.

‘What does he look like? Can we see?’ Jisoo asks at once.

‘My phone is not with me,’ Minho tells them apologetically, ‘But he’s orange and white. His fur is very soft and always clean. And the space between his ears on top of his head smells like biscuits.’

All kids softly go woah and it makes Minho inexplicably proud of Soonie.

‘I want a cat too,’ Yeri sighs sadly, ‘But mum says I’m too small for a cat now.’

‘So maybe when you’re bigger? I found Soonie when I was 16,’ Minho tells the girl.

‘That’s so far away, I’m 8,’ Yeri frowns.

‘It’s far for me too, I’m 11,’ Haseul sighs.

‘Guys I hate to break this up but you still have to finish your lessons today,’ Chan announces before they can start another round of questions, ‘Your Minho-hyung also needs a break okay?’

The kids are at least somewhat satisfied and are amiable enough to return to their swimming classes.

As Chan shepherds the kids the smallest of the children, Yeri, tugs on Chan’s arm, making him hunch over a little.

‘He’s very pretty,’ Yeri tells Chan in what she clearly thinks is a whisper low enough for Minho not to hear but unfortunately Minho can hear and he knows his ears turn bright red. ‘So shiny.’

‘Yeah,’ Chan manages, ‘Uh- he is-.’

‘-is that why you married him?’ Yeri asks curiously.

‘No no,’ Chan says hurriedly trying to tug Yeri away as quickly but also as gently as he could.

‘Because he loves animals?’

‘Yes,’ Chan says at once, ‘He’s very kind and very nice, that’s why.’

‘I want to be an animal doctor too,’ Yeri decides.

‘That’ll suit you,’ Chan smiles, resolutely not looking over at Minho, his ears also rosy in colour.

‘How long does it take to be a vet?’ Jisoo asks him.

‘It depends – sometimes 4 years, sometimes 5,’ Minho replies.

‘How come?’ Jisoo frowns.

‘There are different kinds of vets,’ Minho explains, ‘Sometimes you have to study more.’

‘More?’ Jisoo echoes, looking horrified at the thought.

Jisoo asks him some more questions and tells Minho all about the different bugs and small animals he and his baby brother saw at a zoo last year during a family vacation. Jisoo had said he wasn’t feeling well and Minho doesn’t know what kind of unwell because other than initially having a rather low-energy sort of mood the boy seemed fine, giggling and energetically telling Minho about the manatee he saw fart in the water.

He also used a lot of Speak as he spoke, clearly just an ingrained habit and weirdly enough extremely helpful for Minho. He starts to carefully use Speak here and there, incorporating the words he knew and was confident in. Jisoo seems to think he could mostly just use Speak and he starts to use less words and more Speak.

‘I’m not very good with Speak just yet,’ Minho tells the boy apologetically, ‘I’m still learning.’

‘Oh,’ the boy blinks at him with interest, ‘Because you’re married to Channie-saem?’

‘Yeah,’ Minho nods, ‘If I want to talk to him, I should learn Speak right? He can’t always be in the water so I should do my best too and learn.’

The boy frowns at that, as though realizing something new.

Just then a woman appears at the entryway, carrying a smaller boy wrapped up in a seal-skin that was definitely too large to be his own.

‘Jisoo-yah,’ she calls for the boy who turns around quickly and beams at the woman who was clearly his mother.

He quickly gets up and instinctively Minho holds his arms out just in case the boy slips or something but there’s no need. He energetically jogs over to his mother and the small boy in her arms turns around to look down at his older brother.

She says something to Jisoo who nods and then rushes back towards him and the pool.

‘Channie-saem!’ he calls out, ‘I’m leaving now!’

‘Okay,’ Chan smiles before he spots Jisoo’s mother and bows in greeting towards the older woman. She points to Chan and says something to the boy in her arms and the little boy squirms away shyly.

Chan grins and waves, looking utterly endeared.

‘Thank you Minho-hyung for telling me about kappas,’ the boy tells him and then gives him a polite bow as though remembering his manners, It was nice to meet you!

It was nice to meet you too Jisoo, Minho signs carefully, having learnt how to Speak Jisoo’s name with a lot of giggling and help from the boy and adds, ‘I hope you feel better soon.’

Thank you!

The boy quickly shuffles off towards his mother and the trio disappear behind the doors. When he turns back over to where the kids had been yelling their bye’s to Jisoo he finds that Chan is already looking at him.

He quickly looks away though, corralling the kids back into their formation.

Minho supposes it’s odd to have his husband he was divorcing come to his workplace like this and have to behave like things were normal. And a woman, clearly a Selkie, saw him here, and her son would probably tell her about him.

Minho hopes his presence here won’t cause Chan any strange issue or circulate dumb gossip in his community, no matter how close or distant he was with it.

He gets out of the water and back to the bench, letting his legs just drip dry. The kids session was clearly coming to an end as Minho can spy a few people looking in from the windows on the large doors of the entryway, smiling at the sight of their children.

Once Chan tells them they’re free to go they rush towards the edge and clamber over, ignoring the ladder and getting out of the pool.

Chan chuckles, calling after them but it’s futile. He sighs dramatically, clearly just for Minho to hear and he snorts at the Selkie in amusement. He laughs out loud when Chan ignores the ladder too and easily pushes himself out of the pool and the Selkie gives him a look.

‘I’ll be right back,’ he tells him, pointing towards the entryway where the parents could still be seen.

‘No problem hyung.’

Chan comes back some 5 minutes later and takes a seat near what Minho had rightfully assumed were his things.

‘So uh, any luck with the documents?’ Chan asks as he takes out a large towel and drapes it around himself.

‘I don’t know about luck,’ Minho sighs, patting the box, ‘But I do think Mr. Yoo might have a personal agenda against us both.’

‘Mr. Yoo our divorce counsellor?’ Chan asks, grimacing a little as he digs into his bag a little more. ‘Why, he would never!’

‘Well, I have bad news for you then.’ Minho says dryly.

Chan sighs heavily, pulling out a smaller towel and handing it to him.

‘Ah, I’m okay hyung, legs have dried,’ Minho replies, kicking his feet a bit in response.

‘I’ll just finish sorting out the pool barrier and do a round and come outside so we can go through them?’ Chan suggests.  

Minho goes out to the main reception area and waits for Chan. It was nearly 8:30 and Minho yawns quietly. There was something oddly calming about the place, even with the sounds of people using the gym on the other side, faint upbeat music echoing softly around.

Chan returns, no longer in his wetsuit but in shorts and a t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. Minho tries not to look at his arms for too long and instead points towards the gym.

‘How long does it stay open?’ Minho asks.

‘Depends,’ Chan replies, ‘During training season, up to midnight sometimes.’

‘Have you stayed back to train too, three-times-first-placing swim champion?’ Minho grins.

Chan makes an embarrassed noise, looking away briefly.

‘I used to, for competitions and stuff- not anymore though now,’ he replies and gestures to the gym, ‘Those are just mostly gym-rats.’

‘And you’re not one?’

‘I-…sometimes?’ Chan says before wheezing uncontrollably before he looks at the box and sighs, ‘Okay so uh, what are these and is Mr. Yoo really planning on ruining our lives?’

‘Not entirely,’ Minho snorts, patting two of the thinnest folders. ‘These are normal stuff Sunmi-shii had said she’d send to us to keep as copies.’

‘Ah, yeah-.’

‘-and these are- well,’ Minho grimaces a little as he pats the rest of the folders and files. ‘Well, one of them is basically a legal document that distributes our assets.’

Chan gives him a bewildered look.

‘So I’m just letting you know right now that I want your scooter.’

Chan throws his head back, laughing delightedly.

It was nice hearing Chan’s laughter fully like this.

‘Wait, for real?’ Chan asks in disbelief as he takes the file.

It’s in small instances where Minho can pick up Chan’s accent – it’s more subtle than Felix’s. When Felix spoke it was quite obvious he wasn’t native-born but with Chan it was only in certain words or the way he expressed himself.

‘Not the scooter part but the asset part yes,’ Minho sighs before he points at the other file, ‘Seems we also need to show our like, bank statements.’

Chan looks incredulous.

‘This is insane,’ Chan manages after some seconds of scanning some of the documents.

‘I was all for just signing everything but I’m invested now,’ Minho tells him, ‘I took pictures of everything to send Seungmin of course – why else is he taking a law degree if not to help out his most beloved hyung.’

Chan grins at that, ‘Why indeed.’ And then he adds, ‘I want custody of Soonie if you’re trying to take my scooter.’

‘Over my dead body,’ Minho says at once, ‘No actually, over your dead body. This divorce will turn into a murder investigation.’

Minho tries not to stare and look so eager as Chan laughs heartily again, falling back a little with the force of his laughter.

They start going over the documents, sighing in turns as they methodically tick away at boxes and fill in blanks, pull up information from their phones, fill in information about each other in some documents where they needed each other’s information. A few of the late gym goers walk past, finishing their session, mostly ignoring them. Minho guesses they look like they’re going through some sort of school work or research and not intense divorce papers.

Chan’s voice goes hoarser the more he talks and after a while he gives Minho an apologetic smile and starts typing out his questions and answers.

Minho has the urge to look up if Selkies were able to use their voices during and after a shower or bath or if they had to be in sea-water/sea-water adjacent for that to work.

Thank you for doing this with me Chan tells him as they manage to conclude things for the moment, im sorry this has extended on for so long

It was nearly 10 and Minho winces a little. He’s grateful that Jisung had mentioned he already set out Soonie’s dinner so he’s not too worried about his cat but he should definitely get back home.

‘It’s okay hyung,’ Minho shrugs before gesturing around, ‘It’s kinda cool being here at this time – feels like those things people call liminal spaces.’

Chan grins at that.

Yeah people say that – it can get spooky sometimes

‘But not haunted?’

I hope not, I want to keep working here Chan says with a wince before he pauses and then types some more. I’ll drop you off, it’s late and you’ve worked the whole day.

That would certainly save a lot of time because while the buses were still definitely running they would be less in number and Minho could be waiting for any length of time before the bus he needed would arrive.

Besides, I should use it before you take the scooter in the divorce Chan chuckles.

Minho squints at him and Chan gives him an amused smile.

Don’t skin me! Chan types quickly as he stands up.

‘I’m going to come up with a new threat – just you wait.’

I look forward to it.

Chan remembers his address so Minho doesn’t have to guide him again and second time around he’s a bit more relaxed sitting on the back. It was quite pleasant driving out at this time, the streets emptier and they stop only once and that too for barely 10 seconds before they’re moving on.

Chan slows to a stop at the driveway leading into his apartment complex and without being wobbly this time Minho gets off. He takes off the helmet and hands it to Chan before shaking his hair back.

‘Thank you hyung,’ Minho tells him sincerely, ‘Please drive back safely.’

Chan smiles and nods.

Minho is about to sign goodnight when Chan raises his hands, pausing a moment and with a bit of bashful smile points at him and then signs name and then-

Minho blinks, staring at Chan’s hands and the motion they make.

‘Was-…was that my name?’ Minho asks.

Chan smiles and nods.

‘Again?’

Chan obliges and makes the motions – it’s simple, familiar, and-

‘-that definitely has husband in there,’ Minho points out, amusement and delight bubbling in him. He got his own name in Selkie Speak.

Chan just grins and shrugs as though to say is there? before starting his scooter again and mouthing homework.

‘You’re joking,’ Minho exclaims once he finds his voice, ‘You’re making me do homework on my own name?!’

Chan nods.

Are you insane Minho signs and then adds bestie?

Chan nearly falls of the scooter with the force of his laughter.

‘Fine,’ Minho throws his hands up in defeat but he can’t help but smile, see you hyung.

Chan smiles, giving him a small wave.

See you Minho. He pauses and then signs something and Minho is able to pick up on specific words and he threads them together just as Chan drives off.

It was nice talking to you.

He turns away from the entryway and watches as Chan makes his way down the street until he reaches the main road.

He’s still smiling as he enters his apartment.

Soonie meows at him from his cat-tree, his tone almost offended as though asking why he was away for so long and why the second human wasn’t around either.

‘I’m sorry,’ Minho says softly to his cat, dropping his heavier than usual bag onto the floor and making his way over to his cat, ‘But your dad is getting a divorce and I don’t want to lose custody over you.’

Soonie doesn’t fight him as he pulls him out of his comfortable nook and holds him close, sticking his nose between his ears and sniffing at his biscuit ears.

And as though struck by lightning Minho jolts a little before staring down at Soonie in his arms and-

‘You’re fucking kidding me.’

Just to make sure Minho pulls up his laptop – he needed a wider screen for this, and pulls up the Selkie Speak video on how to Speak animal names. And literally the second animal that comes up-

Minho can’t help but just laugh, warmth creeping up his face.

It was spliced together that was for sure, which was why Minho didn’t get it immediately. But now it was somewhat glaringly obvious and Minho can’t help but be both amused and somewhat endeared.

‘We tell no one about this,’ Minho tells Soonie. ‘Or we’re never hearing the end of it.’

Soonie purrs on his lap in response.

Minho shakes his head to himself again, smiling as he replays the tutorial.

Cat-husband.

*

Chapter Text

The first time Chan sees Minho isn’t actually in their shared Basic Japanese class but rather the year before.

Chan had been taking a breather at the back of the university café; it was just one of those days where everything was overwhelming and there’s only so much Chan can personally take.

Ryujin isn’t working today so the blueberry smoothie she had a special knack for making wasn’t really hitting the way it usually did for Chan.

Chan wishes he could go back to his place and burrow away for the rest of the day and night and mindlessly level up in his game but he was meeting with Coach Hyunwoo later and that was actually something he could look forward to.

At least he would have the day end on a more positive note. Hopefully.

But for now he’ll just stew in his own gloomy thoughts in his corner for the next hour or so. At least the café isn’t full, which was odd for a Thursday afternoon. Well, in general it was odd because the café was always busy from the moment it opened to the moment it closed. But there’s maybe just 10 other people scattered around, most of them by themselves or in pairs, either quietly studying or watching something on their devices, earphones on.

He hugs his seal-skin around him more snugly, not that he’s cold – far from it. The weather was nice out – peak autumnal air and almost acceptable to be seen walking around with a soft furry hoodie. This was Chan’s favourite sort of weather to swim in. Actually maybe a late night swim would be nice after talking with Coach Hyunwoo.

Just a small bit of comfort.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chan spots rather strange movement across the public garden area that surrounded the café.

It was a student- maybe Chan’s age or the same year or so and for reasons Chan cannot immediately understand, he’s on all fours, crawling.

Chan has to do a double-take because what the fuck.

Then he realizes the guy was carefully approaching something in the bushes, everything about his body language suggesting he didn’t care what he looked like, focusing intently on whatever was in the bush. Chan sits up straighter, leaning closer to the window to take a closer look.

The concerned student’s back is turned to Chan but it allows him an opportunity to glimpse a white shape within the bushes.

A cat.

There was a cat in there.

Chan has seen a few cats in the area, roaming freely around the garden and expansive parks and even the more wooded area behind the training facilities.

The student crouches down, lowering himself to the ground, practically on his belly at this point. Chan can’t tell if he’s trying to coax him out or not, just placing himself there instead and seemingly not even looking at the cat.

A minute or so later the cat emerges from the bushes some more – it’s white with grey and brown patches here and there. Chan can’t tell if it’s injured or hurt and if this student was just trying to pet a random cat or trying to get a hold of it to take it to the vet or something.

The cat comes closer, sniffing the student a bit before settling down, paws tucked under. The student adjusts himself, sitting up a little, freeing his hand and letting the cat get used to him.

For a moment Chan thinks he’s seeing things but he realizes the student was most definitely Light Fae.

Soft and quick blinks of light blossom here and there at random around the student and the cat seems fascinated.

That was clever, Chan has to admit. The cat moves around the student who doesn’t fidget or shift about but instead waits as the cat walks around him. That’s when Chan notices the cat was limping.

An old injury maybe? The cat could definitely move that was for sure.

The student sits up and turns to look around.

Pretty is the first thing that pops up in Chan’s mind.

Dark short hair, even darker eyes that had a sort of sharpness to them even as he was evidently soothingly interacting with the cat.

He’s saying something – no doubt a friend out of Chan’s line of sight. He then looks down at the cat that’s approached him, closer than before and gently holds a hand out. The cat bumps into his hand and there’s more brief twinkles of light.

The light is soft, not very evident and Chan guesses that if you weren’t of Magick you might be able to see it. Maybe he was part Light-Fae – it reminds him of Felix but not quite.

While Felix’s light was soft and golden very much like sunshine, this person’s light seemed more…more ephemeral. A bit more like stars.

The cat allows itself to be scooped up, quite happy in fact, pawing at the air – more like the little blinks of light that Chan guesses might be an intentional thing to get the cat distracted.

It’s a sweet moment and Chan finds that he’s leaning comfortably, body no longer tense, just watching the guy on the grass interacting with the cat gently and soothingly.  

The cat shifts about, looking all around him and the student smiles before glancing up towards another student now entering the frame, phone at his ear.

They talk a little more as the new person squats down, making himself small and clearly also talking to the cat before they both turn to his phone screen.

The Cat-Rescuer is nodding, squinting a little at the screen and they seem to come up with some sort of plan before they both carefully get up. The cat squirms a bit and there’s a small sparkle that briefly erupts around the Cat-Rescuer and the cat calms down.

Then both the Cat-Rescuer and his friend start heading out of the gardens and out of Chan’s view.

The next time Chan sees the Cat-Rescuer is as he’s leaving the administration building after a particularly exhausting talk with the Scholarship Director who not only mentions the Go family and their contribution to the university once, but three times like Chan wasn’t well aware of the fact. Chan hadn’t even come here to talk to the Director, Chan does his best to avoid the man. He was here to talk to the very pleasant Mrs. Song who usually handled all aspects of his scholarship and came to all of his swimming competitions to cheer him on. Instead he was redirected to talk to the Director and Chan spends an excruciating entire hour talking to the man as he downplays the “rumors” he’s heard of “misbehavior”.

‘You’re all bursting with energy, so enthusiastic of course you’re all competitive – what’s a little playful rough-housing right? It’s nothing, you need to stop taking these things so personally,’ the man laughs, ‘Sportsmanship am I right?’

Chan sighs internally.

He’s finally able to leave, managing to lie about having a meeting with Coach Hyunwoo even though he doesn’t. Mrs. Song was unfortunately busy and Chan has to talk to Mr. Byun instead who was nice too, thankfully.

Chan thinks he needs to learn the Director’s schedule so he can avoid the man whenever he has to come here. But he would probably only have to come here maybe twice more at most – he’s already technically graduated, the only discussions he would need to have would be with Mrs. Song who already made the appropriate communications with the Sports Science Faculty and all related topics for his required work at the university training facility would be handled there.

As he steps out into the chilly December air, the promise of heavy snowfall looming overhead, Chan spots Cat-Rescuer walking with purpose.

He doesn’t look angry. Rather he seemed very focused, determined.

Chan has a distinct feeling that Cat-Rescuer got things done when needed and there was no stopping him once he put his mind to something.

He’s carrying, for reasons Chan cannot fathom, what appeared to be a literal sack of dirt.

It looked quite heavy and he shifts it from one hand to another as he walks before he spots someone just as someone also spots him in turn it would seem as there’s an enthusiastic shout.

Cat-Rescuer stops, shifting his legs a little apart and squatting down a little, raises up the sack of dirt over his head triumphantly, a very smug smile on his face despite slightly shaky arms from the effort.

Chan doesn’t know why but it’s somewhat inspiring.

There’s some sort of commotion and response to him and he lowers the dirt back down before quickly making way towards the direction that lead to the parks.

And it makes him feel just a little better too as he makes his way back to the training facility.

The third time Chan sees Cat-Rescuer is at the convenience store right outside the university grounds. He looks exhausted, just about the same way Chan was feeling, and he’s waiting for his noodles to finish cooking, staring at the different bright colour posters on top of the noodle-cooker set up with glazed eyes.

Chan wasn’t the kind to emotionally eat but being in the same room as Go Youngmin and his buddies and having to be civil despite the obvious and blatant entitlement he was displaying, even making snide remarks about Yuna and Hyunjin and getting laughs from other students was sickening and Chan needs to drown in salty and spicy carbs that will make him feel something other frustration.

Out of curiosity he glances at Cat-Rescuer’s set up. There’s obviously his noodles waiting to be cooked and to the side a plain yogurt cup but it’s clearly been mixed with with other ingredients. He doesn’t mean to snoop but Chan catches sight of an empty packet of seaweed, chili-sauce from the noodles, an empty can of tuna, and two onsen eggs.

The noodle-cooker makes a beeping sound and barely looking at what he was doing Cat-Rescuer dumps the mixture into the noodles and vigorously mixes everything up.

Cat-Rescuer takes the trash and empty packets with him and goes and takes a seat by the window.

Chan doesn’t even pause to think as he picks up the same things, opting for a milder ramen of course and he goes to set up his own noodles. Oddly enough this meal probably packed in half of his required quota for protein for the day. Just for fun, he adds some cheese into his mix as well and after paying for his items go and waits for his noodles to be done.

When he goes to sit with his own monstrosity of a wildly altered ramen bowl, he sees that Cat-Rescuer is no longer alone but instead another person is with him, probably having just come in judging by the bits of wet patches on his shoulder from the snow lightly falling outside. Chan doesn’t think it’s the same guy from last time, this one was taller.

‘-that’s genuinely the grossest thing I’ve ever seen,’ the new person states rather blandly.

Instead of responding verbally Cat-Rescuer swiftly reaches out to elbow his friend right at his ribs. This was apparently an expected response because his friend just grin, dodging out of the way like it was second nature before he goes into the noodle aisle too.

Chan tucks in and, sure, the mixture did not look particularly appealing but fuck it’s good. Cat-Rescuer was really onto something.

Cat-Rescuer and his friend leave before he does and Chan hopes Cat-Rescuer feels as nourished and satisfied as he does.

Feeling lighter and better, warmed up by the noodles and definitely calmer and more relaxed than when he came into the convenience store, Chan leaves once he’s done and heads back home.

The fourth time Chan sees Cat-Rescuer they’re standing feet from each other, surrounded by a bunch of other people and students alike. Chan hasn’t seen Cat-Rescuer in over a month and since then the weather has become much more forgiving and Chan had settled very nicely into his new schedule, now no longer needing to shadow Coach Hyunwoo or Coach Minhyuk anymore but independently coaching shorter and smaller classes to start off with.

They’re at the train station and they’re both waiting for the same train it would seem. Cat-Rescuer definitely had some sort of pet because the amount of pet-hair he had on his trousers wasn’t the kind you got from casually interacting with an animal but rather from living with one.

The bag he’s carrying has two charms on it, one is from an anime series Chan can’t quite remember the name of and the other looks like it’s handmade rather clumsily with a funny face doodled on it. They’re both worn, suggesting he’s had them for a while – either he never changed them out or was careful with his belongings. None of Chan’s charms ever survived on his bag so he’s just opted to never hang anything on it out of fear of losing his things.

Chan rarely took the train as he opted to drive his scooter to most places. However his scooter was being serviced at the workshop and considering the timing he didn’t want to get stuck in traffic in a taxi so he opted for the train instead.

Much like everyone else he was shocked hearing about Go Youngmin and his substance abuse but even more surprised when Chan was told that he would be kicked out of the university.

Changbin had been with him when the news broke and they both shared a look of complete disbelief because Youngmin and his family had the support and control of so many people in the Board of the university and other departments. In a way Chan had been somewhat aware of Go Youngmin and the rumors regarding substance abuse but honestly he tried not to think about the Mer as much as possible so he rarely entertained even the slightest reference about him. But he’d heard/seen a few of the people he trained with outside of the university and people who saw him in clubs and bars and apparently he was really living up the cliché of young, rich, and reckless. Chan remembers how he’d showed up hung-over for a training session the past semester and how Coach Minhyuk had temporarily suspended him over it for a week.

So now he was headed to a meeting regarding the situation at the headquarters of the Collegiate Association even though he didn’t want to but he was part of the Sports Science faculty now and so had to be there.

Chan doesn’t know why, because despite the fact that he wasn’t at all involved in any of this, he just has a horrible sinking feeling that something will happen and it will end up effecting him at some level. He’s not sure how or where and he has no proof about it either but he just feels it.

Cat-Rescuer suddenly takes his phone out of his jacket pocket and Chan doesn’t mean to snoop but he reads the name Under-baked Bread as the caller ID. He’s about to pick up the call when-

‘Hyung!’

Cat-Rescuer turns around and his friend, who had his phone in his hand as well, waves to him from another queue.

Cat-Rescuer excuses himself from the queue and walks over to Under-baked Bread who starts exclaiming something before Cat-Rescuer can even get to him.

They’re out of earshot but Chan smiles as Cat-Rescuer throws his head back, laughing at something Under-baked Bread says before patting his arm and turning to line up at the other queue.

The meeting is not as bad as Chan was expecting it to be.

The panel who investigated the substance abuse put out their evidence (there’s a lot) and Chan suspects there was definitely some sort of internal leak because there was way too much detail in the things exposed. Go Youngmin is there, looking furious but he’s definitely been told to not say a single thing, both his parents on either side of him, a hand each on his arms as though constantly restraining him.

Youngmin doesn’t catch sight of him but Chan is aware that his closest friends are sitting in the seats 3 rows ahead and they had all seen him. Chan isn’t alone, Coach Hyunwoo, Coach Minho, and Coach Minhyuk are also present and so was Park Jihyo who was Chan’s senior and worked in the more academic side of the faculty, looking serious and focused. The Dean of their faculty sits attentively, listening to the panel. From what Chan knew and heard from the other coaches as well as Jihyo and a few others was that she was in a very delicate situation with the university board as a whole despite doing her best to negate the Go family influence. Unfortunately for her being the Dean didn’t mean much if the Board of the University was telling her what to do.

Coach Minhyuk had said that the Dean might try and and use this as an advantage to completely remove the influence the Go family had tried to enforce in the Faculty and Chan hopes she’s able to do it too. Chan supposes it makes sense how quickly she acted in removing Youngmin from the faculty and disqualifying him.

Things honestly go better and smoother than Chan was expecting.

But the good news, or well, good vibes, don’t last too long.

It’s a University announcement and honestly it shouldn’t effect Chan in the slightest as he’s already graduated and so whatever changes made to the criteria regarding graduation in regards to scholarship students, the Seely Races, and international students shouldn’t apply to him but somehow it does and here he was.

Chan is not surprised in the slightest to learn that despite the arguments placed by the Dean as well as Coach Minhyuk and Coach Minho, Chan and a few other students would be required to take 3 more credits, or 1 more subject, in order to graduate or they would have their degrees revoked.

Chan has to do his best to remain calm.

Felix is so upset, his rage so pure and unadulterated his tears of frustration look like liquid light before all the light around him dims in spikey dull shapes.

‘This is obviously targeted,’ Hyunjin says hotly, ‘Binnie doesn’t have to do it and you both graduated at the same time!’

Changbin was Vanara, so he definitely was under the Seely Races. However Changbin was also from a long line of very notable figures, his ancestry spanning over three thousand years. His heritage was older than most institutions not just in the country but across the world. His great-grandmother was responsible for establishing the foundation for which their inclusive and modern education was established on. Though just looking at Changbin most wouldn’t think of him as standing out in particular and that was how he preferred it as well unlike certain Mer.

However, with Chan falling uniquely into all three categories and with people who had an agenda against him with connections to the university, he’s not particularly surprised that it has come to this.

It honestly could have been worse.

That doesn’t mean it was fair.

Chan needed some time alone, somewhere quiet and where he would be left alone and not looked at. The best place for this was the library – especially during the end of the school year where it’s mostly senior students using the facility preparing either for their thesis or dissertations.

Chan makes his way to the top floor which was always the emptiest and today is no different, with only a few people scattered here and there on the study desks. Chan finds himself a desk at the furthest end of the library near the window where it opened out into the view of the sun setting.

Slumping back on the surprisingly comfortable chair Chan quietly groans to himself, blankly watching the sunset. If anyone saw him they’d assume he was a senior student on the verge of a breakdown, not a university staff on the verge of a breakdown.

The initial gut instinct he had about something going amiss on the day he had attended the meeting regarding Go Youngmin had been true albeit a bit in advance. This was something they definitely had a hand in, and with Director Kim’s friendship, seemed to wish to impart Chan with one final gift of massive inconvenience.

Chan just hopes this is the end of it.

Looking away from the scenery, the sun having set some time ago and the sky darkening gently, Chan stretches himself a little, neck aching from the weird angle he was slumped in.

And that’s when he sees him.

Cat-Rescuer.

Chan could almost laugh.

Every time Chan comes across Cat-Rescuer it’s always after a particularly heinous day.

It’s funny in a way – Chan has never felt like he’s been particularly lucky in life, and with everything that was happening in the past year or so, it really further proved his point. Everything he’s come to stand upon he’s done entirely out of hard work and relentless determination. It was exhausting and draining a lot of the times, but Chan is proud of where he’s come, and most of all he has no regrets.

None of it was handed to him or fell at his feet.

People like Go Youngmin and Director Kim were just thorns on his side and they wouldn’t deter him from doing what he wanted, from how he wanted to live his life. It was frustrating yes – and sometimes it felt too much and Chan just needed a break, a reprieve of some sort.

And well, this was starting to feel like that. This was starting to feel a bit like grace, a bit like Magick.

Or maybe he was just being mental and projecting because he remembered Cat-Rescuer so particularly after the first day that he just stood out to him. Chan supposes that he would definitely catch sight and notice other people from the university more if they managed to make a first-time impression on him the way Cat-Rescuer did. So this was probably all just coincidence.

Cat-Rescuer scrunches up his nose and then sighs, leaning back on his chair and stretching his hands out before him, feet lifting as well.

His hands make fists and they wiggle a little, his feet kicking as well.

Maybe it was his connection to cats but Chan doesn’t think he’s seen anyone with so much cat-likeness to their being before and he knows plenty of people who had cats.

Chan briefly wonders how long he’s been here, and if Chan absentmindedly walked past him when he came in.

He rolls his neck a little and he must feel some sort of relief because little sparkles of light pop up around him briefly. Chan glances around and notes that no one has noticed this and he guesses that this was definitely something maybe just a few people could see or notice.

For a moment Chan entertains the idea of just going up to him. At this point maybe he should?

But he clearly looked occupied, he was here for a reason (the books and his laptop in front of him clearly indicative of that) and Chan wouldn’t want to disturb him. Besides, what would he even say?

“Hi I seem to be seeing you every time I have a really shitty rough day and I hope this doesn’t come off as creepy or weird but somehow you seem to make things better”?

Absolutely not.

Cat-Rescuer looks up and Chan immediately ducks back behind the cover of the desk, realizing he was just staring at him like some weirdo.

After a while Cat-Rescuer leaves, bag shouldered, holding a couple of books clearly to check out.

Chan hopes he has a good end of semester and if he was a senior (most likely), depending on what he was studying, his finals and other related required work goes well.

And maybe next time Chan sees him he’ll say hi or something. Maybe.

‘Hey,’ Felix says from the landing upstairs, poking his head out when Chan returns home.

Hey Chan smiles up at the younger.

‘I have a ton of takis, you want to eat some with me?’ he offers, ‘I also have some non-aesthetically pleasing lemon bars I brought back specifically for you.’

Chan chuckles.

I’ll be up after I wash up and change

And doing exactly that Chan makes his way up to the flat above his, trying not to think about how empty it would be for a while or if he would be stuck with a new weirdo neighbour.

‘Lemon bars!’ Felix declares as he steps inside, pointing at the slightly lumpy looking treats, ‘That’s all yours if you want, I’ve saved some for Hyunjin and Changbin already so have at it.’

I will definitely have at it Chan says enthusiastically.

‘So,’ Felix says, throwing himself on the couch next to him, ‘What’s the plan?’

Chan sighs, chewing through the soft buttery soft slightly zesty treat with relish first before replying.

Just gonna take the easiest subject – I’m thinking Basic Japanese.

‘Oh yeah,’ Felix nods with approval at once, ‘You wouldn’t even need to go to class honestly.’

Chan chuckles yeah, that’s what Minhyuk-hyung was telling me. But I think I’ll show up a few times anyway. Might be fun? I dunno.

Felix sighs, giving him a sort of defeated grimace.

It’s fine Lix Chan tells him it’s annoying but well, it is what it is, nothing more I can do about it.

‘I’m not one to wish ill on anyone but fuck I want to punch Youngmin so bad,’ Felix seethes, ‘Even when he’s not around he somehow makes himself the problem I’ve never hated someone so bad.’

Chan gives him a look of amusement before nodding at the lemon bars is this a new recipe?

‘Yes,’ Felix nods, ‘You’ll be surprised to know it’s eggless and butter-less.’

Are you for real? What’s the butter I’m tasting?! Chan demands, staring at the lemon bars.

‘Your imagination,’ Felix wheezes, ‘Actually I’m surprised too – it’s a recipe following options for people who might have egg allergy.’

You can be allergic to eggs?!

‘Yeah,’ Felix says seriously, ‘But it’s also an option for people who can smell eggs really well.’

Chan grimaces at that.

‘Okay other than the lemon bars, wanted to tell you something,’ Felix says a little too lightly.

Chan pauses, squinting at the younger man for a moment.

What is it? he asks cautiously.

‘Well, two things,’ Felix says, ‘Uh, which do you want to know first?’

You haven’t even told me what kind of “things” these are Chan says with a small frown.

‘Okay so your mum called my mum to tell me to tell you that there is going to be a Pod ceremony in 3 months and it would be great if you could attend.’

Chan sighs.

‘I’m sorry,’ Felix winces.

It’s okay Lix, Chan says with a small smile, did they mention anything about why there’s going to be a Pod ceremony?

Felix gives him a sort of sheepish look.

‘Uh, your dad is retiring-.’

Chan can feel his eyes widen at this.

‘-and I think they want to try and push for your name to replace his position this one last time,’ Felix says in a rush.

Chan rolls his eyes.

Did she add that he’s dying again this time around?

Felix grimaces.

‘No, just uh, you know, the usual parental emotional blackmail,’ he says uncomfortably.

I’m sorry you’re the messenger in all of this Chan sighs I already told mum to stop doing this so many times and-

‘-I don’t mind,’ Felix tells him reassuringly, ‘I was considering not telling you, but I think I might meet them when I get back at some point and-.’

-yeah Chan sighs it would be awkward and-

‘No no,’ Felix shakes his head, ‘Not like that, not the way you think.’

What do you mean Chan frowns.

‘Look, if anything I want to be like, your representative,’ Felix grins, ‘If it means your family backs off, I have no problem firmly laying down your boundaries for you while I’m there once and for all. So like, if you have any statement to pass on then you know, I got you.’

Lix, you know I can’t ask you to do that Chan frowns even more I don’t want my parents hounding you or your parents even more than they do already.

‘Yeah I know – and maybe this way once and for all, you can very clearly put down your feet, right before the Pod, there’s no way anyone would mistranslate that as anything,’ Felix tells him earnestly.

Chan reaches over to fluff up Felix’s crispy blond hair fondly.

‘Argh!’ he yells, leaning away, ‘I’ve put serum on my hair!’

While Felix had a point and it was something he would definitely think about it wouldn’t just be so simple as that.

This wasn’t entirely just about inheriting the Selkie representative seat his father held and wanted Chan to take over – that was just the surface layer to everything else.

What’s the other thing you wanted to tell me Chan asks, steering their conversation away.

‘Oh yeah! About your new potential neighbours!’ Felix says excitedly, ‘There’s one coming in at the end of the week – she’s an intern doctor.’

Could be useful Chan chuckles there are more people coming in?

‘Hyeshin-noona said there are about 10 people interested,’ Felix tells him, ‘Most of them are recently graduated or have work in the area.’

Chan nods to that.

‘One of them has a cat, she asked if you might have allergies,’ Felix explains.

You know I don’t have allergies Chan grins and adds maybe it’ll be nice?

‘Nicer than a doctor? If it’s strictly a house cat you might never see it,’ Felix says thoughtfully, ‘One of my coworkers has a pet cat and she never leaves the house so people had no idea she even had a cat for years until they had a fire alarm go off and she left the apartment with the cat.’

Chan wheezes before he says well, I’ll be the one breaking in a new neighbour this time I guess.

‘Oh how the turns have tabled,’ Felix grins, wiggling his eyebrows before he asks, ‘When do classes start?’

Three weeks Chan replies, almost a month if we’re being technical.

‘I’m still so happy I didn’t take the traditional academic route because the idea of a summer semester makes me want to cry,’ Felix chortles.

Didn’t your training session literally start in the summer? Chan asks with a laugh. Felix wasn't in school in the "traditional" way - rather he had gone through rigorous training in one of the best pastry schools in the country and then managed to get apprenticeship under a few separate fields, expanding his skills and experience.

‘Well yeah, but I was like, measuring butter, understanding fermentation, and snacking on chocolate chips, not trying to squeeze in random unrelated information into my brain for the sake of credit scores,’ he says with a deep frown, still upset with everything, almost more than Chan in some regard.

It’s just this, and then no more Chan shrugs.

‘I’ll fucking lose my mind if that piece of shit shows up anywhere near the university,’ Felix says darkly, the lights around him dimming a little.

And thankfully Felix does not lose his shit as Go Youngmin and his friends don’t show up at the university. Chan only hears random updates and rumors from Hyunjin occasionally that Youngmin was apparently throwing tantrums and sulking and wasting money in Bali and being a public menace and nuisance to the locals.

At least he wasn’t here and Chan hopes it stays that way.

On the first day of his summer semester class, Chan finds himself at the university not as staff but a student after nearly a year. He almost feels like he’s masquerading around though he highly doubts anyone thinks he’s anything but a student here. He momentarily wonders if he should dress more “student” when he rolls his eyes at himself. His outfits haven’t really changed in the past seven years so he doubts doing anything different now would make a difference in how he’s perceived. The only time he put effort into looking somewhat put together was during freshman year, like other freshman students all wanting to look put together and make a good impression.

Obviously that mindset starts fading pretty quickly when your academic survival was on the line; whether or not you looked good was genuinely the furthest thing in your mind as you started third year.

Chan usually tried to look neat and smart every time he was required to step into the Administrative building – he knows the Director probably wouldn’t think any more of him even if he was decked out in designer clothes, but he doesn’t need to give the man any further reason to treat him any worse.

Chan really hopes this is the last time he has to meet with his man.

‘Ah, Bang Chan, glad to hear that you’re going about the right way these days!’ Director Kim says right off the bat, as though Chan had some history of delinquencies he himself wasn’t aware of.

He doesn’t even know how to respond to that.

Director Kim continues to mostly talk at Chan, letting him know how much they went through, how the budget allocation for his specific case was so unique and complicated in regards to the new rules, and how much effort he put into it. Chan has to actively not zone out, managing to give smiles and acknowledgments where necessary. 

‘Consider yourself lucky,’ the Director smiles as though any of this was at all remotely fair.

Well, I should get going then, don’t want to be late Chan manages.

‘Of course! Wouldn’t want that!’ the Director chuckles, ‘Stay focused in class!’

Of course, have a good day Director Kim.

The man just smiles and waves him off.

Chan wants to, of course, immediately not go for his classes. He was going to graduate regardless of whether or not he attended the classes. Everything about this situation was so aggravating and so obnoxious and honestly Chan is on his last bit of patience.

But despite what he told Felix he knows he’s going to attend each class – it felt wrong not to. The principle of it all being lost in a way – and going to class felt like it was at least one way of just making things normal, or something like that. Chan doesn’t even know or understand his own excuses he just makes his way to the Linguistics and Literature faculty building and finds the lecture room he would be spending 2 days a week for three months in.

He’s never been to the Linguistics building and it’s one of the older buildings but it’s clearly been renovated and cleaned up nicely. The garden and yarn around it was quite nice and Chan had spied names of the different plants that grew around the place with quotes from famous prose and poems that mentioned them.

At least the vibe of the building and surrounding area was calming. Hyunjin had been right about how sometimes you just needed to look at nature and greenery to feel like life wasn’t as bad as it felt at that moment in time.

Chan goes to the bench near the end and sits at the far end of it near the window. They’re on the second floor and from this side of the building he can see more of the garden. He supposes they’ve made it look like a traditional English garden. There’s plenty of rose bushes and climbers, small white blossoms and a variety of citrus trees. Chan wonders if Hyunjin has come by this area before or not. He’d probably like it here.

A few more students come in, surprising Chan a little because he didn’t think this class would be so popular. He wonders how many are students from the faculty or just people aiming for an easy credit score to boost their GPA when, honestly at this point Chan shouldn’t be surprised, Cat-Rescuer walks in.

His hair has grown out past his ears, pushed back a little messily. He’s dressed very casually, once again proving to Chan he was definitely a senior student, and he’s carrying his usual bag and on it the same two charms.

He scans the room, not really looking at anyone in particular, most likely finding a seat to his liking and then heads up the stairs towards the back of the lecture room.

Honestly this was just getting a bit funny if Chan is honest with himself. Should he start looking for the Cat-Rescuer every time he has a particularly shitty day?

The lecturer walks in after a while alongside a few students. He waits for everyone to settle down, going through the list of names of students before he introduces himself and requests them to all do the same. He quickly writes on the board a bit of simplified phonetic Japanese for them to follow to introduce themselves.

Chan’s barely fazed as he’s skipped over completely by the lecturer, no doubt the roster in front of him denoting he was Selkie and he points to the student sitting on the other end of the bench and they continue on. He’s faced 4 years of this from a handful of lecturers and professors and of course other university staff so he’s honestly not bothered.

‘-thank you very much Sumin-shii, and now next is, ah, yes please stand and introduce yourself,’ the lecturer says and Chan looks back around just in time to see Cat-Rescuer smiling politely, ears red but otherwise composed as he stands and bows shortly.

‘Lee Minho desu, yoroshiku onegaishimasu,’ the Cat-Rescuer, or well, Lee Minho says politely and neatly.

‘Very good, thank you Minho-shii,’ the lecturer nods, ‘And next-?’

Minho sits down, a small slightly embarrassed smile on his lips, looking down at his notebook, ears still rosy.

Maybe this way Chan could actually have a basis to talk to Lee Minho this way.

Chan turns back around to face the front, his own smile on his lips, the bitterness of the day already fading.

Maybe this was Magick after all.

*

It’s a normal weekend day.

Chan has just finished his last class for the day, waving off the kids who thankfully listened to him 80% of the time. To his own surprise he was particularly good at coaching children – Coach Minhyuk had jokingly said it was because he was still very young too and could relate to them, as though the man wasn’t only 5 years older than himself. This was the sixth time he was coaching the kids independently and Chan definitely feels more sure, a bit more confident. The imposter syndrome was ever present of course but he doesn’t expect it to just go away. Jihyo had confided in him that she still struggled with it too, and Coach Hyunwoo had told him that in a way having imposter syndrome was just a way of always making sure you pushed yourself to remain above standard so in a way it was good.

Chan could do without the random anxious waves though.

He’s looking forward to going out to eat with Hyunjin and Changbin – with his new work schedule settling and having more solid hours especially as it was summer break for so many school kids.

Honestly things were starting to stabilize and Chan finds himself easing into this new routine and enjoying himself.

He would be Assistant Coach to Coach Hyunwoo and Coach Minhyuk for the upcoming semester and working with freshman students and athletic scholarship students to train for the university championships. He had seen Jihyo do the same when he was in third year and he would be following her route – it was a lot of focused work but Chan knows it would pay off if he does his best.

But tonight would be a nice day to go hang out. Hyunjin and Changbin had said they’d come pick him up so they could all go eat at a slightly further away location that had really good seafood according to Changbin. Felix wouldn’t be able to make it as he had to head to the bakery he worked at before 5 in the morning and had told Chan rather morosely to enjoy himself.

The reception desk is empty, Yuna only worked here during the weekdays as part of her internship hours and it was also past the normal “open hours” for the facility anyway.

His shoes make squeaking sounds as he enters the locker room that’s unsurprisingly empty. Coach Minho and Jihyo would be in but they were probably at the gym watching over some training session in there.

Chan was literally thinking about whether or not he wanted crab or calamari when a voice calls his name from behind him.

‘Bang Chan.’

That familiar combination of annoyance, irritation, and wariness flares up in him before he can properly register the voice in his mind.

Go Youngmin is leaning against the doorway to the locker room, looking like he thought he owned the place. He was wearing sunglasses despite the fact that it was 8 in the evening

Chan frowns at once.

‘Go Youngmin,’ he replies.

‘Just so you know, I am allowed to be here,’ he scoffs, ‘It’s not illegal for me to come here.’

Chan wonders where this was headed.

‘Why are you here?’ Chan asks instead.

‘Can’t come to my alumni?’ Youngmin sneers, momentarily swaying where he stood as he pushes himself off of the doorway and looks around, ‘I mean, it’s not like it’s that great anyway.’ He then walks up a bit too close to Chan who takes a step back instinctively, catching a very weird acrid smell from the Mer’s breath, unpleasantly reminding Chan of vomit.

‘I thought I’d come see if there were any juniors training to try and beat my records,’ Youngmin grins, leaning in even more and reaching over to close Chan’s locker door. ‘Give them a pep talk, tell them who to avoid, let them know that their so-called friends would eventually betray them.’

Chan frowns even more at that.

During freshman year Youngmin had reached out to Chan to befriend him. And initially it was fine – Youngmin was confident, made friends with everyone, had a care-free attitude that was somewhat admirable to Chan as he was always very careful with most things.

However the “friendship” sort of lulled when they weren’t able to find anything that really gave them a connection. They were vividly different people in nearly every sense – that was until they both joined the university swim team.

Youngmin had excitedly chatted to him about them joining competitions and having a good time beating other university teams.

But that sentiment made a sharp u-turn when during the mock competition amongst the students, Chan had cleanly overtaken Youngmin by 4 whole seconds.

The Mer had been surprised at first, and in his shock hadn’t said anything in particular.

But the second time they raced his anger was palpable and his demeanor completely different.

At first Chan was confused but then he realized Youngmin had befriended him with the idea that he would be #1, that he would be the “star athlete”, that he would lead their swim team. 

And it wasn’t like Chan had lied to him about anything but Youngmin had then started to treat him like he lead him on or somehow betrayed him. In a way it was almost as though he couldn’t believe that Chan, a Selkie and a scholarship student, would “dare” outperform him.

‘I see you haven’t changed,’ Youngmin drawls, ‘Using people and dropping them the moment they serve their purpose. Or maybe Seo had enough of you huh?’

In a way, Chan’s close friendship with Changbin had shielded him from Youngmin’s stupidity. Changbin and Chan had been close friends since high-school and had joined the university together. While Changbin didn’t join the swim-team, he’d been aware of Go Youngmin and once he found out about what happened had made it a point to always be physically present with Chan in everything.

‘People like Go Youngmin and his family by extension don’t function in the same reality most of us do,’ Changbin had told him bluntly, ‘Everything in their life is made to serve them, for them – when something or someone they deem is beneath them or in a position requiring their “charity” does something against what they think is crossing the line, they’ll retaliate in the worst way possible.’

In some ways Chan was aware of that sort of behavior, it wasn’t that far a concept for him to understand considering his parents but he hadn’t been expecting it from a fellow classmate. This was also when Chan fully understood just how old and influential Changbin’s family really was.

‘Or maybe not – his pretty little waif of a boyfriend will start attending the junior competitions right? I see how this is going.’

Chan realizes that Youngmin was just here to start a fight, to try and get a rise out of him.

The thing is Chan is pretty sure that the Dean as well as Coach Minhyuk would not allow for any sort of interference from the Go family anymore, but he doesn’t want to try and risk something.

He just needed to keep his cool and leave. Maybe if he’s able to get outside he’ll be able to draw the attention of Coach Minho or even Jihyo.

‘It’d be a pity if there was contamination in his test results-.’

‘You’re taking this too far,’ Chan frowns, ‘You can do better than this-.’

Chan guesses he must have triggered Youngmin because the next thing he knows he’s being shoved back harshly, crashing into the locker noisily. He manages to right himself, quickly trying to get a grip on his wherewithal.

‘I know you were behind it,’ Youngmin hisses at him, removing his sunglasses, looking truly deranged.

His eyes are visibly red and he had terrible dark circles, pupils constricted unnaturally. Was he-…was he high?!

‘You need to leave,’ Chan tells him firmly, slightly concerned now. If he was intoxicated that meant he was even more unstable than usual. ‘You need to leave before you do something you’ll regret and-.’

From behind him a couple of figures approach and for a moment Chan is hopeful it’s Coach Minho or Jihyo but it’s not. Chan doesn’t recognize them- they appeared to be around their age or maybe even older. From what Chan learnt most of his “buddies” from university had all sort of dropped him after the drug abuse situation blew up, not wanting to be associated with someone so publically blasted and kicked out of the university.

‘I should have you begging for forgiveness,’ Youngmin hisses, ‘After all the effort I made into befriending you- like anyone would want to bother talking to some mute pushover in the first place – my efforts in befriending you made people like you! You’re here because of me!’

He screams the last part and Chan needed to leave. He’s not afraid of Youngmin or his buddies in what they could physically do to him but rather concerned about whatever wild repercussions might come his way if he stays any longer.

‘Or I just take something from you the way you did to me huh?’ Youngmin hisses, pushing his hair away and moving all up in Chan’s space even as he backs away, somehow managing to circle around the locker room and get closer to one of the other doors. ‘I’d say that’s fair – you’re a fair guy aren’t you? You understand if I did that wouldn’t you?’

His buddies chortle behind him, posturing themselves in a way as though to look menacing and threatening.

‘Felix right?’ Youngmin says and Chan freezes.

What?

‘That’s his name isn’t it?’ Youngmin tilts his head a bit, ‘Pretty little guy. I tried his pastries the other day – so sweet.’

His buddies nod in agreement again, grinning amongst themselves.

‘I bet he tastes sweeter-.’

Chan doesn’t quite remember what happens next. He sort of blanks out for about 10 seconds during which he has Youngmin down on the ground, his fist having made repeated contact with Youngmin’s face before he’s dragged away.

The fight is a blur – Chan doesn’t even register the pain, just pure anger and fury and horror erupting through him.

There’s no reason, no rationale no logic – Chan wasn’t even thinking, moving purely on instinct.

He only somewhat comes back around when he hears a clear resounding call of his name and then he abruptly snaps out of it, vision clearing up and his awareness snapping back as Jihyo looks over him in concern.

‘-where are you hurt?’ she demands.

Chan is aware of a scuffle behind her and he looks over her shoulder and finds that one of Youngmin’s buddy was on the ground, partially unconscious. The other was nowhere to be seen, and Coach Minho had Youngmin down on the ground on his front, knee pressed down on the center of his back.

‘-Lix-!’ Chan gasps out.

‘-woah woah!’ Jihyo pushes him back down, looking over him like she was assessing him, ‘Hey, stay down for a moment yeah?’

Coach Minho is yelling something to someone and Chan is vaguely aware of running steps before an onslaught of pain hits him. Jihyo winces as Chan groans in pain erupting from his left ribs, the side of his face, and just an overwhelming burning pulsing sensation around his face.

‘Chan-ah, hey, where are you hurt, tell me,’ Jihyo says again firmly.

‘I don’t- I don’t remember, noona what-.’

‘-you piece of shit-!’ Youngmin roars at him, ‘I’ll fucking make your life miserable you-!’

Coach Minho pushes his head down none too gently, grimacing the entire time.

‘-you have no idea what I’ll do to you-!’

Jihyo looks incredibly disturbed but turns to focus on him instead.

‘Okay, let’s move to the staffroom okay?’ she says to him, ‘Can you stand? We called the police and an ambulance already.’

‘I need to- I need to make a call,’ Chan tells her, ‘He- he threatened Lix and-.’

He hears a shout of his name and running towards them, looking confused and extremely worried are Hyunjin and Changbin.

‘Staff only-!’ Coach Minho starts to say but recognizes both Hyunjin and Changbin as they get closer, both of them looking around with wide eyes. ‘Jihyo-yah, get them to the staffroom for now until the police get here.’

Jihyo nods and helps Chan stand.

‘Police?!’ Hyunjin whispers in confusion but Changbin takes note of the scene with quick critical eyes, already getting his phone out.

‘Can you call Lix,’ Chan tells Hyunjin at once who comes to Chan’s other side with Jihyo to support him.

‘Y-yeah yeah of course,’ Hyunjin nods at once, digging into his pocket.

Changbin stays back with Coach Minho and Chan catches glimpse of the university security personnel rushing in.

Everything sort of happens in a blur once Hyunjin gets Felix on line. Chan knows he’s probably freaking his friend out but Felix promises not to leave the duplex and that he would be careful, sounding very confused and freaked out in the process.

The next thing he knows a medical personnel looks over him and a police officer comes in to get his statement. Changbin stands next to him the whole time, arms crossed, not saying much, just observing everything and checking his phone every once in a while.

His ribs were slightly bruised according to the medic, and thankfully nothing appeared to be broken or fractured. Chan only notices his hands when the medic is cleaning them up and patching him up, working quickly to make sure he hadn’t hurt his hands in the process.

Chan doesn’t remember the fight in all honesty, just remembers pummeling Youngmin to the ground.

He does feel good about it a little, but now with everything over, the adrenaline fading, dread settles over him.

Coach Minho insists on Chan going to the emergency ward to make sure he had nothing broken or fractured. Changbin immediately volunteers to take him.

On the way to the hospital Chan tells Hyunjin and Changbin what happened, signing the events with a bit of pain as he couldn’t talk anymore. Changbin doesn’t look too fazed, eyes ahead of him on the road, but the grip on his steering wheel looked painful. Hyunjin can barely say a word, too upset and angry to formulate proper words. Just gesticulating his emotions.

Coach Minho watches over them protectively like a hawk – between him and Changbin, Chan feels like he has two overly serious and dedicated bodyguards.

Once he’s cleared at the hospital and given a hefty amount of pain killers Chan is not surprised that he’s summoned to the police station.

It’s mostly a lot of waiting – 2 hours of it in fact. Chan’s jaw was throbbing dully, no doubt once the pain killer wears off he would be in a world of pain.

One of Youngmin’s buddies that had run off somewhere during the fight had apparently been found and caught within the university grounds itself and is brought in as well.

Before he can go in to give his account of what happened, or at least that’s what Chan is expecting he’s going to do, a couple of people show up. Chan doesn’t know who they are, but they head straight into the room where he knows Youngmin and one of his buddies were. Changbin sits up straighter and immediately makes a call.

Chan is called but Changbin stops him from getting up.

‘My family lawyer is on his way,’ he tells him. ‘He’ll be with you throughout the process.’

Coach Minho’s eyebrows go up just a little before he thumbs behind him and says, ‘That’s good, I’ll let them know.’

Changbin’s family lawyer, someone who looked way younger than what Chan was expecting arrives barely 10 minutes later. Changbin has clearly filled Lawyer Im in on everything that’s happened as recounted by Chan and from Coach Minho and Jihyo’s witness as well.

Chan is suddenly incredibly nervous – no matter how you looked at it, Chan was the first one to attack. He was the one who lost control, he could be charged very rightfully with assault and that could absolutely ruin everything he had so carefully built.

He doesn’t remember a lot of the fight and he dreads having to recount what happened to the police.

But to his surprise he doesn’t.

Lawyer Im tells him not to say anything and that he would instead talk to the police. Chan briefly wonders if this is overkill until he catches sight of the interrogation room where a ranked uniformed officer was sitting, and next to him two of the three people who had come in earlier, clearly on behalf of the Go family.

‘He’ll handle it,’ Changbin tells him reassuringly, handing him another bottle of water.

Chan waits in agony, mental and physical, for about an hour or so before Lawyer Im steps out and gives them all a small smile.

‘Chan-shii, you’re free to go home,’ he tells him, ‘Go Youngmin will not be pressing any charges.’

Even Coach Minho does a double take at that.

‘I have also put forward that you will be taking legal action if needed-.’

Wait, what-?

‘-and that you will be putting a restraining order against Go Youngmin.’

I will?

‘Excellent,’ Coach Minho declares as Hyunjin nods fervently in agreement.

Chan is in a stunned state. He turns to Changbin who just gives him a sure and firm nod, squeezing his arm a little before moving him along.

‘I’ll let Lix know we’re headed back,’ Hyunjin says, typing furiously on his phone. Chan’s pretty sure Hyunjin’s been giving Felix a complete commentary on the whole situation, one second short from a video call.

‘Do you have your ID or some sort of identification on you?’ Lawyer Im asks.

Chan has a scanned copy of all of his documentation on his phone and so he sends them to the lawyer who thanks him and heads back into the police station.

Coach Minho leaves with them, telling Chan to take a break tomorrow but to keep him updated on his health and anything else Lawyer Im might tell him.

Changbin Chan starts the moment Coach Minho leaves and is out of earshot, what did you do?

‘Look, Youngmin’s deranged,’ Changbin states bluntly as they make their way to his car, ‘He’s deranged and he’s rich and his family has connections – you don’t even need a blood test to know that he was completely jacked up on drugs. His family will do their best to avoid conflict and more scandals by either buying their way out or using drastic means to bury whatever happened regardless of who it effects.’

Changbin stops to look back at him.

‘There are CCTVs all over the training facility, and I know there’s one at the end of the locker room corridor on both sides. It was clear he came to provoke you- he was the instigator that was for sure and with his history of drug use things would not be favorable for him even if he does buy his way out,’ Changbin shrugs, ‘He also happens to be the youngest of four sons, all of them more successful than him – his parents would no doubt have a limit to what they are willing to tolerate if he continues to go down this line.’

So what are you saying?

‘As you won’t be pressing charges they’ll accept the restraining order,’ Changbin shrugs, walking ahead again, ‘It’s the easiest way out for them and they know this. Youngmin has you to thank by taking this route rather than going through what would be a very public investigation case added to his preexisting drug abuse case.’

It wouldn’t be public though-?

‘Lawyer Im made it clear that it would go public,’ Changbin tells him seriously before adding, ‘I know you wouldn’t hyung, but you have to talk to them in a language they’ll understand.’

Chan stares at his friend, stunned.

‘Don’t look at me like that,’ Changbin splutters before calling out to Hyunjin who had done his best to appear invisible, walking ahead of them and just trying to be inconspicuous, ‘Hey, Hwang Hyunjin, come on back me up on this.’

‘I’d have done the same!’ Hyunjin calls back before pointing at him, ‘And you would have done the same if our positions were reversed and you knew you had the ability to do it!’

Chan can’t even argue that.

‘C’mon hyung,’ Changbin elbows him, ‘You should get some rest.’

Chan sighs, nodding. He really should get back home, check in with Felix with his own two eyes.

‘Let me know at once if you need to go somewhere or have to do something,’ Changbin tells him as they reach his place, slowing the car to a stop, ‘I know Jaebum-hyung will handle everything as best as he can without you having to be too directly involved, but I think you might have to finalize some documents and go through some forms and things with him at one point.’

Chan nods in understanding.

Thank you again he says, no words enough to encapsulate how completely overwhelmed he is by Changbin’s endless capacity for love, generosity, and kindness. I really mean it.

‘Okay but I’m also just hoping for the best outcome here, nothing has been determined completely just yet,’ Changbin says a bit sheepishly, ‘But we got your back hyung.’

Hyunjin nods seriously to that as well.

The sound of their arrival is not gone unnoticed because the main door slams open and practically flying down the stairs in his haste is Felix, the air around him spikey with light no doubt due to his emotional distress.

‘Chris-!’

Chan grabs his young friend and envelopes him in a tight hug, lifting him off of the ground temporarily.

‘Woah! I’m okay-!’ Felix manages to gasp out. ‘Woah, hey I’m okay man – Chris, hey, I’m okay.’

Chan now vividly remembers Youngmin’s words, his face, his expression – the lunatic glint in his eyes and the fear that it instilled in him, quite literally making him lose his mind.

‘Your face,’ Felix winces, fighting him a little to look at him properly.

‘He’s all medicated – should be okay for today,’ Hyunjin tells him, ‘Make sure he’s tucked in?’

‘Yeah of course,’ Felix nods and shuffles them towards the stairs a bit more.

Changbin and Hyunjin leave and Felix helps Chan in as he was now suddenly incredibly exhausted, finally feeling better seeing Felix with his own two eyes.

‘Do you have like an ice-pack or something?’ Felix asks as Chan manages to get his door to open and they step inside.

It’s okay, already got checked by in the hospital Chan grimaces.

‘What happened, tell me how it started,’ Felix demands.

Chan tells Felix what happened as he changes. He was still in his wetsuit and board-shorts and water-shoes. He should shower, but a heavy weariness was dragging him down, sinking into the couch after he manages to change.

‘He was at the shop!?’ Felix exclaims, voice all pitchy in his anger, ‘If I knew I’d burn that motherfucke-!’

No violence Chan says hastily with bruised and cut up hands.

Felix looks incredibly upset but he’s clearly doing his best to get himself together.

‘Come on man,’ Felix says, holding his hand out, ‘Don’t knock out on the couch – I’ll tuck you into bed.’

Chan wheezes faintly and manages to change out of his clothes and collapses into his bed before pushing himself up in sudden realization, making Felix flinch at his sudden action.

‘Dude, don’t do that-!’ he gasps out, ‘Does something hurt-?’

No no- it’s just- Chan groans my seal-skin is in my locker. I forgot it.

Felix winces a little.

It’s okay, I’ll go get it tomorrow Chan sighs probably will have to talk to the Dean too.

‘Should I come with you-?’

No, it’s fine-

‘-you will call Changbin and let him know?’ Felix asks sternly, hands on hips, staring him down.

Chan chuckles drowsily, shuffling over his blankets.

Go sleep Chan tells him I’m okay, things are taken care of – you have to leave in like, 4 hours.

Felix grimaces, glancing at the clock before sighing.

‘Call me if you need anything,’ Felix tells him, ‘I’m keeping my phone on sound.’

Chan smiles, nodding.

Felix leaves after tucking him in, vigorously airing the blankets and making him into a cocoon and in an attempt to make Chan laugh uses his “old man voice” and bids him goodnight.

Chan is bone-tired. But despite this sleep does not come easy to him. He stares blankly at his ceiling, feeling a unique sense of hollowness.

Chan is so so tired.

Tired of this relentless gnawing parasitic negativity that seemed so attached to him. He needed a break. A real one. A reprieve from all of this.

Sometimes it did feel like it might be easier to just go home. To just drop all of this seeing as he’s been fighting so hard and sometimes it felt like it coming to nothing.

It's horrible to think about, going against everything Chan has worked so hard for, to even think about going back.

He just needed a break, he needed some grace in all of this.

He manages to get around 6 hours of sleep which was quite good considering his track record. Clearly Felix has already talked to Changbin and Hyunjin and the former has messaged him to let him know that he would come to take him to the university. There’s also an update from Lawyer Im who sends him scans of the formal documents he would need to read through and sign in regards to the restraining order.

After some sleep, a good hot shower, and putting everything he wore yesterday for wash, and gulping down a whole liter of water Chan does feel better – not so inclined to being so down.

The restraining order made sense and was probably the best step forward in all of this. If it’s approved and implemented Chan never has to see Go Youngmin again – at least for a solid period of time and not without repercussions for the Mer.

Chan would definitely have to make a couple of visits to the Seely Court for this.

He winces a little at the bruising on his face and hands – his hands feel stiff and swollen too. Chan’s never actually been in a fist fight before – note fist. Has he had to use knees and elbows while growing up and being bullied and pushed around? Absolutely; but never with fists. At least he didn’t break any bones. The bruising on his ribs was truly spectacular – a motley of odd blues purples and even greens. No wonder he had difficulty wearing his clothes.

When he leaves he’s greeted with a violently pink sticky note on the stair railing, clearly from Felix, that says in all caps: YOU BETTER NOT JUST GO OUT ON YOUR OWN!!!

Chan chuckles and pockets the note.

Changbin waves at him from where he was leaning against his car.

‘It’s all over the university already,’ Changbin tells him the moment he’s close enough, ‘Hyunjin was telling me all of the juniors are abuzz, even coming in when they don’t have to.’

Chan snorts, that was to be expected.

‘You had pain killers?’ Changbin asks, ‘Should we stop at a clinic first?’

No Chan says at once and yes, already took some pain killers – did my best to dress some of the wounds.

He shows Changbin his carefully bandaged hands.

‘I’m sure I can do better than that later,’ Changbin snorts, ‘Come on hyung let’s go.’

Thankfully there aren’t as many people as Chan is expecting as they finish parking and head into the main sports center building. All of the coaches had messaged him, asking him about his condition and Chan feels embarrassed having to face them now.

Hyunjin is there to greet them as they enter the main training facility.

‘Coach Minhyuk and Coach Minho had to shoo out extra people loitering around,’ Hyunjin tells them with amusement, ‘So it’s just people who you would expect and-.’

‘-oppa!’ Yuna cries out as she runs over, eyes already filled with tears, ‘Oh no your face-!’

You should see my ribs.

It’s not the correct thing to say because Yuna nearly bursts into tears.

Hastily letting her know that he was fine, nothing was broken, and things were handled Chan accepts the special blueberry smoothie Ryujin had sent over to him in a hydro-flask.

Unsurprisingly he’s immediately called to a meeting with the Dean and Coach Minho as well as Jihyo are there as they were both present last night.

Chan is overwhelmed with nerves and anxiety as he sits down at her office. But Dr. Kim Yongsun does not in anyway react negatively, at least in regards to Chan himself – she’s evidently concerned, immediately questioning how and why Go Youngmin was able to enter the staff’s locker room which needed an electronic key that was embedded into all of their ID cards. Coach Minho explains how the ID card of one of the maintenance workers had gone missing a couple of days ago and it had been reported to IT so that the digital key it held inside it could be removed from the security system. But as it was not just the summer break for so many staff, but had been right before the weekend had started. Dr. Kim looks displeased but accepts the answer.

She lets Chan know that of course his medical bills would be covered and as per protocol and policy, as this happened to a staff on university grounds, any personal damages would be either replaced or covered by them. As Chan did not have anything broken other than the very annoying split on his lip that he already knows would make eating a pain, there was nothing else to discuss on that end.

Chan then explains what happened at the police, the move to place a restricting order (which is very enthusiastically approved by both Dr. Kim and Jihyo) against Go Youngmin, and everything else in between.

Dr. Kim promises to work alongside Chan in whatever he needed. The meeting takes nearly 2 hours and Chan is in desperate need of another round of pain meds.

Changbin is in the standard pools, watching Hyunjin train and perform his laps while Coach Minhyuk watches his progress keenly.

‘Hey, how’d it go?’ Changbin asks the moment he spots him.

Good Chan replies Dr. Kim was very kind.

‘Considering none of this is your fault in any way, of course,’ Changbin scowls at once before saying, ‘Your lip is crusty.’

Chan grimaces and gets up immediately to go clean up and of course grab his seal-skin.

‘What will you do today?’ Changbin asks, ‘I think you should go home and rest man.’

Chan sighs. Honestly that sounded like a good idea.

He thankfully had no lessons or coaching today anyway, and he’s not sure how good it would be to show his bruised and swollen face to the kids he was coaching so soon after establishing trust with them.

‘I’ll take you back,’ Changbin tells him, patting his shoulder gently, ‘Jaebum-hyung said it would take a bit of time to start processing things but we’re pretty much on a clear path towards the restraining order.’

Thank you again Chan tells his friend rather miserably.

‘Consider this me paying you back for introducing me to Hyunjin,’ Changbin grins cheekily.

Chan wheezes, elbowing his friend as they make their way to the staff locker room, passing a few students who do their best to behave as normal as they could, trying not to steal looks at him.

The locker room has been cleaned up completely – no sign or trace of struggle. There wouldn’t be any, but the rage and fear that clouded Chan’s eyes and memories had somehow painted a much more chaotic scene in his mind.

All of the lockers were the kind that automatically locked the moment you closed them. Chan gets his key out and goes to put it in the keyhole when the latch gives way and swings open.

Chan’s skin crawls at once, hair standing on end as he carefully opens his locker door.

He drops his keys, taking a shaky step back.

‘What’s wrong?’ Changbin asks at once, looking up from his phone.

It takes Chan a moment, staring at the empty space where his seal-skin always hung neatly and safely.

My seal-skin is missing.

Changbin freezes completely.

‘What the fuck-?!’

Chan can’t hear. His ears filled with a high-pitched ringing, his vision blurring and giving way to black just as everything starts to spin.

‘-shit!’

Changbin is moving around him, holding him up.

‘Shit shit-!’ he curses again, ‘Fucking- hey! Hey – go get Coach Minhyuk! Right now- STOP STANDING THERE GO RUN NOW!’

It was missing.

His seal-skin was missing.

No.

No.

It was taken.

If something happened to it, Chan would know – he would know, he would be able to feel it. If it was damaged or anything happened to it, Chan would feel it – a unique pain he’s only experienced once before when he was 16 and never again since.

He chokes out an angry muted roar as he comes around.

Go Youngmin.

He was behind this.

‘I’m calling Jaebum-hyung,’ Changbin says at once, also coming to the same conclusion, ‘He’ll be able to start up the wait hyung-!’

Chan scrambles up, his throat searing as he screams again though no sounds come out of him except choked gurgling sounds. Changbin manages to pull him back just as Coach Minhyuk comes in running, Hyunjin right behind him, dripping pool water all around him, eyes wide with concern.

‘-what’s wrong-?!’ Coach Minhyuk demands.

‘Chan’s seal-skin was stolen,’ Changbin declares at once.

Coach Minhyuk and Hyunjin both freeze the exact same way Changbin did.

This wasn’t an ordinary thing to happen – this was the cruelest thing Youngmin could ever do to Chan.

Destroying his seal-skin would have been an almost easy way out. It would take time- years, but Chan would be able to piece his seal-skin together one way or another.

However if he intentionally hid it, had it completely disappear then Chan would be stuck in limbo with no way to move forward. He would never be able to shift, he would never be able to piece a new skin together – he would lose connection with his own Magick.

He would wither away from within- he would never be whole again.

‘-the CCTV footage,’ Changbin is saying, ‘Youngmin was here the whole time- but his buddy with him had run off-.’

‘-he must have been the one to steal hyung’s skin-!’ Hyunjin exclaims.

‘All right – we can track his movements within the university grounds,’ Coach Minhyuk states with a quick nod, taking his phone out but then Yuna comes rushing in, looking concerned. ‘Yuna-yah, go get Hyunwoo, he’s-.’

‘-at the gym,’ Yuna nods at once and quickly rushes back out.

‘Go with Hyunwoo to track the footage on the CCTV, I’ll go to the Administration Building and request access for the CCTVs on the grounds,’ he tells them, ‘Keep me updated and meet me there once you’re able to track where he headed off to!’

‘Understood,’ Changbin nods, finally letting his grip on Chan’s arm go, ‘I’m calling Jaebum-hyung, Hyunnie-.’

‘-come on hyung,’ Hyunjin says, turning and heading out of the locker room as Hyunwoo makes his way towards them, Yuna behind him.

Hyunjin is quick to tell them what happened and that they needed to access the CCTV to check on where Youngmin’s buddy had gone off to.

Hyunwoo looks deeply disturbed as Yuna nearly shakes where she stands, all too aware of what it meant for Chan, her eyes widening in horror. As an Undine, Yuna understood all too well what it meant if Chan were to lose his seal-skin.

At the IT room in the main faculty building a nervous junior technician clearly doing his internship shakily helps them bring up the required footage. As they knew the exact time of when it happened they’re able to perfectly trace Youngmin’s buddy as he runs out of the hallway leading into the staff locker room, out into the lobby area and past the gym. He’s gripping something tight to his chest and Chan’s vision blurs again.

That was his seal-skin.

His noisy retreat is not gone unnoticed because that had clearly alerted both Coach Minho and Jihyo who come out to investigate before clearly hearing the commotion.

They switch the CCTV to the one outside, right at the entryway where Youngmin’s buddy fairly flies down the stairs, Chan’s seal-skin wildly flapping about, before heading off towards the main university compound street, heading up towards the west.

The IT tech intern does his best to find an angle where they might be able to catch sight of him from the cameras in the building exterior but as it was night as well, the footage isn’t the best.

‘He was headed towards the Fine Arts building,’ Hyunjin points out, ‘But that’s like, at the center of this whole place – you can access most points from there.’

Hyunwoo immediately contacts Minhyuk to let him know that Youngmin’s buddy was, as far as they could tell, making his way towards the direction of the Fine Arts building.

Unfortunately they’re met with bad news on Minhyuk’s end.

‘What?!’ Hyunjin exclaims, unable to process what was being said.

‘Hyung says the CCTV footage from last night have been taken completely by the police,’ Hyunwoo frowns, ‘Not even back-up.’

‘That- that’s not allowed surely-!’ Hyunjin splutters and the IT tech intern nods in agreement to that.

Changbin makes his way to them outside in the hallway.

‘Jaebum-hyung is on it,’ he tells them before he notes their expressions, ‘What happened-?!’

Next thing Chan is speeding with Changbin straight back to the police station, heart clenched painfully, barely able to formulate any words. Changbin doesn’t say anything either.

Dr. Kim was also on her way to the station it would seem but Chan can’t think of anything clearly.

He lost his seal-skin.

Lawyer Im is already waiting for them at the station and had already started the process for submitting a stolen seal-skin report.

‘We have CCTV footage of Youngmin’s friend taking it,’ Changbin tells him, ‘That’s enough for a warrant?’

Lawyer Im nods, looking grim.

‘More than enough.’

The whole day Chan is in a state of shock. He doesn’t know what to say, what to do.

The police are dispatched a couple of hours later to find Youngmin’s friend, Dong Ryusok.

Felix and Hyunjin arrive at the police station a little after that, both looking devastated. Dr. Kim was, according to Coach Minhyuk, reporting the incident to the University Board. Changbin gives Chan a look, both of them suspecting they knew exactly who was responsible for the back-up CCTV footage of the incriminating act going missing. They had no proof of course, but Chan wouldn’t be surprised if Director Kim had his pockets lined very quickly last night.

The police are unable to find Dong Ryusok.

Youngmin and both his buddies had been taken out of their holding cells through bail.

Youngmin was home, according to the police, and the other guy Chan had nearly knocked unconscious was still at the hospital.

Youngmin is called to the station again to be interrogated but Chan is told he claimed he knew nothing about Chan’s seal-skin. Obviously he was lying.

‘-you have no idea what I’ll do to you-!’

Chan is told to go home as time keeps ticking on but with no sign of Dong Ryusok.

Chan does not sleep. He can’t.

Horror gnaws at him from within

The search continues and Chan feels like a ghost, so detached from himself but so painfully aware of his own being and mass in a way that didn’t feel right.

Dr. Kim gets the university guards to search the grounds of the university in hopes of maybe finding Chan’s seal-skin maybe just abandoned somewhere because Dong Ryusok had been empty handed when he had been apprehended by the university guards near the smaller south-east gate.

The university grounds were huge, and who knew if Dong Ryusok did indeed come back to collect Chan’s seal-skin after getting out of bail and taking it further out?

It takes two days – two days of Chan barely being able to sleep, barely being able to eat, barely able to function.

Lawyer Im calls Changbin while Chan had been vacantly dipping his legs in the Lake, doing his best to get some level of comfort from this. He'd spent 4 hours in the water, nearly giving Coach Minho a heart attack when the man had come in to open the pools.

But it felt as though his spirit was breaking, tearing apart in all of the seams that had been so worn over the near decade.

They found Dong Ryusok outside of the city, hiding out in one of his friend’s houses. After lightly threatening him Lawyer Im was able to get the information out of him.

‘He said it’s in the archives of the university library-,’ Lawyer Im’s voice crackles over the loud speaker, nearly slipping in his haste to stand up.

‘Thank you so much-!’ Changbin manages, Hyunjin already getting up and grabbing Chan up because he had frozen in place, ‘Please tell dad I said he needs to buy you really expensive liqueur-!’

Chan is able to get a grip and they start sprinting straight for the library.

It was usually open 24 hours, even during summer break as so many senior students used it in preparation for their final year preparations. Chan would know, he’s spent whole nights at the library a couple of times. It was also open for the public and you didn’t need to be a student to use the library. The library was located further past the Fine Arts Building, in between Architecture and the Linguistics buildings, nearly the polar opposite direction from the Sports Science facilities and building.

 ‘It- if you take it back-?’ Hyunjin gasps out as they reach the library.

‘It should be fine,’ Changbin says tersely, ‘If not, we’ll do something about it-!’

It’s somewhat empty right now for which Chan is grateful. If it was at the archives then there was even less chances of it being removed or taken away.

The security guard at the front gives them judgmental looks, as though wondering what was wrong with them to run in weather like this.

Hyunjin hastily shows his university ID and Chan his employee ID. It takes a moment as Changbin quickly signs in before they rush up to the main reception where a single librarian was.

‘Good morning,’ Changbin says in a rush, ‘We need to access the archives, how do we get there?’

‘The archives are only accessible if you have a permit from your supervisor,’ the librarian tells them.

‘Right, okay, we understand,’ Hyunjin says quickly.

I think this is when we call Dr. Kim Chan tells Changbin who nods to that.

‘-but this is an emergency situation and our friend here, his seal-skin was stolen from him and based on police reports it has been hidden away in the archives,’ Hyunjin explains.

‘If we’re able to get the Dean of the Sports Science faculty on line, will that function as well as a permit?’ Changbin asks hurriedly, patting his pockets to take his phone out.

‘Well, yes,’ the librarian nods, looking concerned but also wary. ‘The archive is already being accessed right now and- oh-!’

The librarian’s eyes shift to the side, to someone behind them.

Chan turns around the same time as Changbin and Hyunjin.

‘Could you give me the key-?’ the librarian is saying but her next words, if she has any, go completely unheard.

Nothing could have prepared Chan for this despite the fact that with everything that’s happened so far, every repeated coincidence, every instance something terrible has happened Lee Minho the Cat-Rescuer always popped up somehow.

He just thought it was some pleasant coincidence, that he always seemed to see Lee Minho/Cat-Rescuer on his worst days, but this was really taking the proverbial cake.

Lee Minho, very clearly completely unaware of the situation, was walking over towards them, archive keys in one hand, his seal-skin in the other.

Chan senses how Changbin and Hyunjin freeze – even the librarian completely freezes.

‘Uh- yeah,’ Minho says, now looking a little unsure as he apprehensively looks at all of them just frozen where they were standing before turning to him- Minho looks straight at Chan and says , ‘Hey, I think this is your hoodie-?’

Minho holds his seal-skin up to him, offering it back – returning it back to him.

Chan doesn’t quite know how to describe Magick when it happens but he feels it.

The instant bond – the connection, the tie.

‘-oh my god no-!’ Hyunjin cries out loudly.

Minho is clearly startled by this reaction, expression uncertain and more than just a little apprehensive. Chan’s pretty sure he hears the librarian behind them whisper oh no softly to herself.

‘Oh no,’ Changbin echoes as well in despair.

‘What?!’ Minho demands at once, voice shaky, very clearly completely in the dark and without an idea of what he just did, of what just happened.

‘Oh dude man-!’ Hyunjin continues to exclaim.

‘-what’s wrong?!’ Minho demands again, looking at all of them desperately for an answer, still holding out his seal-skin before him.

‘This is- oh man oh no!’ Hyunjin wails.

‘Tell me what’s wrong!’ Minho asks desperately, lights flickering and dimming around him in his clear uncontrolled distress.

‘That’s Chan’s hoodie,’ Changbin manages to say.

‘Yes- and- and I found it downstairs,’ Minho replies, clearly wondering why this was an issue, ‘I was going to return it-?’

He didn’t know. He didn’t know that he was-

‘Dude, Chan is a Selkie,’ Hyunjin exclaims, exasperated and stressed and desperate.

For a moment Minho is still clearly confused.

‘-okay and-?’ Minho asks slowly, looking nervous and-

‘-that’s his seal-skin!’ Changbin almost yells in frustration just as realization lights up in Minho’s eyes.

The air around him briefly wrinkles darkly as he understands what just happened – what was happening. He stares down at his seal-skin, and then back up at Chan.

‘Oh my god,’ Minho whispers faintly.

‘Exactly! Now you guys are married!’ Changbin throws his hands up.

‘What-?!’

When Chan had hoped, had begged for a reprieve – for something to happen, he had not even thought once that Lee Minho would be the answer.

So as Minho looks at him with wide eyes filled with disbelief and dread, Chan, feels emotions rising in him at the complete opposite end of the emotional spectrum.

Because for reasons he cannot explain or comprehend, Chan is suddenly filled with an unwavering and inexplicable belief, a strong and unshakeable understanding as he locks eyes with Lee Minho, that everything was going to be all right.

*

Chapter Text

They manage to move into one of the study rooms, with Changbin and Hyunjin practically herding Minho ahead of them. The Cat-Rescuer is clearly in some level of shock and Chan can’t blame him.

However Chan has been in the worst of positions these past two days and also had the unique experience of somewhat being used to the idea of seeing Minho on very bad days.

Initially Chan just thought he was seeing patterns where he wanted to see them – Minho stuck out to him after crawling on all fours to rescue a stray cat and he started seeing him, a fellow university student (during the initial first time Chan saw him), around the university and surrounding areas that other university students frequented.

But now?

Maybe all that time he’d jokingly thought to himself that there was Magick involved it wasn’t him being, at best, wishful or, at worst, delusional. But maybe it actually was Magick.

Once they’re seated inside and the door closed Minho stares at all of them for an explanation.

Minho at least knew of him and recognized him from their shared class together so Changbin and Hyunjin quickly introduce themselves.

‘Why- why was it just casually around?!’ Minho demands, holding up his seal-skin rather desperately. And unlike how it felt when he saw Dong Ryusok holding his seal-skin, Chan doesn’t mind that Minho holding it.

‘It was stolen from him!’ Changbin exclaims before quickly asking, ‘Okay wait where did you find it?!’

Minho had been doing research in the archives, trying to find an important paper that would required for his thesis (Chan was right, he was a senior student), when he saw Chan’s seal-skin. He’d actually seen it yesterday but assumed someone, Chan, forget his hoodie and would come back to get it. But as he saw that it was still there today he thought he’d take it up to the reception and tell Chan about it in class the next time he saw him.

Minho is then told what had happened the past 2 days, just keeping things in a quick summary.

Minho’s eyes are wide, the air around him flickering and literally dimming around him, clearly in a state of distress.

‘So now we’re in a predicament,’ Hyunjin exclaims, throwing his hands up. ‘You two are married now.’

‘Surely intention matters,’ Minho is practically pleading. ‘I- you’re probably a really nice guy Chan-shii but wow, this was-.’

I think the best way forward is we get divorced immediately- Chan begins to say but Minho’s confusion increases. He probably didn’t know how to use Selkie-Speak which made sense as he seemed rather unaware, initially, of what it meant for him to return Chan’s seal-skin back to him after it was stolen.

‘-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 is doing his best to sound coherent, his volume going higher and his pitch increasing slightly as well, clearly in panic.

-we should go straight to the Seely Court, Chan tells his two friend, I don’t think he can use Speak you’re going to have to tell him-

‘I- we can go to the Seely Court to explain the situation, I’m sure we can sort it out there,’ Hyunjin says at once while Changbin looks like he was getting ready to go through a divorce.

‘The Seely Court?!’ Minho echoes in confusion.

‘Yeah I think- I think for a divorce.’

Minho freezes. He’s so still for a few seconds that it makes Chan a little concerned.

‘Oh my god.’

He curls into himself rather stiffly, hands going to his hair.

Chan briefly wonders if he had gone and introduced himself to Minho during their classes together which they’ve now had for the past 3 weeks, if maybe this could have been avoided. Because had Minho spotted his seal-skin in the archives, he would know with more information than he has now, what it was and would have known what to do too.

‘Is it open right now-?’ Hyunjin asks them, quickly patting Changbin’s arm to get him back on the same page as them.

‘-shit you’re right let me call and check-.’

Minho can’t seem to look away from him – his eyes which were usually quite sharp and dark even when he was clearly bored in class, are wide and he looks completely and utterly lost.

‘I’m sorry,’ Minho whispers to him, ‘I- I’m really really sorry-.’

Oh this was none of Minho’s fault – not in the slightest. He was just doing what anyone would have done in his position if they found a random clothing article and that too one they recognized on a random classmate. Chan doesn’t even fault Minho for not knowing he was Selkie because it’s not like there were many of them in the first place. Chan’s pretty sure in the entirety of the university, at least while he was actively a student, he had literally been the only Selkie attending.

He quickly grabs his phone and types out: It’s not your fault

‘I- I should have realized I-,’ Minho says, his tone full of self-reproach and regret before he looks down at his hands and as though realizing he was still holding onto Chan’s seal-skin his eyes widen a little more. ‘Um- do…do I still hold onto it or-.’

Chan reaches his hands forward and Minho gives him back his seal-skin.

It’s weirdly slow-motion for Chan. In a massive whirlwind of events that resulted in him narrowly avoiding what could have been several harrowing situations he would not have been able to make it out of, he was seemingly putting an end to it all by completing the marriage ritual by accepting the return of his seal-skin.

Willingly.

It’s also obvious that Minho had no idea what just happened, how Chan effectively basically just accepted this request for marriage in a sort of formal way. They would be married regardless of Chan accepting the seal-skin back from him physically like this but still, there was a ceremonial aspect to this that's not lost on Chan.

And of course, it's not lost on Changbin and Hyunjin who both pick up on this, both of them somewhat stunned as they pause to watch.

Chan has a feeling they’re both going to grill him on what just happened.

‘Right-,’ Changbin declares, ‘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.’

Chan is grateful he was carrying all of his required documents on him, and of course had all of the digital scans on his phone too. He was supposed to go to the Seely Court at some point anyway but he supposes he might as well go ahead now.

‘You’ll probably um, like need your ID or something,’ Hyunjin tells Minho as they get ready to leave.

But no doubt Minho, who was just going about his normal day, trying to find information resources for his thesis, would not have carried his legal documents or anything he might need in order to head straight for the Seely Court.

I think he needs to get his stuff – I highly doubt we can apply for a divorce without identification Chan tells his friends. We can meet him at the Seely Court instead.

‘We- we could meet at the Seely Court,’ Hyunjin starts translating to Minho, ‘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 to that, clearly still in a state of shock.

Does he live far?

‘Do you live far from the university or-?’ Changbin asks in turn, giving him a brief slightly confused look.

‘Not too far-.’

We can drive him to his place right-?

‘-we could drive you to your place and all go together?’ Changbin’s eyes narrow just the slightest, clearly thinking hard.

‘I- it’s okay, I’ll uh, get going now, I’ll see you at the Court-.’ Minho says awkwardly, shuffling backwards

‘-Minho-shii, can I get your number,’ Hyunjin asks quickly, stepping forward.

‘Right- right uh-,’ Minho nods, getting his phone out and pulling up his contact.

‘We will see you, right?’ Changbin asks bluntly.

Chan gives Changbin what he only supposes is the uniquely international look of dude what the fuck which his friend expertly ignores.

Minho doesn’t seem offended by this. Instead he nods, clearly thinking hard.

‘Yes,’ Minho tells them at once, a sparkle of light faint but clear amidst the faint dark cloud of distress around him, ‘Of course- I- you can hold onto this if- if you want-.’

Minho pulls out something from his bag and Chan gets a glimpse of the title and quickly starts signing to his friend.

This is not necessary we don’t need to hold anything hostage and-

‘My whole thesis depends on that, I literally can’t graduate without that,’ Minho tells them, putting the book down firmly, ‘I’m not- I’m not going to just uh, vanish- I’ll come back.’

Chan, Changbin, and Hyunjin just sort of gape at him.

‘Right.’ Minho says, stepping backwards unsteadily, ‘Okay, I’ll see you at the Seely Court.’

And like clockwork both Changbin and Hyunjin turn to face him, a combination of confusion and a sort of relief on their faces.

‘You know him,’ Changbin states rather than asks.

‘You know him?’ Hyunjin also asks, ‘He’s not from Sports Science though is he-?’

He’s in the same Basic Japanese class with me Chan explains.

They both stare at him for a moment. Chan briefly wonders if either of them realized that in the course of their relationship that they both picked up on each others mannerisms so it makes Chan want to smile a little as they tilt their head questioningly at him, even the way they narrow their eyes matching each other.

‘I understand that you have your seal-skin back but you-…you’re oddly chill,’ Changbin says slowly, ‘For someone who is now married without his consent.’

Well, it’s not only me who’s married without his consent Chan says, pulling his seal-skin over his clothes.

He sighs out in relief, pulling it closer. It was undamaged, unharmed – maybe a bit dusty but that was all right. Both Changbin and Hyunjin sigh out in relief as well.

‘Okay we should head to the Court,’ Hyunjin says, ‘And call Lawyer Im?’

Changbin nods to that.

‘You should tell Lix you found your seal-skin,’ Hyunjin tells him as they step out of the study room.

Right. Chan should do that.

He types quickly, letting his young friend know. Felix had been just as stressed as him, even taking a day out of his work to help search for his seal-skin in the university grounds. He had mentioned how there was supposed to be someone coming in to look at his flat at the duplex today but he had cancelled it in light of what happened.

‘So. Which one of us is going to knock Lee Minho out to challenge him?’ Hyunjin asks with full seriousness as they cross through the university grounds the same way they came to the library.

‘Me,’ Changbin replies, with equal seriousness.

There won’t be any need for that Chan says hastily, you saw him, he doesn’t want this either.

Both Changbin and Hyunjin don’t look placated.

‘What if he’s in on this?’ Changbin demands.

No Chan says firmly he’s not.

‘How do you know?’ Hyunjin demands, bewildered.

I just do Chan tells them. I can tell, he’s just as shaken in all of this. Besides, you could see his lights spluttering all over him.

‘His lights-?’ Hyunjin tilts his head in question.

‘It doesn’t mean anything,’ Changbin frowns, ‘Lix’s light flares up randomly at anything – it’s not an indicator for anything.’

I just know Chan tells them again trust me on this. I can tell.

‘He’s half Light Fae?’ Hyunjin frowns, ‘But I see Lix’s lights, I didn’t see his-?’

‘Very brief,’ Changbin tells him, ‘I only saw it a couple of times.’

Chan frowns at that because yes, while they were quick and brief Chan thought they were quite clear and with Changbin being of Magick he assumed he’d be able to see it as clearly as he did.

‘Do you know what faculty he’s in?’ Hyunjin asks.

No Chan replies, but I guess he’s in senior year or he’s graduating soon if he’s doing his thesis.

‘There’s a lot of faculties here,’ Hyunjin says thoughtfully, ‘Lee Minho- I don’t think I’ve ever seen this guy before-.’

Well, Chan has. He’s not sure how to explain to his friends that he’s seen Minho around several times, all usually at the end of a terrible day, and how seeing him somehow made the day just a little more positive, a bit more bearable for him.

Uh he starts I’ve actually seen him before this.

‘Like, in class right?’ Hyunjin asks with a small frown as Changbin’s eyebrows go up.

Chan briefly explains how he’s seen Minho several times, each time after something terrible happens.

There’s a very loud silence that follows this and Chan feels like he’s sweating more than when he was sprinting down to the library earlier.

Changbin looks thoughtful, not saying anything at first as Hyunjin starts to rapidly go through his phone.

It’s only when they get into the car, after Chan lets the others at the training facility know that his seal-skin was found (Yuna nearly bursting out into tears, aggressively fanning her face and eyes turned up to keep her tears from spilling over), that Changbin speaks.

‘While I’m glad to know that this is-…that this did not end in a situation where we have to do something drastic, let’s still be careful.’ Changbin says levelly. ‘The fact of the matter is that we don’t know who he is – and while I’m glad he’s uh- well, so far your interactions with him have been good in nature, even indirectly, at least in your uh, experience, he could try and turn the situation to benefit himself, and I’m not saying he will,’ Changbin adds quickly, ‘I’m just saying we need to be careful.’

Hyunjin nods in agreement to that and well, Chan has to agree too. It would be foolish not to be careful regardless of his one-sided history with Lee Minho, if you could call the few times he’s seen him that.

But still, that unshakeable feeling is strong within him.

Things would be all right.

Lawyer Im calls them as they pull out into the street, letting them know to contact him once they finish applying for a divorce.

‘It’s a fairly straightforward process,’ Lawyer Im tells them, ‘I’m not sure if there is a different process for accidental marriages, however I do know it won’t exactly be processed like most divorces. You’ll need to go specifically to the Undine Affairs Division. It could take a significant amount of time too.’

Chan is expecting that but that didn’t mean he wasn’t disappointed.

‘You’ll also be submitting other documents with me at the Seely Court regarding the restraining order Chan-shii, but I haven’t received the date for that just yet, but we will start soon,’ Lawyer Im tells him.

‘Thanks hyung,’ Changbin replies for them both, ‘We’ll contact you the moment we’re done.’

Don’t you have training? Chan asks Hyunjin with a frown.

‘Not until later this evening,’ Hyunjin replies, ‘Besides, I’m going with you hyung, need to make sure this Lee Minho is going to behave.’

Chan doesn’t want to tell Hyunjin that he wasn’t the most outwardly threatening looking person or the most intimidating but smiles gratefully at his younger friend.

‘It’s mostly because I’m starting to also feel bad for the guy but before I can fully do so I need to get a better grasp on his like, character,’ Hyunjin adds quickly, ‘Because like, I can’t imagine how it’s going to be to write a thesis and also process a divorce, honestly I’d give up.’

‘Hey,’ Changbin frowns at his boyfriend.

‘I’m just saying!’ Hyunjin exclaims, ‘If he really has no connections to any of this and now he’s just like, having to process a divorce out of nowhere, then this sucks big time.’

Chan winces at that – because he knows it to be true.

He really should have gone and talked to Minho after class or something.

They barely have to wait 5 minutes after arriving at the Seely Court (a place Chan hasn’t actually frequented that much – he’s been here once and that was seven years ago before the immigration center had their own building) when Minho arrives.

He’s not alone, which isn’t surprising, because Chan would have absolutely brought, at the very least, emotional support with him if he were in Minho’s shoes. Chan recognizes the friend- under-baked bread? He’d been waiting for him at the station if Chan remembers correctly.

And he’s not the only one who knew under-baked bread.

‘Oh.’ Hyunjin blinks, ‘Yang Jeongin.’

‘Huh?’ Changbin turns to his boyfriend.

‘He’s my junior – different major though,’ Hyunjin tells them, ‘He’s a good kid – Light Fae.’

Before they can anything more the two make their way over to them.

Minho is clearly still very uncomfortable, still looking somewhat shocked. Under-baked bread, or Yang Jeongin, on the other hand greets Hyunjin with a bright smile, no light leaking from him, clearly very in control of his Magick, calling him sunbaenim which makes Hyunjin splutter in embarrassment.

They’re all introduced to each other in a rather awkward shuffle of names and respective (graduated) faculties before they make their way in.

Apparently Jeongin was quite familiar with the layout of the Court for which Chan is grateful. Minho is also clearly lost, which made sense as he wasn’t Seely – or well, fully Seely at any rate. Chan actually wants to ask him about that but considering their current predicament he doesn’t think it would be the right time to do so.

Somehow both he and Minho end up walking at the back as Jeongin and Hyunjin converse, and of course Changbin, always on Hyunjin’s side, is roped into their discussion.

Chan, for the first time in a while, feels stilted. He doesn’t know what to say, what to do.

Because while Chan might feel like things would somehow turn out well, Minho clearly doesn’t feel that way. Why should he? Again, he was just at the library looking up research material and next thing he knows he’s married to Chan and now getting a divorce all in like an hour.

Just because in some ways, Chan had initially seen Minho’s appearances on his truly shitty days as something akin to a reprieve or even like some sort of talisman, Minho was Minho. He was a whole person, separate from Chan’s very random experience.

And now he was unfortunately pulled into all of this.

This was the first time they were legitimately interacting. Not them in the same class, rows apart. Not Chan coming across him in shared public spaces in and around the university.

Chan needs to reassure Minho that he wasn’t going to be weird about this, that he wasn’t going to do anything to cause problems and would do everything to ensure that Minho go through this with the least amount of inconvenience as possible.

‘We- we’re in Basic Japanese.’ Minho says out of nowhere.

Chan gets his phone out quickly, nodding as he types out his response.

Is that how you recognized my hoodie?

‘Ah, yeah,’ Minho nods and then looks incredibly lost and out of it.

Chan can’t help but feel overwhelming guilt – it’s not either of their fault that they’re here in this situation. But Chan wishes he could do something to make this better or something.

He tugs at Minho’s sleeve lightly before typing out: What are you studying?

‘Vet science,’ Minho replies, and it makes so much sense, ‘You?’

Sports science. I’ve technically graduated already- but due to a change in the curriculum I had to take an extra class.

Minho frowns as he reads Chan’s response, their pace slowing down a bit.

‘That must be frustrating,’ Minho replies, looking offended.

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 explains. ‘Hopefully it will boost my GPA.’

Chan can’t help but smile at that – they both had similar reasoning behind choosing Basic Japanese. And speaking of classes and graduating, Chan reaches into his bag and pulls out the book Minho had given to him as collateral of sorts.

‘Oh, thank you Chan-shii.’ Minho says, with a small look of relief, faint soft light glowing near his temples for a fraction of a second.

They arrive at the inner reception just outside the Undine Affairs department and with Jeongin’s directions head to the front desk.

At this point they’d have to go through just the two of them.

Changbin and Hyunjin both give him supportive nods and Changbin pats at his pocket as though to tell Chan he was just a call away if needed.

Chan takes the initiative to start up this unfortunate journey and explains the situation to the receptionist. He nods and listens and then reaches for some forms and gives them the directions for the waiting lobby.

Jeongin has a quick talk with Minho, probably also going to wait for Minho out here with Hyunjin and Changbin and then they enter the waiting lobby that fronted the Selkie Administrative Affairs Division.

They were at number 31 in the queue and Chan notes that there were about 9 other people ahead of them, meaning they’d have to wait.

They find a seat and settle down to wait and either it’s the relief of the situation wearing off now that his seal-skin was returned safely to him, tucked away securely in his bag, or the very bizarre reality of the situation really hitting Chan hard now that he’s hear, staring at the divorce forms in his hands.

He reads through it but he’s barely understanding anything that’s on it.

His mouth suddenly feels incredibly dry and swallowing is difficult. Chan glances around and finds that there’s a small drinks vending machine towards the end of the lobby.

Not sure what to do exactly for a moment, Chan resorts back to lightly tugging at Minho’s sleeve to get his attention.

Do you want something? he mouths carefully, pointing at the vending machine.

‘Ah, I’m okay,’ Minho tells him with a small smile.

His phone is erupting with notifications but Chan can’t quite bring himself to going through them just yet. Undoubtedly Felix would be getting the full story from Hyunjin and Changbin right now. Chan hadn’t yet told anyone at the training facility that he accidently got married.

He knows everyone was expecting the worst case scenario in this – and being forced into an unwanted marriage was definitely one of those worst case scenarios.

Chan briefly wonders if he and Minho might set the record for fastest marriage followed by fasted application for divorce.

Not the kind of world record Chan would like to hold, in all honesty.

He gulps down a whole small bottle of water near the vending machine and gets another one and heads back to where they were sitting.

They don’t talk, just sit in stiff and stilted silence.

Honestly what could they even say right now.

Though admittedly Chan does want to ask Minho about his studies, wants to ask what vet science was like; was he studying to be a surgeon or…? Chan realizes he has no idea about the different sorts of vets. There were all types of doctors in various fields – was Minho studying to be a vet dentist for example? He knows that’s a thing because his brother had given him wildly graphic updates on Berry’s dental proceedings some 2 years ago and it still somewhat traumatized him till this day.

They both seem to focus on the forms in their hands around the same time, as though both needing the time to really accept that they were here for a divorce.

Chan quickly fills in the form, writing down Dr. Kim’s information under the parent/legal supervisor space on the form. He takes his phone out to make sure he has all of his information correct, rereading them twice more.

Obviously there’s information required from the person you were divorcing and Minho seems to have reached that part too. They sheepishly exchange their forms and Chan fills in his information on Minho’s form.

He doesn’t mean to look at Minho’s personal information but he notes that he’s a year younger than him, by nearly exactly a year.

Minho is done before him and hands him back his form. Quickly making sure his information was correct Chan hands the form back to Minho with a small smile then they wait some more.

In a sense, Chan had gotten used to the stares and looks he’s gotten at his bruises and cuts. Admittedly they’d improved a lot, especially the ones on his face after being plied with specific ointments to soothe and speed up the healing process. His pain management was also better and while it looked worse than the initial day, his ribs were feeling a little better and moving his left no longer made him want to curl up into a fetal position.

However, unfortunately, for people just witnessing him for the first time, and sitting next to Minho, with identical forms, Chan is made terribly aware of how this could look.

He just hopes Minho doesn’t notice the quick glances, the frowns, the questioning stares from around them.

They wait 15 more minutes where Chan tries his best not to fidget too much when their number is finally called up.

The clerk at the booth they’re called to is Mer and Chan hates how this unfortunate stereotype on Merpeople was really starting to feel canon.

His expression changes, sighing under his breath as though disdained by what Chan had to say, barely even looking at him despite the fact that Chan was using Speak and the Mer would have to look at him anyway to understand what he was saying.

Being treated as an inconvenience simply for being a Selkie was something Chan had to get used to very quickly especially in places where there wasn’t much of a Selkie population or a supportive Undine community.

People like this clerk, and the Basic Japanese lecturer for example, were just a few of the weirdly passive aggressive people who treated Chan’s existence like it was such a burden.

Minho seems to pick up on this as Chan struggles a bit with trying to get the Mer’s attention and to be clear about why they were here. He didn’t want to have to waste time, more specifically Minho’s time, because the clerk couldn’t be bothered to look at him while he was talking.

‘Take this token and head through to the third floor,’ the Mer says finally, giving a look as though Chan was some irresponsible no-good youngling continuously getting into trouble, ‘Young kids these days, couldn’t keep yourself safe?’

Chan could roll his eyes.

At this point he’s grown enough of a thick skin to not let these sort of things effect him. It’s not that he tolerates it or accepts it as a norm; it’s just that there was a limit to what you could fight and what you could actually do in situations like these. And honestly this wasn’t worth Chan’s time or effort.

So Chan thanks him politely and gestures to Minho that they could get a move on. Minho doesn’t move though, a deep frown forming between his brows, a fractured line of shadow coiling over his temples, as he looks back at the Mer clerk.

Then he takes a step, a quick sharp ripple glinting over his eyes, as though to go back to the Mer, expression determined the same way it was that time Chan saw him carrying that sack of dirt. Chan quickly redirects him, putting himself in front of Minho to block his line of sight and ushers him towards the other doorway.

Minho is still frowning, looking displeased.

It didn’t happen often, but sometimes when Chan is out with friends, some establishments or other people will react oddly or even downright terribly because he was Selkie. When he was younger it ostracized him from people he was just starting to meet or befriend, and in a way Chan doesn’t blame them from wanting to exclude him just to avoid bad treatment. As a result Chan never really went out with people unless it was Changbin, Hyunjin, and Felix and a few other people.

I’m really sorry for all of this he tells Minho quickly. This sort of treatment was expected for Chan, but this would be Minho’s first time experiencing something like this and Chan’s pretty sure if Minho were here for another reason, without Chan attached to the situation, that Mer clerk would have behaved in a different way.

‘No- that- that was like, really uncalled for behavior, what the fuck? That was so unprofessional and rude.’ Minho says, frustration clear in his tone.

Chan doesn’t want them to linger on that too much so he just points to the other doors and Minho, glancing back once more, frown still intact, follows after him.

The escalators take them right up to the third floor and there’s less people here. It also felt less “government building” and more “regular corporate office” up here.

There’s an attendant at a reception desk and they walk up to her and hand her the token they’d been given and the forms as well.

She was much nicer, smiling pleasantly and telling them to take a seat and wait for a moment before disappearing through one of the doors.

When she returns she’s not alone.

A Selkie steps out.

She’s wearing her seal-skin- it’s dark and smooth and well kept.

She greets them verbally, meaning one of her parents must be Selkie, and invites them to her office.

Chan just immediately feels better and he notes the soft shift of light around Minho, just the quickest and faintest smoothening of the air around him.

She introduces herself as Kim Yubin and without much preamble, Chan explains what happened.

He prefaces what happened with Go Youngmin, and hands her the police reports and files Lawyer Im had sent to him. He had printed out several copies to submit to the Sports Science faculty, including Dr. Kim, and had several spare just in case.

Yubin doesn’t interrupt him once, listening intently and nodding here and there, eyes narrowing just a little. He explains how his seal-skin was then taken from his locker during the fight, and how they were able to track its location to the library but how Minho had found it first and how without realizing it was Chan’s seal-skin, had returned it to him.

Yubin just nods some more as Chan finishes before turning to Minho and asks him for his account of what happened.

Minho’s doesn’t take as much time as it all happened very quickly.

‘First I should say, I am sorry that this has happened,’ Yubin says and nods at their forms. ‘I will be approving your divorce process of course, but I cannot promise that it will be a quick process.’

Chan breathes out a quiet sigh of relief.

‘-it could take anywhere between 8 to 10 months for your case-.’

Chan completely freezes.

That was nearly a whole year!

‘-that’s the best case scenario.’

Chan doesn’t even know what to say. Out of the corner of his eye he sees how the faint twinkle of lights around Minho seem to completely freeze, just faint miniscule orbs of light around him.

‘The Court will process your case and not categorize it as an emergency,’ Yubin 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-,’ the lights around Minho start to shift and warp, clearly indicative of his complete confusion.

‘I understand that this is not an ideal situation,’ Yubin says apologetically and she’s sincere about it too, ‘I am very sorry.’

‘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-.’

Wait.

Wait, he signs quickly to Yubin, Minho-shii doesn’t know anything about this, I’d like for him to not be involved in anything as much as possible, it really doesn’t matter to me – I’m not part of any community here, so it wouldn’t effect me regardless.

Yubin gives him a critical look.

I understand that you don’t want to put any pressure on this man, however the fact of the matter is that a lot of careful due process has been put in place for the protection of Selkie rights during a divorce process Yubin tells him a lot of these processes involve details, and I know that you just met today properly, that would require this man to look into and participate in.

Chan sighs – this was all extremely understandable of course, they couldn’t make an exception just for Minho, that wouldn’t be fair, generally speaking, but Chan really doesn’t want to burden Minho with more than was necessary.

‘You can go to the Seely Court website to find out more information,’ Yubin starts to say to Minho, ‘However, I do have to let you know, by law and protocol, what all of this now means to you.’

Minho looks a bit lost, but he’s leaning in a little, clearly paying close attention.

‘Culturally speaking, when a Selkie is married or bonded to another, they exchange skins as a sign of trust,’ Yubin explains, ‘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.’

Minho nods to this; this much he would know, it was sort of the basic general information that followed Selkies.

‘If you’re okay with that-.’

‘-yeah of course,’ Minho says 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.’

Yubin gives Chan a look as though to say see, it’s fine but Chan’s stomach starts to bubble because-

‘So that means you’re all right with exchanging rings?’

The lights around Minho freeze once more.

‘Ex- exchange what?’ he asks slowly.

‘Rings. Or well, any other item of significance. These days it’s mostly rings.’ Yubin explains.

‘But-…wait, but we’re uh, we’re getting divorced?’ Minho says slowly, glancing over at him as though to check with him if this was indeed correct.

‘Yes, however, culturally speaking, you do have to follow with Selkie Law-.’

Chan was going to give it a shot regardless.

Yubin-shii, surely this is not needed if it’s going to take 8-10 months. On the final date of finalizing the divorce surely we can just maybe exchange a handshake or something instead, he’s already willingly returned my seal-skin, very vocally relinquished it back to me at that too – we don’t have to do any of it in front of a committee either, I know that it’s not done like that anymore too he says pleadingly.

Yubin gives him a small smile that’s incredibly apologetic.

‘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,’ Yubin tells Minho, ‘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 manages to say, the lights moving again but it’s not agitated.

Chan tries again. He wasn’t asking for an exception, but rather an understanding of the situation. Yubin lets him know that this was literally the bare minimum they’d be required to go through with and Chan feels even guiltier now.

Yubin explains some more of the situation to Minho who nods here and there, the lights around him coming into focus a bit more, that determined glint slowly forming around the edges.

They have another appointment with Yubin in 3 days and a ton of other forms and documents Chan will carefully read through once he gets back home and where he can freak out about this.

He was really hoping this process would have been a quick and somewhat basic judicial process but unfortunately it wasn’t. Despite his own personal history and experiences, Chan has never disliked being a Selkie – but right now, for Minho’s sake, he wishes he could change things.

Can you tell me some more about what is happening with the restraining order? Yubin asks him.

Chan gives her an explanation and Yubin nods here and there.

That seems like the most reasonable and practical approach she says I’m sorry that it all somehow ended up here though.

It could have been worse, honestly Chan tells her I think while I lucked out, it’s not the same for Minho-shii.

Well, we’ll try our best to make sure things go well then Chan-shii.

They leave Yubin’s office and head back towards the escalators. And honestly despite what Yubin told Minho and before Minho can read whatever information was available on the Court website on Selkies and Selkie culture Chan needs to make sure Minho knew that Chan wasn’t expecting anything out of him in this.

I know it’s kinda really archaic, Chan quickly types out, by some miracle avoiding typos, you don’t have to do anything, they’re exaggerating a lot, it’s nothing like what they said.

‘What-?’ Minho looks confused.

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.

‘Are you sure?’ Minho asks slowly, looking unsure.

Chan nods as sincerely as possible.

‘Because I don’t mind if it’s going to be a problem-.’

No no it’s not a problem he mouths, frustrated he can’t speak out loud to rapidly ensure Minho that he didn’t have to.

Minho just nods to that but he’s clearly somewhat doubtful, the lights around him slow yet erratic.

There’s not much to say after that, both of them clutching at the new pile of forms and documents they gained. They head out and Changbin, Hyunjin, and Jeongin are sitting in the same spot.

They seemed to be having a pleasant chat, as far as Chan can tell from his friends and their stance and overall body language.

Changbin spots them first and stands immediately.

‘Right um, well, I’ll see you Chan-shii,’ Minho says, shuffling a bit as Jeongin makes his way over to him, eyes expectant.

Chan goes to Speak but stops and it was too late to pull his phone back out just to say the same back so instead he stiffly waves at Minho who mirrors the move back to him.

‘What happened?’ Changbin demands at once as soon as they’re out of earshot, heading for the elevators to go down to the parking lot.

Chan glances back around to make sure Minho and Jeongin were out of sight before he steers away to a random spot and sort of squats down on a wall in a heap.

‘Oh my god-!’

‘-are you dehydrated-?!’

They hover around him for a moment, sort of unsure of what to do before they both crouch down with him.

‘You wanna uh, crash out inside the car instead?’ Changbin offers, ‘It’ll be cooler in there.’

Chan nods.

He explains the procedure to his friends, Changbin looking very taken aback at how long the divorce process could take while Hyunjin splutters, hands in his hair.

‘Well, obviously we show all of this to Lawyer Im,’ Changbin says after a bit, ‘Wait- we should meet him today and-.’

Actually I just- I need a moment Chan tells him, holding his seal-skin close, need to get into the water.

Changbin nods in understanding.

He’s unable to get to the Lakes immediately – it was already booked for a family session for another couple of hours, and also Chan should definitely explain what’s happened to everyone else.

When Chan had earned his scholarship at the university he knew that he would be required to work for the faculty for 2 years minimum in accordance to the type of scholarship he was on. He had no problem doing that – the salary wouldn’t be the best but Chan highly doubts it’s that much different from anywhere else he might have found employment in. He had worked hard in between semesters and even during active semesters doing every other part-time job he could manage including but not limited to tutoring and translations, allowing him to save up as much as he could.

Here as an employee at the university he would be guaranteed health insurance, secure work permit ad visa, assistance in lodging and of course as an employee food at the cafeteria would also be cheaper for him.

All of this was great for Chan but his primary concern was how he would be treated. Once again, Chan has developed thick skin over the years, but having to show up to a possible toxic work environment f]everyday for probably 2 years was not going to be something Chan had thought he would be able to realistically do.

He was very dedicated to his line of work – he wants to work with the faculty and specifically this training center to establish a secure and holistic center for the Undine community so that they’re able to live healthier lives connected to their Magick in a safe setting. These sort of centers and facilities were not always available and Chan knows how tough it can be without having access to places like this so he really wanted to be a part of it.

To Chan’s relief, the senior coaches and staff, as well as the general faculty were all decent people. In fact Coach Minho had been so pleased that Chan would be joining them, stating that even if they had to let go of Chan in the competitive sports world, they would gain so much by having them join their training facility.

When he explains to the couches and mentors what happened he’s met with gasps of horror at first, before expressions turn a bit more relieved but at the same time the concern is palpable and heart-warming. Maybe Chan doesn’t strictly belong to an established Undine community, but here in this moment, Chan is a little relieved and secure knowing that these people around him at the very least cared for him.

He has a more in-depth discussion with Dr. Kim afterwards of course, her relief palpable when she sees him in his seal-skin. As it would turn out she had a close friend who was Selkie but she adamantly lived in the coastal region of the country.

Hyunjin starts his own training and Changbin and Chan nearly empty the vending machine in the study room, eating at least 10 triangle kimbap between each other for starters.

The past few days of high stress seemed to be catching up on him all at once now and Chan feels like he could crash. However he needs to be in the water- otherwise even if he were to go back to his place he still wouldn’t feel rested and at peace.

Changbin and Hyunjin leave, more like Chan insists they head back home and Chan would have no problem going back on his own as he intended on staying in the pool for as long as possible – a sort of perk of being an employee and with the security access.

Changbin relents, understanding Chan needed this time to, well, essentially heal and soothe himself after everything that’s happened, especially the past 2 days.

Slipping into the lake and reconnecting with his Magick finally helps him settle in.

He sinks to the depths of the lake, letting the depth take him for a moment as he embraces the pain of return but also the comfort of it all.

After a while he drifts upwards, barely having to move much, eyes closed, opening them only when he breaks surface.

The only lights are at both of the entryways into the Lake natatorium, so if Chan floats on his back, staring up at the open glass section of the ceiling above, it almost feels as though he’s in a real natural body of water.

He stays afloat like that, too tired to do anything other than just that.

His thoughts were always clearer and simpler when he was in the water – easier to manage, less overwhelming, less complicated.

He was married.

He was married.

He should be losing his mind, going insane like Hyunjin said.

But he’s oddly calm.

He wondered if the odd calm he felt earlier had been as a result of his relief of finding his seal-skin carrying over to the situation at large. But now, after everything had been said and done, Chan still feels the same. That feeling from earlier, when he and Minho looked at each other, it was still present.

Maybe he should go see a therapist or something like Dr. Kim had suggested earlier that day, just to help him compartmentalize things because clearly his emotions were not making sense.

Yes Chan feels bad that he was dragged into this. He’s now somehow roped Minho into his weird streak of bad luck and unfortunate circumstances that did it’s utmost to follow him everywhere it would seem all as a result of him losing control.

It doesn’t make sense and he can’t rationalize it either but something tells him things would be okay.

When he gets back to his place Felix is waiting for him on the landing of his stairs before he noisily stumbles down.

‘Dude,’ he wails, ‘Ugh man-!’

Chan squeezes him tight, why’d you stay up hm? You have such early hours.

‘Of course I was gonna wait,’ Felix groans, ‘I just wanted to make sure and like, see you- I won’t ask you to tell me what’s happened. Besides, Hyunjin’s told me nearly everything and you should rest because you look out of it.’

I feel better Chan smiles and then pats down his own arms.

‘But like, you’re married married now?’ Felix asks worriedly.

Will be divorcing but until then, yeah, Chan nods before unlocking his door. But it’ll be okay.

Felix doesn’t look convinced but he obviously doesn’t want to push it.

‘I’ll see you tomorrow after work- unless you’re leaving earlier?’ Felix frowns as he heads to the stairs.

I’m not sure to be honest – had all my talk with Dr. Kim and everyone else at work – I guess unless Lawyer Im needs me for something then I’ll be on my usual schedule Lix. But I’ll let you know.

‘Okay,’ Felix nods, ‘I’ll bring back garlic bread.’

Chan grins, sounds good, night Lix.

‘G’night Chris.’

Chan absolutely knocks out.

He falls asleep in his seal-skin, curled in completely, absolutely dead to the world for a personal record breaking 9 hours straight.

For the rest of the morning Chan just peruses the forms and documents he had received from Yubin, reading through them all carefully and making notes for himself and documenting everything on his phone too just to be safe. He has an update from Lawyer Im but it’s not anything new but just that the restraining order was on the next step of finalization and one more step and he’d have to show up for an interview. He’s also informed that the man who was responsible for stowing away his seal-skin had admitted to the crime but still refused to admit that it was in accordance to Go Youngmin’s plans and orders.

Chan guesses he, Dong Ryusok, was expecting Go Youngmin to bail him out if he took the full blame and was probably told that would happen.

Lawyer Im had said it could take anywhere between 4 days to 2 weeks to complete and approve the restraining order but he would do his best to make it happen faster.

Chan knows for a fact he would certainly feel better once it was finalized.

Felix comes back from his morning schedule, bringing with him fresh garlic bread with extra cheese, part of his baker’s dozen of course that he always shared with Chan. Chan, Hyunjin, and Changbin were essentially his taste-testers, Hyunjin being the main taster here as an avid lover of all things bread and carbs. It always drove him insane before competitions when he was on a strict diet that limited his intake of simple carbs like bread and pastry items.

Chan tells Felix in thorough detail about everything – tells Felix about Minho, about having seen him before, about their shared class, and now this.

‘…why does this sound like it came out of like, a fable or story,’ Felix gets out when Chan’s done. ‘It like-…there’s something weirdly uh, fateful about it all.’

I don’t know about fate, Chan shrugs, happily chewing through the buttery and soft and savoury garlic bread with relish, it’s definitely interesting though.

‘I think that’s putting it mildly,’ Felix snorts, shaking his head. ‘You think he’s partly Light Fae?’

Chan nods, but maybe a grandparent? I don’t know, because Hyunjin couldn’t see his lights. Binnie could but he doesn’t see it as clearly as I do I think?

‘Oh?’ Felix blinks a bit, ‘I guess I’ll have to meet him eventually. I mean. I really should.’

…why?

Felix gives him such a wide eyed look that Chan hastily apologizes.

‘Why?!’ he gasps out, ‘What if I have to fight him-?’

Why is everyone talking about fighting Minho, you don’t have to fight him! Chan says hurriedly before glancing at the time, wow okay I should head to work now!

‘I need to meet him!’ Felix declares, ‘It will happen one way or another, just you wait Christopher!’

For obvious reasons Chan does not host his coaching sessions. He also stays away from sight, staying mostly in the staff-only areas and talking with the other coaches and a short meeting with Dr. Kim though that’s mostly to ensure her that he was doing all right. She recommends him an ointment for bruising as well as a foundation company if he wanted one. But honestly if Chan wore a mask over his face it wasn’t too bad, the bruising on his face was minimal now and could be hidden well.

But the day of class, which Chan knows he doesn’t have to attend, he suddenly feels self-conscious. Maybe he should have invested in that foundation.

When he walks in Minho is already there, sitting at his usual seat at the back.

He spots him immediately and as he’s somewhat backlit Chan can’t really see any lights around him. Chan gives him a small smile in greeting; not much else he could do really.

He hadn’t wanted to part from his seal-skin so he wore it everywhere even though he didn’t always do so. He’s wondering if maybe he should just put his seal-skin away for now; he knows that there was already rumors and talk going around about what happened. He doesn’t want his classmates identifying his hoodie as being a seal-skin therefore connecting him to what happened. That was just unnecessary attention he could do without. But before he can, Minho steps up to the bench and slides in and takes a seat next to him.

‘Hi.’ He says, the tiniest sprinkle of lights hidden under his hair near his ears.

Chan doesn’t know what to do so he just smiles back again.

Did Minho come here to sit with him because he thought he had to?

That wasn’t the case at all. Chan wouldn’t blame him for not speaking to him at all during this situation unless it was in the Court.

Quickly he takes out his notepad he rarely took notes in and jots down some words as Minho rummages in his bag.

You don’t have to sit with me, it’s okay.

Minho sort of still, reading his note before he fidgets a little, taking something out of his bag and handing Chan a small soft fabric pouch.

It was now Chan’s turn to turn still, staring at the pouch for a moment before taking it.

Minho doesn’t offer an explanation of any sort but it was clearly meant for him. So Chan pulls the pouch open and pulls out what was clearly a hand-made bracelet. Chan can tell it’s made from specifically fabricated kelp-yarn, the kind used in a lot of DIY crafts. He knows this because it was something most of the Undine used to make themselves tags or lanyard straps to be used in water. It’s been carefully braided in a rather intricate fashion with a pink fabric. It’s adjustable, with a knot used for sliding the ends to fit Chan’s wrist no doubt.

‘It’s- I looked things up,’ Minho tells him quietly, sounding nervous, the small stars in his hair hidden away, ‘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.’

Chan can barely process what Minho has said, what he was so willingly extending out to Chan out of concern and thoughtfulness on his behalf that he barely registers the lecturer calling his name. Minho has to lightly elbow him, nodding towards the lecturer to alert him.

‘I know it’s uh, supposed to be personal,’ Minho continues to say, ‘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.’

Chan stares at the bracelet, twice as precious now, holding and symbolizing not just Minho’s thoughtfulness but also carrying what was undoubtedly a sweet personal connection on Minho’s end.

It’s perfect.

It was perfection in every way.

Chan doesn’t know where Minho is reading any of this information online and what was being said about Selkie culture but Chan is sort of blown away.

He doesn’t know what to say.

‘Lee Minho!’

Minho raises his hand as his name is called before settling back down, posture a little stiff, still waiting for a response from Chan.

He grabs the notebook and pen once more and pauses. How does he even say this? What could he even say that would explain what this meant to him?

Thank you. This means a lot. You didn’t have to do it, but I’m very-

Very what? Stunned? Shocked? Touched? Overwhelmed? Moved? Honoured? All of the above?

Thank you.

He tacks on a funny wonky smiley face at the end and it makes Minho chuckle, the stars in his hair shifting and glimmering to view a bit more clearly before fading out of sight.

Can I see your cat? Chan asks.

The stars come out in full brightness, shimmering in masses as Minho grins at the mention of his cat and then showing him his phone lock-screen.

Soonie is an orange and white cat, very handsome, very soft looking, clearly well taken care of.

Soonie? Chan mouths carefully to Minho who nods.

How old is he?

‘8,’ Minho replies, ‘Do you have any pets?’

Not personally, but we have a family dog back home he tells Minho who goes ahh quietly, nodding.

He wears the bracelet at once, a giddiness rising in him. It went well with the one he was already wearing and Chan wonders if Minho had seen him wear it and decided to go with a bracelet. It did feel less binding than a ring, but also incredibly sincere.

If there was a word for Minho and the occasions in which Chan has witnessed him before, it was that: sincere.

His actions and words, even when in complete shock and out of his element, were so sincere and genuine.

Chan can barely pay attention to class. He wonders if it would be too much to ask Minho if they could talk after class? Maybe this was just him being thoughtful and polite, not wanting to do any wrong in a culture he was unfamiliar with and that was it. Yubin had put quite a lot of emphasis in what she was explaining to Minho so it was understandable if he was worried about doing things wrong. And honestly if Chan were actively in a Selkie community they would be processing this with so much more painful cultural details like an actual marriage ceremony even if it was futile as they were getting divorced anyway.

He decides to try it.

It’s okay if you don’t want to, but if you have time, can we talk for a bit? he asks, sliding over his notebook to Minho the moment class is dismissed.

‘Oh-,’ Minho blinks once, twice and then nods, ‘Yeah, of course.’

They head to the university café- well, one of them anyway, there were three others around but this was closest and also Chan’s favourite because-

Ryujin grins and waves at him as they walk inside.

Hey! Good to see that you’re not as bruised up as I imagined you were! She signs. Of course Yuna would have told her everything.

She then turns to Minho and there’s a quick curious glint in her eyes but she was, first and foremost, a barista working here so she turns on her professional mode. She greets him as usual and Minho smiles, shifting a little uncomfortably.

This is M-I-N-H-O Chan spells his name out.

‘Hi Minho-shii, I’m Ryujin,’ she says, introducing herself, ‘What can I get for you?’

‘Oh, um,’ Minho looks over at the menu quickly, ‘I’ll just have a iced-peach tea thank you, trying to stop being too reliant on caffeine.’

‘Oh, better you than me,’ she chuckles as Chan orders his usual blueberry smoothie.

They both sort of awkwardly shuffle, not sure who would lead but considering Chan had asked Minho here to talk, he supposes he’ll lead them to a table. Ryujin comes to place down some stuff at their table as per usual and then a sort of awkwardness settles around them.

But it’s not bad – it’s mostly just sheepishness and coming to terms with their reality. Their shared reality in this.

Not something they could just ignore and move on with.

Chan starts writing on the notepad and Minho leans in a little, focused and giving his full attention.

If it’s okay with you, I thought maybe we should learn a bit about each other?

‘Yeah of course,’ Minho replies at once before getting his phone, ‘Actually can I have your contact?’

They exchange contact information and Chan smiles to himself at the Lirino contact that pops up, and the display photo is of course Soonie, and he’s clearly being held by Minho though his face doesn’t show completely.

Chan turns his phone to Minho to confirm if this was indeed him and Minho looks like he’s fighting a laugh as he nods – there was definitely some sort of inside joke regarding his contact name.

As Chan puts his phone away Ryujin arrives with their drinks. It was rather empty without a lot of customers and Ryujin was always quite fast with making drinks so Chan isn’t that surprised that she pops up in just some minutes.

Is this a date? Ryujin asks, teasing glint in her eyes as she places their drinks down.

No! Ryujin no!

Sorry oppa, Ryujin smirks before turning to Minho, ‘Please enjoy!’

‘Thank you,’ Minho smiles politely, not looking offended or annoyed that he and Ryujin were essentially talking without him participating or understanding, ‘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.’

Oh.

Oh, Minho really took what Yubin said to heart and probably read up more than he needed to about Selkies and whatever terrible stories and accounts there were online.

Chan is far from being inconvenienced by Minho – it should be the opposite. Minho should be upset about all of this but he’s not and Chan doesn’t know how to feel about it.

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 starts to say and while Chan knew that, that didn’t stop him from feeling like he could have done something different in order to avoid this or at least make it less stressful for them both.

And it’s not your fault either.

They have a brief stare down, as though sizing each other up on who would step back.

‘I uh, I guess we both uh, do our best and uh, hope we get divorced quickly?’ Minho says as they realize neither of them were going to back down from this stance.

Chan gasps dramatically and Minho grins at that, eyes crinkling a little, small burst of light that vanish when Chan blinks.

He should take this opportunity to ask Minho some questions he’s been curious about.

You said you study vet-science? Chan asks, 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 >_<

‘It’s okay,’ Minho tells him with an understanding smile, ‘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.’

That honestly sounded great – it sounded as though Minho would be able to offer the most variety of services to animals by being a vet-tech and also have the most flexibility about it too. It also sounded quite intense and a lot to grasp.

You’re writing your thesis right now right? What’s it about? Chan asks curiously.

‘Ooh,’ Minho looks comically despondent and he even shudders as thought of his thesis was physically hurting him. ‘Something I should have reconsidered if I’m being honest – I’m writing, well, basically proposing a new method of rehabilitation for kappas.’

Not an answer Chan was expecting but then again it’s not like Chan was familiar with what you would write for a thesis in vet science.

‘Yeah I know it’s kinda weird but-.’ Minho starts to say sheepishly but stops as Chan starts to write as quickly as he could, his handwriting getting worse with every word.

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 him in surprise.

Kappas were definitely weird looking creatures Chan won’t lie but he genuinely does think they’re oddly cute.

It wasn’t something Chan was expecting Minho to be so invested in, but from the random information he knows about Kappas and how they’re trafficked to be kept as pets he’s quite relieved in a sense that there definitely were people out there who cared for these interesting creatures.

Not at all! They’re weird looking for sure but I think they’re funny little guys!

‘Yeah,’ Minho grins and adds, ‘They can mess with you for sure, but I like them a lot somehow so here I am, regretting everything.’

Chan chuckles at that – there was a way in which the lights gleamed in the corner of Minho’s eyes when he was pretending to be huffy or bothered.

‘You’re in sports-science, well, you’re technically done.’ Minho points out.

It’s Chan’s turn to nod and act dramatically.

‘So uh, are you working now or-?

Yeah I’m actually an assistant coach right now, Chan explains, 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!

There’s a different sort of gleam in Minho’s eyes as he reads Chan’s words.

‘That’s really cool, I didn’t know the university had a program like that,’ Minho tells him and he knows he’s being sincere. ‘Is it on campus grounds?’

Chan nods as he writes : It’s past the gymnasium, it’s at the northern end.

Now that Chan thinks about it, the vet science faculty building and the sports science faculty building were as far apart as you could get two buildings in the same grounds.

Where are you doing your internship? Chan asks with interest.

‘It’s actually not far from the university grounds,’ Minho tells him, pointing somewhere behind him. ‘It’s a private vet clinic-.’

Wait.

Wait. Surely not-?

SC Pet Clinic? Chan asks, wondering if he was jumping to conclusions or-

‘Yeah,’ Minho looks just as surprised as Chan was feeling, ‘Wait- oh, it’s rather close to the north entrance point of the university.’

Chan has been past it many times- in fact he’s pretty sure Coach Minho had pointed it out saying he had a friend who worked there or something.

Wow.

Wow.

Now that Chan thinks about it, Minho was always somehow close by in a sense.

Small world is all he manages to say.

‘I guess,’ Minho admits with a small laugh.

Chan’s about to tell Minho about how he has seen Minho a few times before but then pauses. Minho has clearly read up a lot about Selkies and no doubt the very dramatic and very weirdly angled exaggerated sensational stories have made their way over to his searches. He doesn’t want Minho to think or suspect that Chan might have tried to trap him into this marriage.

Because while innocent enough to point out that Chan has seen him, another person from the same university using similar facilities in and around the university area, in this context Chan is afraid things might come off really weird.

He discusses this with Hyunjin as he tails Chan around the natatorium and Chan finds some employment for himself by taking over the clean up for the post-training session. They usually had younger interns or even their athletes (like Hyunjin) do this but Chan had pleaded with Coach Hyunwoo to let him do some things or he would go insane so the older man lets him take him over after the students leave.

Hyunjin of course remained back, and so does Yuna who had, mid-coaching, stared wide-eyed at him when she saw him at the doorway, with an expression Chan has seen frequently on Felix which he translates to hey stay there I have to talk to you!

So he’s not surprised when she comes over towards them once she’s dried off, hair in a funny state due to her swim-cap, eyes wide and still completely blackened from being in the water.

‘Ryujinnie told me she saw you with your accidental husband!’ she exclaims in a loud whisper the moment she’s close enough, ‘She said he was hot! Why didn’t you mention this!’

Chan splutters as Hyunjin laughs delightedly.

‘I think we were initially in too much shock to process that,’ Hyunjin tells her before Chan can say anything, ‘But he really is good looking! And when did Ryujinnie see him?’

‘She said oppa came to the café with him? She asked if it was a date-.’

Hyunjin swivels his head to turn to him, eyes wide.

‘No- no, it was not a date,’ Chan groans before he lifts the sleeve of his shirt, ‘He gave me this and-.’

There’s loud gasps from both Yuna and Hyunjin before they grab his arm and stare at the bracelet like it was made of diamonds or something.

‘Wait- oh my god, this is romantic,’ Yuna whispers.

‘Finally someone who agrees with me-!’ Hyunjin squeals and they both jump up and down a little.

‘Agrees with you!? What are you two talking about-?’

‘Wait, oppa wait,’ Yuna’s eyes widen suddenly as though horrified, ‘Is he single-?’

‘I found him on Insta actually,’ Hyunjin starts to say, pulling his phone out, ‘Here I’ll show you-!’

‘I don’t know! And why is that important here?! Hyunjin stop stalking him-!’ Chan groans as Hyunjin pulls up Minho’s Instagram page and-

‘He is handsome!’ Yuna exclaims, leaning into the screen, ‘Oh, and he has a cat?! Oh wow-!’

‘I was trying to figure out if he was seeing someone or not,’ Hyunjin continues to say, clearly ignoring Chan, ‘And he doesn’t really post all that much but he’s on his friends posts more, and this guy-!’

‘Ohh,’ Yuna nods, extending the vowels, ‘You think he’s the boyfriend?’

‘Honestly not sure. But he’s in a lot of photos with Minho-shii.’

‘-oh he’s cute too,’ Yuna smiles, ‘This is a cute photo.’

Curious, Chan leans in and takes a look at Hyunjin’s phone.

It’s a photo that’s clearly been taken candidly by Yang Jeongin (Chan’s pretty that the photo was on his Instagram profile based on the display photo on the side) and it’s been captioned: “they’re scheming about something and I don’t like it.”

They’re both looking over to one side, Minho leaning in as though to say something while the other person was also leaning in as though to better hear Minho. If Chan isn’t mistaken this might be the guy he had seen with Minho the first time Chan saw Minho but he can’t be too sure as he never really saw his face.

‘If that is his boyfriend, all of this would be really awkward wouldn’t it?’ Yuna asks with a wince as Hyunjin shows him all the photos he’s saved for some reason.

Chan balks at the idea – it would be excruciatingly awkward if Minho was indeed in a relationship. How do you even deal with a situation like that? Obviously it wasn’t anyone’s intention and it wasn’t anyone’s fault, but how bizarre would that be?

‘They have a lot of photos together – I think they might live together,’ Hyunjin tells them, ‘I looked up his other friends and-.’

‘Hyunjin!’ Chan exclaims, ‘Stop snooping that’s his private business-!’

‘-well, yes, but also don’t you think that Minho-shii and his friends aren’t doing the same?’ Hyunjin chuckles, ‘Besides, this isn’t really snooping, Jeongin is my junior and we actually followed each other that day at Court!’

‘Oh my god,’ Yuna exclaims brightly, ‘He’s really cute too!’

‘He’s Light-Fae, he’s in the Industrial Design department.’ Hyunjin says, looking proud of a fellow art student.

Hyunjin was in the original Fine Arts department, focusing on painting. He always joked that the Fates intended for him to choose the most financially unstable career knowing he would meet Changbin. It’s funny because Hyunjin didn’t even know who Changbin was or who his family was until over a year of dating during which Chan witnessed his two friends being nauseatingly but so sincerely and adorably in love.

Yuna is called away by some of the other students and with a bright smile and teasing jab to his not sore ribs, Yuna turns and rushes back out.

‘Can you at least pretend to think about what I asked,’ Chan whines at Hyunjin once Yuna is out of the natatorium, ‘Changbin would never do this to me.’

Hyunjin bursts out into laughter at that.

‘Well, considering how uh, precarious things are for now, it would be a sort of odd thing to say, especially as Minho-shii has like, nothing but online information about Selkie culture,’ Hyunjin says thoughtfully, ‘But I suppose it just depends on how you deliver the information. Like if you were to be all “I saw you last summer”, then you know, you might get a restraining order.’

‘Thank you,’ Chan deadpans and then he sighs.

‘Or maybe it doesn’t matter,’ Hyunjin shrugs, ‘I understand wanting things to work well between you two because you will be seeing each other quite a bit and like, things would be generally easier if you’re at least friendly - but maybe that's it you know?’

Chan nods thoughtfully to that.

‘But that was a really nice gesture from him,’ Hyunjin points to the bracelet Chan hasn’t taken off since acquiring it. ‘I was very sus I’ll admit, but you know what? He does seem nice.’

Chan nods to that, ‘Yeah, he is nice and-.’

‘-also he works with animals, like, you can’t not be nice if you work with animals right?’ Hyunjin asks like that made perfect sense.

Chan supposes that maybe in the wild context of everything that’s been going on with him for some time now, maybe it did make sense.

The weekends were always a little busier for Chan usually. Technically he’d been given the weekend off, mostly to recover and heal from his bruising but Chan felt restless so he was back here again. After a while Jihyo finds him and jokingly threatens him (was it a joke though, he’ll never know) and sends him out. However, Chan does listen so he goes to a nearby clinic to assess his bruising and he’s told he had nothing to worry about and later with Felix’s help finds a light concealer to help him cover the now weirdly purpley-green bruising that’s left on the side of his face. Just enough to stop people from doing double-takes.

Chan barely makes his way indoors the items he had very carefully and specifically bought last night are delivered to him.

He immediately clears some space on his desk and goes to his nightstand. The bottom drawer contained all of his most important documents and items, all neatly put together mostly for the sake of organization but also for the same of emergencies. He’s heard enough stories about people escaping burning homes or natural disasters without being able to get to their important documents and Chan does not want to be that person.

Next to his files and passport and other legal documents is a small wooden box lined with soft padded cloth. Inside it are a bunch of sea-glass he collected from the beaches near his home since he was a little kid.

A bit of home, untainted in their beauty and memory.

They’re all different sizes and different colours. Chan knows that realistically he’ll have to choose from a limited bunch as his idea would require the smaller variety of sea-glass.

Selecting the prettiest stones that are roughly all just a bit larger than a pea, Chan prepares a little station for himself at his desk and plays the video he had saved earlier that morning. He measures out the twine carefully – from what he remembers Minho’s hands were smaller than his but he didn’t have the exact measurements. The smartest move would be to make the same kind of loops Minho had made with the sliding-knot to make it adjustable. But for now he focuses on securing the sea-glass.

Chan plays the video at 2 times the slower speed, keeping track with how the amazing jewelry maker was making secure loops for each little gem without needing to drill anything. It was basically like creating a little cage for the stone. Chan needs it to be secure at the very least, even if it doesn’t come out too pretty.

He’s not expecting Minho to actually wear it, there was no need to and he doesn’t want him to feel pressured to do so either.

However it was only right if Chan returned the same in kind – it only made sense for Chan to also extend this sincerity, this, well, “relationship” if you could call it that.

And maybe it was too early – they were both just working around being polite and amiable towards each other in face of this bizarre situation but Chan hopes they can truly become friends.

He wonders if he should give it to him in class this coming week, but when he gets an email summoning him to the Seely Court in regards to the divorce, Chan guesses he’ll give Minho the bracelet there instead.

Morning rush-hour traffic is terrible as usual. Changbin had insisted he use his car and for him to keep it for now. Changbin wasn’t even in the city for this week, visiting relatives with his family and being mopey about missing Hyunjin even though it had been been like, two days. But Chan understands why Changbin insisted.

Money, or the concept of money, afforded you so much more than the physical.

Changbin knew this, Chan knew this.

It was dumb, but if it would help, help him and Minho, then Chan would do this.

He’s a little more than halfway there when Minho messages him to let him know he would be late due to the traffic and apologizes. Chan lets him know he’s in a similar situation.

To Chan’s amusement they both seem to get there at the same time, parking across from one another.

But Minho is not alone.

They both stare at each other, clearly not prepared to see each other so randomly at the parking lot. Chan then turns his gaze to the other person who seems to have just put two and two together as he does a double-take.

They’re not close enough for Chan to properly hear what they say and also Chan doesn’t want to eavesdrop, closing the door of the car and making sure the doors were all locked before making his way over to the two.

Minho gives him a sort of wincing apologetic look that Chan doesn’t have time to respond to before his friend greets him rather excitedly.

‘-nice to meet you! I’m Han Jisung,’ Jisung grins, ‘Minho-hyung’s driver for the day! And unlike him I can do this! Hey man, stoked to meet you irl y’know?

Chan can’t help but grin.

It’s nice to meet you too-!

Hyung’s limp so he doesn’t know how to Speak, he’s unfortunately only influential in dry sarcasm and cat, but no scary, I’ll teach him!

Chan’s pretty sure Jisung has learnt Speak from very random bits of media.

You’ll make a fun teacher Chan grins.

‘Nice,’ Jisung says, looking pleased, ‘I’m gonna get going now, I don’t want you guys to be late.’

‘Very considerate,’ Minho gives Jisung a sort of hilariously tired look at that, having just stood there watching them converse.

‘Really nice meeting you!’ Jisung tells him again before turning to Minho, ‘See you back at home jagi!’

He then leans in and kisses Minho’s cheek and heads back to the car.

Oh.

Oh, Hyunjin was on to something.

‘Drive safely!’ Minho calls back to his boyfriend.

Jisung waves at them both and Chan waves back.

Right. He should address this. Because maybe now giving Minho the bracelet in turn wouldn’t be the best move because that was definitely some sort of display from the boyfriend – not really a threat or anything, but to just show Chan that Minho had an actual boyfriend.

I’m sorry, things probably were very difficult to explain to your boyfriend, I hope I didn’t cause any issues. Chan tells Minho, making sure he had no typos.

Minho stares at his phone for a moment.

‘Boy-boyfriend-!’ Minho splutters, looking like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or not. ‘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.’

Roommates? But-

Chan is confused at every level. And it must show because Minho hastens to explain.

‘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 tells him before adding in a comically dark tone, ‘Finally getting rid of him.’

Chan can’t help but laugh at that, the surprise of everything sort of tilting everything on to it’s head.

Despite the fact that Selkies couldn’t vocalize when they were out of water, that didn’t mean they couldn’t not make sounds – Chan can make small sounds and hums; he can sigh which he does a lot in fact and Felix is really good at imitating him. Sometimes when he laughed he made sounds which made him feel self-conscious especially around people he wasn’t familiar with. For some reason people were uncomfortable when, as a Selkie, you made any sort of sound; they sometimes even flinched or for some bizarre reason seemed to think you were just pretending not to be able to vocalize.

But Minho doesn’t flinch or stare, instead just laughing alongside him.

You’re moving? Chan asks as they enter the elevator, now that things were cleared up. Chan guesses Jisung was probably just very affectionate.

‘Uh yeah. Our lease is up and I’m actually going and seeing a couple of potential places this afternoon.’ Minho replies.

Chan does not envy being in that position. Finding a new place to rent was a pain – tiring at best, and completely spirit breaking at worst if he’s being honest.

These things can be tough Chan tells Minho, I hope you find a good place.

‘I really hope so too,’ Minho says seriously, ‘I really like the sound of the one I’m headed to after this, I hope everything works out.’

Good luck Chan signs.

It was one of the more common Speak phrases the general public knew of and Minho recognizes it immediately.

Thank you, Minho Speaks back a little slowly, trying his best not to make any mistakes.

Chan nods in approval and there’s a soft glow that glimmers right on the edges of his cheeks as he smiles, clearly pleased to have used the correct Speak signs.

He should give Minho the bracelet now- he’d been weighing in the option of giving it to him before or after. But as he was going to be heading out to see different potential living accommodations after this, Chan supposes now would be better.

Chan stops Minho from going any further into the building as they exit the elevator. And oh he’s so nervous. Chan is so nervous.

Honestly he can’t believe he’s doing this too in a way. For Minho, as someone incredibly unaware of his culture, he would of course do his best to try and be respectful and to honour the traditions even if it wasn’t necessary in all honesty especially being in his position.

But it felt right.

Right now he wasn’t honouring his culture or doing things traditionally, he was returning back the thoughtfulness and cooperation Minho extended to him, showcasing his willingness to go through this and work together.

And that was exactly what Chan wanted to reflect back to him too- that Minho did not need to be concerned about any of this more than what was required of him from the Seely Court.

‘Oh- oh,’ Minho blinks a few times, hands frozen, staring at the pouch that he hands him. ‘Uh-.’

Chan hastily pulls up the pre-written note he had for this moment in specific.

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 more than once before slowly taking out the bracelet from inside the pouch. He thumbs at the sea-glass a bit, a gentle and very slow blink of lights orbiting his head briefly.

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 smiles at him, the lights come back, clearer, but vanish just as quickly.

‘It’s pretty,’ Minho tells him and Chan knows he’s being sincere. He immediately pulls it on but can’t quite tug on the end-strings to adjust the size of the bracelet as he was holding his bag in one hand.

Without thinking much about it, Chan of course helps him out and barely 2 seconds later he realizes how symbolic this was. Just because they weren’t rings didn’t mean it didn’t emulate the same meaning.

He can feel his face turning red and hopes Minho doesn’t notice.

‘Thank you,’ Minho smiles, a fuzzy light forming around his ears and down his neck for a fraction of a second as he rolls his wrist around a bit, ‘Uh, good wedding present exchange?’

Chan can’t help but laugh, nodding in agreement and Minho chuckles with him as well, both of them aware of how ridiculous all of this was but somehow still going along with it all.

Inside they have to wait for a while. But Chan doesn’t quite notice the time they wait, that giddiness erupting in him again, trying not to look down at Minho’s wrist too much or too obviously.

When they’re called in they’re, to both their surprise, not taken to see Yubin but directed to another office.

Here they wait some more and they both exchange slightly nervous looks. This wasn’t what they were expecting. Lawyer Im had confessed he wasn’t too clear with the procedures about Selkie divorces but had told him to contact him for anything he might be confused about or documents he wasn’t sure about.

They’re called in and when they’re put in front of this desk with a clerk of some sort Chan feels himself straightening his back a little, shoulders down, doing his best to appear proper. It suddenly felt very bureaucratic and stuffy and Chan can physically feel his anxiety rising up exponentially.

The clerk doesn’t even properly address them, just sort of aggressively goes through their documents and forms, barely glances at them except to stare unblinkingly at them for a few seconds.

Chan fights the urge to fidget.

After some loud stamping that make Minho flinch, a sharp shadow spike splitting out from around him as Chan blinks, the clerk nods as though answering some unasked question and sends them off outside.

Chan and Minho share confused looks of silence, both of them somehow not quite daring to say anything out loud, as though afraid of being judged. But then a couple of minutes later the clerk hands them a singular piece of paper and tells them where to go.

Of they thank the man but they’re still confused as to what they just did. This was it?

They take it back out to the desk they had walked past and the lady there accepts the paper and with a kind smile tells them that they’ll be notified when to come back to the court some time next week via email.

It was odd, but with some relief they both leave the floor.

They still don’t say anything until they reach the main lobby outside and Minho lets out a groan Chan very much felt, shaking himself to rid of the weirdness of the whole situation.

They barely manage to hold each other’s gaze for a second before bursting out into laughter.

‘Well, I guess that’s that,’ Minho says, shaking his head, ‘Are you headed to work?’

Yes, Chan replies, and you’re going to look at a new place?

‘Yeah,’ Minho says before looking a little thoughtful as he asks, ‘I wonder if it’ll cause some issues once I change address though, with my written information and stuff.’

Oh – that could potentially be an issue right? When he changed his address it had been a whole different process of registration at the immigration. But maybe as Minho was a native there wouldn’t be too much of an issue for him.

I don’t think so? You might just have to resubmit your residential papers and stuff again.

‘Ah, yeah,’ Minho nods slowly, still looking thoughtful before he thumbs behind him, ‘I’ll get going now- and uh, thank you again Chan-shii.’

He holds up his hand to show his bracelet again, smiling a little, faint glimmer of light around his ears, down his neck.

He was a bit embarrassed.

It has Chan smiling back at once.

I’ll see you in class?

‘Yes,’ Minho groans, ‘Which reminds me I should finish this week’s assignment.’

Wait what.

Assignment?

‘Yes-?’

Shit.

Oh no.

Chan had barely been paying attention in class so he clearly missed out on the announcements regarding any assignments.

Thankfully Minho shows him which chapter assignments they would have to submit and it’s easy enough but the surprise factor of it all wasn’t something he was particularly fond of.

He bids Minho goodbye, feeling better and lighter despite the jump-scare assignment reminder.

Maybe they could become friends. Chan would love to get to know Minho better and hopefully once all of this ends they could still stay connected in some way. However, once things are over, and their divorce is finalized, and it comes with a natural end of their “relationship” where they would no longer see each other then Chan will accept it.

After all, there wouldn’t be a legal need for Minho to meet up with Chan and Minho would be moving out of the area in general, and he would be finished with his degree by then too.

Maybe seeing Minho all those random times was just a build up to this moment – Chan doesn’t know how or why, but maybe it was. And after this they would go on their separate ways.

Chan is making his way down to the parking lot when Lawyer Im messages him to ask if he could make it to the police station. Chan replies he could be there now if needed and so he makes his way straight to the station.

‘I would have come to you for this,’ Lawyer Im tells him with a small apologetic smile, ‘But I have to head back to the firm for a meeting and just in case you were able to make it today, I had to ask if you could come here.’

It’s no problem, Chan tells him, following him to one of the small lobby areas to the side. I was at the Seely Court – just submitted the additional documents for the divorce.

Lawyer Im gives him a concerned look at that.

‘You don’t mind sharing those documents with me? I know I’m not covering any aspect of that, but just to give you legal advice when you need it and I’m up to date on what’s happening,’ Lawyer Im tells him.

That would mean so much to me, Chan tells him sincerely, it’s honestly really confusing and my uh, well, my husband I guess, he doesn’t know anything about Selkie culture in general so I hope in some ways I can be of help or at least some reassurance to him in this process.

‘He’s good though?’ Lawyer Im asks, eyes narrowed, ‘Not in line with Go Youngmin?’

No no Chan shakes his head quickly, not in the slightest.

‘Well, all right. I can look into him if you want-?’

No. Chan says firmly. It’s okay- we’ve come to a good understanding of what we have to do. We’re cooperating well.

‘That’s good to hear,’ Lawyer Im nods, ‘All right – I just need your signature here and just to update you on some things.’

Of course.

Chan signs 2 different documents regarding the restraining order and Lawyer Im tells him some more details regarding it. Putting everything together, Lawyer Im was able to get the most out of what happened and tells Chan he could get him 13 months of a complete restraining order – meaning Go Youngmin would not be legally allowed to step foot within a 100 meters of where he lived and where he worked. This also usually involved relative’s homes and or spouse and children if any were involved. After the first 13 months, these specific restrictions will be lifted but he would still, for another year, not be allowed to contact Chan in anyway whatsoever.

Honestly that sounded great and Chan thanks the man profusely once more.

‘I do have to say though that while this is what we are aiming for, and that you do qualify to have these specifications set out against Go Youngmin, it doesn’t mean it will necessarily fall through,’ Lawyer Im tells him, ‘They could try and change the specifications and reduce the time too.’

It’s already more than what I could expect Chan tells him, this already means a lot to me.

‘I just want you to know that while I will do my best to work things out in your favour, to, well, I suppose keep expectations low,’ Lawyer Im tells him with an apologetic look.

I understand, Chan tells him.

Chan doesn’t have unrealistic expectations – he doubts Youngmin will necessarily respect the rules of the restraining order anyway, but like Changbin had said, it was more of a display of what they could do back – to be a nuisance to the point of avoidance. And Chan would really like it if Youngmin would do that. Maybe in these next few months he would forget about Chan and maybe even permanently move out of the country or something.

Chan heads to Changbin’s apartment to return his car. He wouldn’t need it again, at least not this week he doesn’t think. He messages Changbin and lets him know that he returned his car before making his way to the train station to return home. He has a message from Felix letting him know that one of his new potential neighbours was soon going to arrive to check the flat.

The realtor was someone both he and Felix knew, she had been the one to help them find the duplex a couple of years ago. She was very kind and was very fond of Felix in particular and was able to get them the duplex for cheaper than what was listed.

Chan takes his time on his walk from the station to his place, feeling at ease for the first time in a while. He’s pretty sure Felix had some treats, a misshapen cookie or slightly burnt batch of cupcakes or something waiting for him. A great way to round up the day.

He turns up the street leading to the duplex, shaded by both trees and different awnings here and there when up ahead he spots a trio of people.

One of them is obviously Felix, and the other the realtor. The other person must be his potential neighbour.

Chan supposes this is good, because he can get a read of them in advance if they were truly going to be his neighbour.

Felix spots him and he waves, grinning brightly.

He seemed pleased, lights sparking up around him even under the sunlight, so that was good; he probably liked this person who could replace him as tenant of the flat.

The realtor turns too, and so does the other person who Chan realizes a second too late was wearing the exact same clothes Minho was wearing.

Minho is smiling as he turns around but his expression freezes the moment their eyes meet.

They both stare at each other – Chan nearly tripping on nothing as he comes to a halt.

‘Chris-!’ Felix calls out to him, smile bright for a second before his expression turns confused.

The realtor is saying something, turning to Minho who hasn’t blinked once, complete shock on his features. It prompts Chan to move, unaware of his foot moving to an extent as he approaches the trio, never looking away once.

‘-Chan-shii! This is very good, Minho-shii, Chan-shii could be your potential future neighbour!’ the realtor says brightly, gesturing between them. 

Oh, Chan thinks to himself as he pieces in all of the information before him.

‘This is such good timing!’ she adds.

All that rational thinking from earlier in the day about how after this, after the divorce, they would probably part ways or something, goes flying out of the metaphoric window because there was no doubt about it.

This was definitely Magick.

‘I’m not stalking you,’ Minho blurts out, lights a mess all around him, chaotic and uncontrolled like that time in the library.

Felix, who has now clearly caught up, grabs his arm as though to steady himself, eyes widening, looking to Chan for some sort of explanation.

Chan supposes smiling right now, that too so brightly and with so much amusement, was maybe not the most reassuring move he could make but it's uncontrollable. He wants to sort of hysterically exclaim all around the place. He doesn’t.

Instead he laughs.

‘Oh my god-,’ Felix whispers.

‘O-oh, you two know each other?’ the realtor asks, ‘Well, that’s great then isn’t it?’

Minho looks like he’s stunned, mouth opening and closing, looking between all three of them in turns, spikes of light messily scattered and fading and erupting around his head.

We’re classmates Chan tells the realtor, feeling like he should get this moving along before it got more confusing for everyone else.

‘Oh!’ she exclaims, ‘Classmates! That’s great, you don’t even need introductions that way!’

Dude, are you for real right now? Felix demands, turning to him as the realtor starts to address Minho. Is that him-?! Wait- did you recommend the place to him or-?

‘I’m sure this way you can discuss more of the details about the duplex as you’re classmates!’ the realtor turns to Chan again and he smiles back with a nod.

‘I- uh-,’ Minho can barely manage, looking at Chan almost desperately before he’s steered away by the realtor to their next appointment.

Chan continues to laugh, watching after Minho and the realtor with a sort of giddiness.

‘Dude,’ Felix gapes at him, ‘Was that- was that him?!’

Chan nods, turning towards their duplex door.

At this point Chan maybe should expect to see Minho everywhere now.

‘Wait,’ Felix exclaims, almost offended as he looks back to where Minho had vanished with the realtor as he scrambles after him, ‘Why did every single one of you fail to mention that he’s hot?!’

Chan throws his hands up in defeat, groaning as he walks inside.

‘No wait,’ Felix calls after him, ‘He’s really good looking what the fuck?’

That’s not the point! That doesn’t make things different! Chan tells Felix, frowning a bit.

‘Yeah I know but still! It’s like telling me you went to a buffet and not mentioning they had caviar!’

Chan turns back to give Felix an incredulous look at the analogy.

We were all in shock the first time, I also had other things to think about Chan tells Felix, telling him what Hyunjin had said to Yuna. Not that Chan is blind – the first time he was Minho he literally thought he was pretty and that hasn’t changed either.

Felix of course follows him inside, lights sparkling all around him uncontrollably.

Oh yeah, did you notice his lights? Chan asks Felix.

‘His-? Oh yeah, I think you’re right, he’s got Light Fae blood for sure,’ Felix nods, ‘But very quick brief glimpses here and there, but enough about that – do you think he knew when he came to check?!’

I highly doubt it Chan says firmly, booking an appointment and stuff, that takes time to process.

Felix looks thoughtful before he says in a matter of fact tone, ‘Honestly I can’t help but feel like it definitely is fated at this point. According to noona he had initially turned this flat down when she showed him like, a month ago. She included some more photos because the one on the site didn’t showcase the balcony and he said he liked it because he had a cat.’

Is that why she asked if I might have a cat allergy?

‘I think so,’ Felix grins before breathing out in exclamation, ‘Wow, Chris, this is- honestly like, it’s undeniable, this is fated isn’t it?’

At least you don’t immediately think he’s suspicious – if anything he might be suspicious of me now.

The moment Chan says it he balks at the idea.

‘What will you do?’ Felix asks.

What will “I” do? Chan chuckles, there’s nothing I can do, nothing to do – if he likes the place he’ll rent it, if not, he won’t. Though I suppose it would be awkward to be neighbours with like, your accidental husband you’re divorcing.

Felix laughs at that but he looks thoughtful again, ‘I noticed his lights as he was looking around, sparkling all over the place, I was so sure he was immediately ready to be like “I’ll take it!”, I think he was already imagining how to set up the place. I mean, what’s not to like though, I’m going to be sad I can’t come back here.’

I could leave and you could move in? Chan laughs before he asks, what did you think of him?

‘Oh,’ Felix says and gives him a meaningful look, ‘Honestly I liked him from the moment we were first introduced. He has like, a soothing aura?’

He’s nice – he’s a good guy Chan tells Felix, I feel bad he’s been like, dragged into all of this.

Felix gives him a look of understanding at that, sighing a little and then says, ‘I’m still upset no one mentioned he was hot.’

Chan rolls his eyes, leave you gremlin, I need to shower.

Felix cackles delightedly.

‘I left like, a quarter of my deflated coffee-cherry cake in your fridge!’ Felix tells him.

Deflated? How come? Chan frowns, heading straight for the fridge.

‘I actually have no idea- probably miscalculated something, but it tastes great!’

I don’t doubt it, thanks Lix.

‘No problem, and I told you I would meet him!’ Felix grins and points enthusiastically at him, ‘This is fate!’

Chan snorts, shaking his head as he takes out the tupperware of slightly lumping looking cake, the center portion oddly flat.

And again, Chan’s never been much of a believer of fate – everything he’s ever done has been a result of his hard work and dedication. Things didn’t just happen because of some unknown force or whatever dropping things in his path. But he can’t help but feel like there was definitely something else at work here.

Because if what Felix said was true, and this was just a really weird way of fate bringing them together then well, Chan wasn’t going to fight it.

And maybe, for now, he would let go of the tenseness and alertness with which he always approached things in his life, always ready for the worst, always ready for something to go wrong, always ready to prove and earn his place.

Maybe through this, through Minho who always appeared on some of his worst days, Chan could learn to accept the small and brief but beautiful and uplifting Magick, like the kind that wove through Minho’s hair, that seemed quite adamant in staying.

So for now, Chan would welcome it without question, wholly, and completely.

Chapter Text

Chan is in a sort of dilemma. After the initial surprise of yesterday as well as the amusement from just everything Chan gets his head on a bit straighter.

Minho was clearly genuinely shocked to find that Chan was living at the very same location he was potentially looking to rent. And it was possible that he would now not want to live there as a result.

Not that Chan would blame him.

But he wonders if they hadn’t been accidentally married, had they not met under such bizarre circumstances that sort of wedged in between them while simultaneously pulling them together, had Minho come to look at the duplex, would he have no problem moving in then?

Because he would love to talk to Minho and give him some random information about the duplex. Things like how it was a good building, not too old, not too new, and the piping and heating had all been upgraded about 5 years ago so they were all in good condition. He would warn Minho about what he’s heard from the neighbours discussing wild cats around the area and if Soonie was the kind of the cat who went out then he should probably be careful about that. And while the neighbourhood was, generally speaking, quiet, there was a futsal space not too far and sometimes you could here local neighbourhood teams competing against each other and cheering loudly. Just random things that weren’t necessarily pressing, but probably a good head’s up in general.

But now Chan hopes that Minho either finds better options suited for his (and Soonie’s) needs or he won’t see their predicament (an on going divorce) as something that would make life for him more difficult. Finding accommodation anew was never a fun experience and Chan hopes for nothing but the best for his legal husband.

But honestly Chan can’t help but find the whole situation hilarious.

Felix insisted it was fated, and Chan doesn’t want to admit it, but maybe Felix was on to something. But Chan’s not going to dwell on it too much if he can help it. Fated or not, while it was still somewhat amusing to Chan that he can list the multiple ways with which he and Minho were somehow connected, Minho wouldn't view the situation with the same angle of wonder like him.

When he gets to class, a little earlier than usual, Minho is already there.

Chan smiles at him and makes his way over to where he was sitting, weaving around some students. But before he can say anything Minho turns to him, lights a sporadic mess around him.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Minho gets out, ‘Yesterday- I can’t even imagine how bad it looked to you and- and I don’t even know how to explain what happened-.’

Chan freezes for a moment, wondering what Minho meant by this-?

‘-I am not stalking you in any way shape or form,’ Minho tells him, tone almost wretched in how uncomfortable and also sincere he was. ‘All of this has been- has been a really weird coincidence.’

Wait wait-!

Chan quickly pulls out any thing he could use to write on and grabs a copy of his passport and flips it over to the blank side and starts writing.

‘The- the duplex you’re staying in, my realtor showed me the pictures I think 2 weeks ago. I can show you the time stamps and our discussion and it’s just, I know this is all really weird and you really don’t have to listen to me,’ Minho continues to say, quickly reaching into his bag.

Chan cannot write fast enough.

‘If you don’t want to but I really swear on everything that this is-?’

Chan stops Minho from trying to show him literal timestamps on his messages with the realtor by pushing the paper towards him.

It takes Minho a moment before he’s able to focus on what he’s written.

I DON’T think you’re stalking me!!! That never even crossed my mind!

Chan winces at his hasty scrawl and spelling mistakes but he has to make himself clear.

Did I think it was a really weird coincidnce yes! but I remembered that Lix had said an interested renter was coming to check out his flat but got canceld and it was the day we firstmet and he was actually going to cancel first becase he wanted to help me find my skin but the realtor called to let him know it had been canelcled wchih now makes sense because it was you

Minho reads through it twice over before looking at him with an expression akin to incredulity but also a hint of relief, the lights flickering less chaotically around him, no shadows bleeding around him in tense coils.

‘-not that I did, but that could have been pre-planned to an extent-?’ Minho tells him.

I trust that you’re telling me the truth Chan writes quickly and taps on it to really drive it home before writing some more. I don’t think youre involved in any of this mess that was started by the people who frsst stole my skin, there was a whole interogation and ive known them for years before they took my skin

Had Minho been involved in any capacity, there was no doubt Chan would have seen him in relation to Go Youngmin at some point – Go Youngmin made it a point to be blatantly loud and obvious about who his “entourage” were, even believing himself to be at some weirdly deluded belief of being some mafia leader with his “posse”.

I know you had nothing to do with it and all of this is just a really strange and random coincidence and bad luck

Minho blinks hard a few times, staring at his words.

‘You-…’ he says a little shakily before clearing his throat, ‘Oh- I uh, you don’t think I’m uh, stalking you?’

Chan cannot even begin to express how much he didn’t think this.

‘Wait- Chan-shii,’ Minho tugs at his sleeve a little, stopping him, ‘I just- wait, you don’t think it was at all weird? Or suspicious?!’

Chan looks back at Minho, confused before shaking his head.

‘What?’ Minho exclaims now instead looking worried, ‘I just- I was freaking out because if I were in your shoes and this happened to me, I would be so paranoid and-.’

Chan can’t help but smile as he writes: Everything about your reaction made it very clear that you had no idea and you had no involvement in anything

Minho reads his words, frowning even deeper.

‘People lie,’ Minho states rather bluntly, a bit slowly, like maybe Chan wasn’t familiar with this concept. ‘People are like, really good liars.’

Are you lying? Chan asks.

‘No!’ Minho splutters, ‘No I’m not! But you can’t just- just take my word for it-.’

The lights around Minho splutter along with him, clearly agitated but also disbelieving of Chan trusting him.

‘-at least not without evidence or like proof-!’

‘Minho-shii, Chan-shii, if you have somewhere else to be then please leave.’

Both he and Minho are very bluntly reminded that they’re in class. Chan hadn’t even noticed that other students had already come in and the lecturer had also probably already called out attendance.

‘Sorry,’ Minho says and Chan signs the same.

For good measure they both don’t say or do much other than take their notebooks and required materials out, avoiding looking at anyone else. However Chan feels like they should definitely talk about this.

Can we talk after class? He asks, sliding over the paper carefully towards Minho.

Minho nods very slightly, not turning to him and focusing ahead.

‘All right, lets all pass our assignments to the front.’

Despite being the one to remind him of their assignment, it would seem Minho had forgotten about it. Chan feels a little bad because it was obviously because their unexpected meeting from yesterday really threw Minho off loop.

He slides his completed assignment towards Minho to let him copy from it – at least this way Minho won’t have to think too much and just jot the answers down quickly.

At the end of class they submit the assignment to the lecturer who tells them to not be disruptive in class again and to hand in their assignments on time.

There’s a spike of shadow and light that flares out briefly between Minho’s brows but he stays neutral faced and apologizes to the lecturer again.

They’re both about to leave when the lecturer addresses him.

‘Bang Chan-shii, I’m already giving you a lot of leeway with this class to start off with as you don’t participate vocally, note that I will not tolerate this again.’

For someone who has never acknowledged him before Chan is a bit surprised by this.

He’s just going to thank the lecturer and leave when he nearly walks into Minho.

Chan has only seen Minho confused and shocked in regards to emotions that could be considered negative – he’s never seen him actually angry despite the fact that many would say he had every right to be angry at his situation.

But right now, Chan can tell Minho is angry, an odd darkness swamped around his hair, forming a cloudy halo behind him.

‘Wait-,’ Minho starts to say, eyes focused unwaveringly at the lecturer.

Right. Chan should redirect this quickly.

He gently grabs Minho, turning him around and physically blocking the lecturer from his view and ushering them out of the classroom.

‘Wait- Chan-shii, that was so rude what the fuck-?’ Minho argues, struggling a bit but Chan moves them quickly, ‘– he’s the lecturer for the class surely he knows about the standard testing there’s no reason why-?’

Chan lets go of him once they’re at a safe distance and he shrugs at Minho before mouthing, it’s okay it’s nothing.

The darkness fades from around Minho just as quickly as it had showed up. Minho gives him a quick but lingering look as though to truly check if Chan was all right before he relents completely.

‘He should be reported for being a dumbass,’ Minho states bluntly.

Chan had taken his phone out to tell Minho that this sort of behavior was the honestly not even worth feeling any one way about when he nearly drops it as he laughs. It’s not quite entirely Minho’s tone in delivering his that has him wheezing in a sort of state of shock, but the fact that Minho was so genuinely offended on his behalf over behavior that Chan has learnt to ignore most times and behavior that most people seemed to consider normal.

Soft glimpses of light reappear around Minho as he smiles, looking somewhat sheepish at his own words.

It’s not a big deal – lots of lecturers are like this Chan tells him they seem to assume they need to do something extra for Selkie students but it’s not the case, even with linguistics majors

‘That just-,’ Minho frowns, ‘That just feels like something that shouldn’t be tolerated.’

I’m not tolerating it – there’s just some things that aren’t worth wasting my time on. Some people don’t want to learn regardless of the facts, its just as simple as that I guess.

Minho looks like he wants to argue but then pauses himself.

Chan feels a bit bad – Minho’s been around him just a couple of times and he was already first in line to be exposed to different treatment as a result of being associated to him.

Café? Chan mouths carefully.

They still had to talk about what happened yesterday.

‘Um, yeah of course.’

Ryujin’s not at the café today.

Good.

But also not good because she won’t be making his blueberry smoothie.

They order and find a place to sit.

Minho still looks a little uncomfortable and Chan decides to maybe lighten (haha) up the air between them and asks a question that’s actually been a pressing one for a while now.

Are you Fae?

Minho is clearly taken aback by this question.

‘My grandmother,’ Minho confirms, ‘From my mum’s side. Light Fae.’

That definitely added up.

‘I uh, don’t have any magick,’ Minho tells him quickly, ‘Mum’s is pretty weak too, but it was enough to really impress me when I was a kid.’

For a moment Chan wonders if Minho is pulling his leg.

Or maybe he just didn’t realize it?

That’s cool, Lix is half Light-Fae and half nymph, Chan tells Minho, he always shows off when we’re in the water.

‘Lix?’ Minho echoes back, looking unsure.

Oh he was probably introduced as Yongbok.

Lee Yongbok – you were looking at his unit yesterday. His name is also Felix, but I call him Lix.

‘I’m uh, I hope I didn’t freak out your uh, friend,’ Minho tells him apprehensively, ‘That must have been a terrible way of like, well-.’

Minho gestures to himself and grimaces.

No no- he was shocked more than anything. Chan tells him hurriedly. He also thought that maybe I recommended the place to you or something so he was confused! I think he uh Chan pauses. No need to tell Minho Felix thought he was hot. They weren’t at that point of knowing each other, especially considering why they were even here in the first place. He was more shocked when you said you weren’t stalking me.

Minho flushes with colour from his neck up to his face, blinking as quickly as the lights around him, concentrating on his ears again despite the fact that his expression remained pretty neutral.

He was embarrassed.

‘Um, just to let you know,’ Minho tells him, ‘I won’t be taking the unit- um, Yongbok-shii’s unit.’

Not suitable? Chan asks carefully.

‘Yeah,’ Minho replies. The lights around him blink out, almost hiding, turned away from Chan.

He was lying.

Minho just lied to him. For the first time.

‘I was looking for a better balcony situation for Soonie,' Minho says smoothly, expression relaxed and nothing in his tone or features giving him away.

Except for the quick blinking lights.

Yeap. Definitely lying.

Oh, Chan says and Minho fidgets a little, unable to look at him the same way his lights were still turned away from him.

Their drinks arrive though and well, Chan isn’t going to try and insist Minho take the flat even though he clearly liked it based on what Felix had said; that would make him look like the weirdo and Chan doesn't want that. Minho takes a quick sip of his matcha and his lights do a funny wobbly wave around him.

Is it bad?

‘It tastes like photosynthesis.’

Chan has never heard anyone describe matcha like that and it makes him wheeze uncontrollably.

‘Uh,’ Minho says slowly once Chan has stopped laughing. He should tell Hyunjin about matcha tasting like photosynthesis because Hyunjin loved matcha. ‘Well, this is all just…a lot at once. I’m sorry for not contacting you yesterday – and well, I am grateful that you do believe me, but obviously it would have been really confusing and I uh. I should have handled the situation better, I’m sorry for being weird about everything.’

From Minho’s perspective this apology made sense of course. Chan wasn’t expecting Minho to contact him yesterday at all, he didn’t think there was a need after all.

When I saw you yesterday with Lix I was taken aback but I didn’t think you were there out of any form of malicious intention Chan tells him, thinking his words out properly. From the moment you returned my seal-skin to me I knew you were being honest with me the whole time

It was blatantly obvious to Chan. And there was also one more factor to this that could not be denied.

You’re also a bad liar

Minho looks taken aback at that, as though he’s never been told he was bad at lying. Chan thinks it’s hilarious because he can literally see the tell-tale Light Fae reactions completely uncontrolled on Minho’s end. Felix had it too, but as someone raised by a Light Fae father he obviously had good control over his Magick. And as Minho had said even his mother didn’t have much Magick he doubts Minho would have been aware of his Magick. Though it does make Chan wonder if his family saw it or not or didn’t think it was something that required practice or training.

I also understand if you find all of this overwhelming Chan continues and with as much sincerity he can channel into his written words and expression adds: we don’t have to communicate any further than you want, only just for Court related things. I was actually surprised that you’ve never suspected me.

Minho is clearly more confused at his words which isn’t what Chan wanted.

‘Suspect you?’ he repeats, ignoring everything else in what he said, ‘About what?’

Like, intentionally setting you up? Chan tells him. Minho would have read up a lot of information and well, Chan won’t pretend that it was only a black and white narrative to this. There have been situations where Selkies have used their Magick against people, ending terribly for everyone involved. It was rare, very less in comparison to what is done against them as a community but for some reason, people loved to focus on that every time a discussion is made regarding Selkie Magick and protection. There’s this, well, I guess there’s this idea or belief that comes with Selkies and their skins – a lot of people believe Selkies intentionally lose their skins to intentionally bind people to them and place high payment in exchange for a divorce

Chan wouldn’t be surprised if the lights around Minho formed question marks because he looks so taken aback and aghast? Like he’s affronted by this information.

You really didn’t think any of this? Chan asks, finding Minho’s reaction a little funny.

‘No!’ Minho gasps, ‘What the fuck?! People think like this?!’

There have been some cases of this taking place. It’s rare, but not entirely out of the realm of it happening Chan tells him truthfully.

‘I-…I mean it would show really bad judgment on your part if you tried to set me up because I come from a painfully middle-class family and the most expensive thing I own is my degree.’ Minho tells him bluntly before saying slowly, ‘I-…oh wow, guess I uh, learnt something new.’

Chan just shrugs in response. He’s not sure if he’s actually doing any thing to help this situation but he supposes this is good information to share or at least be the one to inform Minho about it rather than him hear it from someone else or worse, online.

‘Ah, right, this is not really my business but I uh, hope your family isn’t too stressed about what’s happening?’ Minho asks hesitantly, ‘Do they live here too or-?’

Thankfully no but Chan doesn’t say that.

No no, they’re back in Australia, it’s okay, no worries.

Chan internally winces, hoping Minho won’t ask more about it. Chan’s not sure how long it will take before his parents hear about this though – he’s not in any communication with the Undine community here but news travels and it travels fast. He’s hoping that the confrontation between him and Go Youngmin will eclipse this accidental marriage for as long as possible.

‘Uh, from what I was told yesterday, Yongbok-shii is leaving right?’ Minho asks instead.

With a bit of relief Chan nods.

He’s going back for a break, maybe a year! He hasn’t gone back home for nearly 7 years!

‘Oh wow. Does that mean you’ll be leaving too?’ Minho asks curiously.

Chan shakes his head. No I’m not leaving. I’ve made the decision to stay here actually.

‘I see-.’

Was Minho worried he’ll up and leave and not finalize the divorce? Chan doesn’t think so but just to reassure him he quickly writes.

No worries, I won’t disappear and cause issues with our divorce :]

Minho laughs at that, the lights around him no longer too agitated, blinking softly instead whenever Chan catches sight of them.

His lights continue to soften and steady the more they talk, just normal questions that aren’t too personal but not too stiff either.

See you next class!

‘See you, have a good day Chan-shii.’ Minho tells him with a smile, faint shimmer of light dangling on the ends of his hair before he turns to leave.

He checks in at the training facility and quickly ducks out before Minhyuk can fulfil his hilarious threat to bodily throw Chan out of the building if he doesn’t just take this time to rest.

When he opens the door Chan finds himself in a precarious position, not quite able to step further in due to the stacks of cardboard boxes stacked all around and a bunch of large industrial strength plastic bags it would seem.

‘Oh! Chan-hyung is here!’ Hyunjin says from the top of the stairs. ‘He’s stuck!’

Is this the storage pile? Chan asks as Hyunjin makes his way down to help him navigate the through the boxes.

‘Yeah- the truck should arrive in a couple of hours,’ Hyunjin tells him, shoving aside some boxes and allowing Chan to step indoors and close the door behind him, ‘Those are for donation! And I think Lix said he has some of your stuff with him-.’

‘-that I do!’ Felix yells, ‘I’ll bring it to you now!’

Hyunjin had come to help Felix with sorting out his things, Chan finds out, and helping him pack to put things in storage until Felix came back in about a year or so. Felix had successfully applied for an intense but incredibly prestigious apprenticeship back in Australia and it would be for 10 months. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue to stay back home or come back here and rather than make those decisions immediately, Felix decides to still keep his things from the life he’s built here but in a way where it would be safe and also without breaking the bank as paying for the rent for his flat while not living there for a year seemed redundant.

Felix comes bounding down the stairs, hair tied up in a messy knot on the top of his head, practically glowing.

‘I don’t only have some of your clothes, but I have like, a box of your cutlery.’

My cutlery?! Chan asks in disbelief, How?!

‘I mean, they’re not mine so it’s clearly yours?’ Felix chuckles as he hands Chan the pile of clothes Chan had either left in Felix’s place during game/movie nights or Felix decided to “borrow” from him on a random whim.

‘How was class hyung, was your husband there?’ Hyunjin grins.

Yes he was, Chan replies, rolling his eyes.

‘I heard from Lix what happened yesterday,’ Hyunjin laughs as Felix gives him a very unapologetic shrug. ‘How’s he doing? Handling the divorce well?’

Chan just chuckles at his two younger friends in amusement.

He thinks matcha tastes like photosynthesis.

Hyunjin’s gasps in horror and Felix laughs delightedly.

By the way, his grandmother is Light Fae, Chan tells Felix.

‘Ah, that explains it then,’ Felix nods as Hyunjin tries to recover from having his favourite drink dissed.

He doesn’t seem to realize he like, shines.

It’s the wrong term to use because both Hyunjin and Felix crack identical grins at him.

‘He shines, eh?’ Felix says, leaning on the bannisters.

Yes! Literally! As in he has light Magick he doesn’t seem to realize is quite visible time to time!

‘Maybe to you guys but I see nothing,’ Hyunjin grins, ‘Is it pretty?’

Yes it was and Chan is not about to walk into that trap by agreeing. He wasn’t an idiot.

Can that happen? Chan asks Felix instead, like, I dunno, do your sisters have the same control or reach in Light Magick like you-?

‘Hm, not exactly,’ Felix says thoughtfully, ‘My younger sister definitely has the most Light Magick out of all of us – she also had the longest period of time where she wasn’t able to control it. It made it too easy to tell how she was feeling, which also probably didn’t help her learn because we would tease her all the time.’

‘Sometimes I am glad to not have any siblings because what do you mean they’re your bullies but you’re unfortunately related to them and have to live with them too,’ Hyunjin chortles.

‘We weren’t mean,’ Felix says defensively before pausing, ‘Okay so she might not agree to that but-!’

‘Changbin’s older sister is an angel,’ Hyunjin grins, ‘But Changbin definitely does not think so.’

Common sibling dynamics Chan remarks dryly.

‘My older sister has incredibly control over her Magick,’ Felix tells them, ‘Even when she’s super angry or upset or happy like nothing shows- honestly forgot she even had any for a while until her wedding day.’

Hyunjin laughs incredulously at that.

‘Maybe you’re just better in tune to Light Magick?’ Felix shrugs, ‘You can tell with me too.’

Because you’re comfortable with me Chan points out, you just don’t withhold as much around me, right?

‘Well, true. But hey, maybe that means he’s comfortable with you too,’ Felix points out.

We’ve known each other too briefly and under too weird a circumstance for him to be comfortable enough with me for that Chan frowns.

‘Magick compatibility is a thing though isn’t it?’ Hyunjin asks curiously. ‘I know Yeji is like, big on that. Maybe you both have really compatible Magick?’

Yeji, Hyunjin’s cousin (or something like cousins, Chan’s not entirely sure how they're related, but they had an inside joke where Hyunjin calls Yeji “aunt” and always asks her for holiday money), was a full blooded Nunda and was very sensitive to people’s Magick.

Chan’s never thought about that.

‘Are you worried about him?’ Felix asks curiously.

Something like that, also a bit confused I guess, because I don’t think people close to him would not point it out to him, Chan says thoughtfully, otherwise it does seem like something people could try and take advantage of.

Felix’s expression turns serious at that.

‘That’s a good point- but also like you said, at the very least his parents would know, no matter how small it might show up,’ Hyunjin tells him before saying, ‘I could ask Jeongin; ugh he’s so cute and sweet! I want to shake him every time I see him!’

‘Don’t do that,’ Felix says at once in alarm.

‘But he’s so cute!’ Hyunjin complains.

‘What does he look like?’ Felix asks interestedly.

‘Just look!’ Hyunjin exclaims, ‘He’s so squishy and sweet-!’

Chan supposes the next best thing would be to ask Minho’s friends about it. Or did he actually have an affinity to Light Magick? Chan tries to think back to all of the people he knew who were Light Fae or at least mixed but nothing stands out in particular.

‘-he is cute!’ Felix exclaims, looking interested.

‘He has a boyfriend,’ Hyunjin informs him.

‘Can the boyfriend fight?’ Felix jokes.

The boyfriend might kiss you Chan grins as he unlocks his door.

‘What does that mean?!’ Felix asks with a laugh before he adds, ‘Wait, Chris, before you go in, can you take a look at the cutlery because if it’s not yours whose is it?’

And well, unfortunately for Felix the set of fork and spoons and knives are not Chan’s.

‘Are they originally from the unit?’ Hyunjin laughs, ‘And you forgot?’

‘Maybe I’ll ask noona when she comes tomorrow?’ Felix says, looking troubled but also amused, ‘I literally have no memory of this.’

She’s coming tomorrow? Chan asks.

‘Yeah, showing the place to another potential neighbour,’ Felix tells him, ‘I’m guessing Minho-shii might not take it?’

Yeah, Chan shrugs, feeling a little bad about the whole thing.

‘That’s understandable,’ Hyunjin says with a nod.

‘She said she’ll be here at 1, will you be in class or-?’

Yeah, I’ll be in class Chan nods do you want me here?

‘It’s okay,’ Felix tells him reassuringly and adds with a cheeky smile, ‘Go see your shining husband.’

I hope this cutlery is haunted.

‘Chris-!’ Felix gasps as Chan quickly scurries out and Hyunjin breaks out into laughter. ‘YOU CAN’T JUST SAY THAT-!’

The next day as Chan is perusing the stationary store near the university for a small spiral notepad to use during class in order to talk to Minho rather than write on the margins of his Japanese Language book or his notebooks where he had to write actual notes in (as the lecturer had now taken to walking up and down the stairs to check on students and what they were writing) Lawyer Im messages him to ask him if he was free.

About half an hour later at the gate to the university, Lawyer Im’s car slows to a stop and the man steps out, dressed as usual very smartly in a well tailored and definitely expensive suit.

Chan usually meets the lawyer when he’s dressed up a little better, and not just in athleisure so he feels a little self-conscious, patting down at his shirt pointlessly.

‘Hey,’ Lawyer Im smiles, ‘Good to see you not bruised up.’

Chan grins, got good ointment, really helped.

‘That’s good to know, send me the link, I’ll have to recommend it to some of my clients,’ Lawyer Im chuckles before handing him a file, ‘I know we’re meeting this weekend at the Court, but I thought you’d like to have this with you. This is just for you to keep – if anything is to happen, like Youngmin-shii breaking the rules and or terms of the restraining order and I’m not available to come to you immediately, you should present this to the police to clarify the situation.’

Basically a get out of jail free card? Chan chuckles.

‘Well, the opposite for Youngmin-shii,’ Lawyer Im chuckles, ‘I’ve put in three official copies, so don’t worry about losing anything. It’s not really a protection charm I suppose, but it should do something in case you need it.’

Let’s hope I don’t Chan sighs, thank you so much, I’m sorry you came out all the way here.

‘Don’t worry about it, I was passing through,’ Lawyer Im says, ‘How’s your divorce?’

Chan gives him a sort of shrug.

Still processing I think. Haven’t heard from the Court about anything since the last time I went.

‘It should be pretty straight forward – don’t worry too much about it,’ Lawyer Im reassures him before he thumbs behind him, ‘I’ve got to get going, I’ll see you at the Court this weekend Chan-shii!’

Take care! Chan waves, thank you again!

Chan heads towards the closest cafeteria from his location to get in something to eat before going into class. There’s not a lot of students around, and only a few stalls are open but Chan isn’t particularly picky. Getting a tray Chan gets himself some noodles- filling enough to last him until dinner later in the evening with the other coaches.

Wanting to make sure that he understood the details and what it meant regarding the restraining order Chan sits down and concentrates as he reads one of the copies. He wanted to be able to say the proper words and use the correct lingo in regards to this situation if anything were to happen.

‘-yeah, he was in that fight.’

Chan’s ears perk up at that. He’d been so focused he hadn’t been paying much attention to anyone around him. He casually leans back, doing his best to act like he wasn’t aware of anything, still going through the documents.

He can tell there’s a group of four people some tables to his side. Maybe junior year, not from Sports Science but considering the other buildings near by maybe the Business and Economics Faculty.

They’re talking quietly but Chan is able to pick up on some words here and there, carrying over to him.

‘-it’s not…-eems like it was related to that heir-…’

‘-as he being sued-?’

‘…-olice were involved, there was a search-.’

‘-hat why all the guar-…was wondering why-…makes sense now-.’

‘-hink there was some-…ight be married-.’

‘-hat’s so weird-.’

‘-unno always thought it was so backwards-.’

‘-right, that’s what I always thou-.’

Chan sighs quietly to himself.

He was really hoping it wouldn’t spread so quickly. He wasn’t even wearing his seal-skin today mostly to avoid this sort of situation especially when he came into the university, only wearing it when he knew he’d be going into the Lake.

But then again, he’s not too surprised. He just wishes it hadn’t been this fast.

He finishes his noodles and putting away his documents takes a slow but longer walk to the Language and Linguistics Faculty building to clear his mind.

Or at least he tries to.

Things were going all right for him, considering all things – but this was also something he had to think about and what it could mean for him and his reputation over all. He personally doesn’t care, but it could easily effect how other people viewed him and his capabilities in his work and other aspects of life. And worst of all, could effect those around him.

Sighing to himself and not looking at anyone as the students from the previous class walk past him, exiting as he enters, Chan tries to shake his thoughts off.

Minho is already in class when Chan gets there.

And of course Chan is worried that being in proximity to Minho will increase chances of people catching onto how they were “related” and he falters a little. Maybe he shouldn’t be seen with Minho? If people were already talking about his accidental marriage how quickly would they pick up on the fact that he was married to Minho? And how would people see Minho or treat him as a result?

He doesn’t know who in this class would know about what happened, or whatever version they heard. Chan doesn’t want to not acknowledge him though – that would be rude and stupid. So he smiles and gives Minho a small wave instead and heads to his usual seat.

Obviously there was also something else he should consider – just because Minho was being polite and sincere about this didn’t mean he would think it was okay for Chan to just and sit next to him and talk to him. Being polite and a good person was not consent to conversation or their time after all.

Chan doesn’t know if they’re there yet, or honestly if they ever should.

He takes a seat and takes his phone out at once, wondering if he was just overthinking everything as he opens up the messaging app and pulls up Minho’s contact. But just as he starts typing he realizes that Minho was typing too. He stares at the pop-up bubble with the ellipses for a moment before turning around to find Minho has just looked up from his phone too.

Then Minho glances over at the lecturer before he gestures at the spot next to him, giving him a smile and clear look of you wanna sit here?

And actually yes. Chan would like to sit next to Minho.

‘Hey,’ Minho says to him as he shuffles into the space between the bench and table, ‘How’s your week been?’

Chan shrugs and gestures so-so before pointing back at Minho as puts his stuff down. He wasn’t even going to question how he felt better being here, sitting next to him.

‘It was okay,’ Minho tells him, ‘Just a lot of thesis work.’

How’s the search for a new place going? Chan asks, pushing the new tiny notepad over to Minho.

‘Going on Saturday,’ Minho says quietly, keeping an eye out on the lecturer, ‘A few new places have popped up.’

Better balconies hopefully? Chan teases.

‘Yes,’ Minho says at once, lights giving that tell-tale quirk.

It was honestly so endearingly funny.

Minho seemed more relaxed than last time – the lights around him are quicker to turn softer each time Chan sees them, quicker to settle down, swaying slowly.

Chan should probably not stare no matter how fascinating he found it. After all it’s not like Minho is the first mixed Light Fae he knew.

How’s Soonie? He asks instead.

And maybe it’s just to see the way Minho literally lights up at his question.

Chan has long abandoned paying attention to the lecturer, asking Minho every question that comes to mind and doing his best not to stare and take note of how Minho’s lights shift and move and change. Did Minho really not know?

He also discovers that Minho is ambidextrous.

They spend the class just exchanging notes and questions. Chan has no idea what they were supposed to be studying in class but it was more interesting to hear about Minho’s studies and the corgi he had to hold and sing the alphabet song to in order to distract him as he got his yearly shots.

Chan doesn’t know if it’s selfishness or a sort of delusion but he wants to be friends with Minho. He wants to grow their familiarity with each other, learn more about Minho.

Once class is over they go their separate ways, waving goodbye and sharing smiles.

Minho did seem like he was moving on from the duplex, and well, if Chan were in his shoes that was definitely understandable. And considering what he heard just today, it wouldn’t be long until Minho and possibly through his friends who might hear it before him as they were not graduating this year, but it could influence him to not want to be so associated with Chan. He doesn’t want to think much about it, and honestly Chan wouldn’t blame Minho or his friend if they did catch wind of what happened and how Chan lost control, if they would regard him with some level of wariness. But Chan is once again plagued by the “what if’s” and can’t help but wonder.

However he’s not really able to wonder too much as he takes the shortcuts that would lead him quite straight to the back entrance of the Sports Science Faculty grounds because he hears a lot of squawking sounds, and what appeared to be a pair of hawks circling around something.

He remembers Felix telling Chan about how he came to the university grounds to hang out with Hyunjin and enjoy a small picnic but had been left traumatized when a hawk had swooped in out of nowhere and grabbed a mouse and proceeded to tear it apart at a very visible distance from where they were sitting.

Were they hunting-?

A black bird, a raven or crow (Chan can never tell the difference) sort of oddly flops out of the tree, tries to fly and struggles to stay in the air. It manages to sort of flop onto the ledge of the IT and Cybernetics building, no doubt finding a hiding spot for now amidst the random leftover construction material discarded there.

Chan hesitates – it felt wrong to walk away, and the squawking sounds were truly painful to witness.

What if he tried to get up and see-?

The ledge was too high and jut out of the wall so he wouldn’t be able to properly hoist himself up.

Dropping his bag to one side Chan finds a tree he can climb and pulls himself up enough to catch sight of a black bird clearly in great discomfort, attempting to hide from the hawks circling and flying past.

Was this some sort of territorial thing? Hunting?

Chan cannot, with good conscience, leave this poor bird to just suffer for who knows how long where it hid. He climbs down, looking around to see if any of the groundskeepers or maintenance staff were around when it hits him.

Minho was literally a vet.

The first time Chan saw him was Minho literally rescuing an injured cat.

So he bolts, hoping with all his might that the bird will hold out for a while longer and also that Minho wasn’t walking too fast.

And thankfully Chan is able to catch up to Minho who was halfway to the gates.

He must hear the sound of his running because he looks around, stepping to the side as though to make room. His expression morphs to one of shock and concern, blinking hard a couple of times.

‘What’s wrong-?!’ he exclaims, hands held out as though to stabilize Chan as he comes to a hurried stop before him.

Chan is about to Speak when he remembers Minho won’t understand him so he hurriedly grabs his phone and types out: Injured creature, please help.

Minho reads his message, confused only for a second before his expression switches to one of focus, the lights around him sharpening and gathering around his temples.

‘Lead the way-!’

Minho is able to keep up with him fairly easily, sprinting just a step behind him and following after him back to the IT and Cybernetics Faculty.

Chan does his best to keep an ear out, trying to hear if the crow/raven was making any more pained sounds.

It’s not as frequent as earlier but they’re still loud and still clear as they come to a halt under the ledge.

Minho is panting a little, expression serious as he looks up at the ledge, clearly assessing what he could hear as best as he could.

I heard it when I was walking past Chan hurriedly types in explanation I wasn’t sure what it was but it sounded like it was in pain – I tried to get a look by climbing that tree there he points to the closest tree and I saw a black bird twisting around.

‘I’ll need a closer look,’ Minho tells him as he looks around. ‘I think there should be like, maintenance staff who would have a ladder-?’

Hawks waiting for the bird Chan tells him, and points to the trees where the hawks had now landed, waiting for the bird to either give up or a time to strike.

‘Well. Shit,’ Minho grimaces before Chan gets his attention.

As the vet here they obviously had to get Minho to the injured creature as quickly as possible to assess its injuries and see what could be done. So he gestures this to Minho.

Minho looks at his hands and then back at him before saying, ‘…I don’t think that will work.’

Of course it would work!

Chan could easily get Minho up the ledge.

Minho gives him a look in response to his own but then the bird in distress makes some truly concerning sounds. Minho then sighs and takes his bag and puts it to the side, that look of determination in his eyes as he looks back up at the ledge.

‘Okay. But I don’t think this will end well-!’ he starts to say. But before he can complete his sentence Chan squats down a little and lifts Minho up high enough to get onto the ledge.

‘Oh my god oh my god-!’ Minho squeaks out but manages to get himself onto the ledge, leaving a small dusting of light behind.

Chan stays alert, just in case Minho falls back or something but he hears him mumbling under his breath, shoes appearing for a moment before he adjusts himself.

Okay. No falling, he was up there safely.

Good.

It’s not good when it’s silent for a bit too long.

He’s starting to wonder if he gets a good running jump if he’ll be able to get onto the ledge and pull himself up too when he hears Minho call back down to him, voice intentionally calm.

‘It’s a waardar!’ Minho tells him before poking his head over the ledge, ‘Think it got into a fight, one of the wings is all funny.’

For a moment there’s a funny sway of his lights and they all disappear, as though sucked out.

‘I’ll check it out and see what we can do,’ Minho tells him, voice suddenly somewhat small. Chan can only nod in response.

Was it really bad up there? Did Minho hurt himself? Chan should have paused to tell Minho what he was going to do.

It’s quiet for a while and Chan paces back and forth a little, glancing back to keep an eye on the hawks, hoping they won’t swoop down on Minho as he looks over the waardar.

He then hears soft words here and there, a soothing tone though Chan can’t make out what Minho is saying.

It’s agonizing having to wait like this- he can’t even call out to Minho to ask what was happening but he was going to trust Minho on this- he was after all the professional.

After some long minutes Minho pokes his head out again.

‘I think I should take it to the clinic to get checked.’ Minho tells him, voice still level and gentle, ‘It’s not trying to attack me, so I think it knows I’m trying to help.’ He then point to his bag. ‘Could you empty my bag and throw it up to me?’ he asks.

Chan carefully and quickly empties Minho’s bag and tosses it up towards him and Minho vanishes once more.

A couple of minutes later Minho pokes his head over once more.

‘I’m gonna lower the waardar to you,’ Minho explains, ‘It won’t try to escape I don’t think, just don’t jostle too much?’

Chan can do that.

Minho lowers his bag down to him carefully and honestly Chan wasn’t expecting the bird to be heavy – not that it was heavy, but heavier than he’s expecting for sure. It was also not squirming, meaning it had calmed down effectively. Minho definitely gained its trust it would seem.

He places the bag down on the ground and turns back around to Minho who gives him a small smile and nod before his eyes widen a tad bit, as though realizing he was going to have to come down.

Almost immediately all the lights around him blink out, completely vanishing.

‘Yeah I uh, not great with heights,’ Minho tells him just as Chan realizes it too, ‘Just give me a minute, I’ll make my way down-?’

Oh. Now he feels really bad hoisting him up there without warning.

Quickly he gestures to Minho to just jump down – would it be more helpful to move quickly? Chan can catch Minho, especially from a height like this, it wouldn’t be a problem.

‘Are- are you insane?’ Minho splutters, ‘Lifting me is one thing-.’

I’m not insane, jump and I’ll catch you, I promise Chan wants to say to Minho but he can’t so he just does his best to convey this to him via facial expression.

Minho responds in kind with one that clearly says “you’re insane”.

But then Minho grimaces in thought for a moment, glancing over to the bag where the waardar was before saying, ‘I think- for both of our safety, I’ll just, try and scale down and maybe you can balance me or something instead?’

That could do too, though he’s worried that Minho will scrape himself. Felix wasn’t scared of heights necessarily, but he couldn’t do roller coasters and things like that. He immediately fainted and Chan is worried Minho might be like that.

Slowly, clearly hyping himself, Minho lowers himself from the edge. He lowers his right leg first, and then his left, before carefully essentially squirming down.

The lack of lights around him is really concerning and Chan immediately reaches up to hold onto Minho’s shins, steadying him and letting him know he was there.

Minho glances down briefly and with a small strained sound lets go of the ledge. Chan is somewhat prepared for this so he’s quick to brace Minho’s descent, moving down with gravity and redirecting him down in a more gentle curve onto the ground, balancing the impact down.

Lights still very much absent, eyes shut tight, whole body extremely tense, Minho is barely breathing.

Gently he pats Minho’s knee, wondering if Minho needed space or if this proximity was helping him-?

Minho’s lights sparkle back up, dancing over his skin, sparking up under Chan’s palm briefly. And then Minho opens his eyes, exhaling out.

‘Yeah- yeah I’m okay, just a bit dizzy,’ Minho says, blinking little stars out, ‘Woah, I didn’t realize my fear of heights got that bad with only just that much.’

Chan slowly removes his arm around Minho, catching glimpses of light following after him briefly. He looks over Minho, some dirt on his clothes from moving around on the ledge no doubt. Did he hurt his hands?

‘Ah-,’ Minho looks down at his hands after Chan extends his own to show- thankfully they’re just a bit dirty, no scrapes or cuts. ‘Oh- did I kick you or something on my way down-?’

No, you’re good he mouths to Minho carefully with a smile. Honestly even if Minho did kick him it would have been fair.

‘I- thanks- thank you,’ Minho tells him softly, exhaling out, shoulders uncurling.

Chan points to his bag in question.

‘Yeah, I uh, I can take it to my clinic,’ Minho says as he starts to move, getting on hands and knees. ‘I don’t think it’s in any immediate danger, but just to be safe and make sure it’ll be able to fly again.’

Felix was always wobbly kneed whenever he went on roller coasters (Chan has no idea why Felix willing does it to himself, it can’t possibly be healthy) so he helps Minho stand up, hand on his back to help him balance, and Minho groans comically in embarrassment.

He picks up the bag and checks on the waardar inside and Chan thinks it’s quite cute perched in there, looking at them as though fascinated that these two large featherless beings were assisting it.

‘Okay, I let my clinic know,’ Minho says, still sounding a little unstable as he puts his phone away. ‘I’ll take it-.’

I’ll go with you Chan tells him quickly. After that drop and knowing he was scared of heights Chan would be an idiot to let Minho go off on his own. Besides, his bag was compromised and his belongings wouldn’t be able to fit inside the bag with the waardar in it too.

‘But don’t you have work?’ Minho asks him, ‘I think if you just uh, got me like a plastic bag for my other stuff it’s okay-.’

I’ll go with you Chan mouths to him as he shakes his head and gives him a thumb’s up it’s okay, this is important.

‘Okay, thank you Chan-shii.’

Chan puts Minho’s belongings into his bag and they leave the area. Minho has the waardar cradled in his arms and Chan glances back at the tree with the hawks and wonders if they’ll follow them out.

But they don’t, much to his relief – he’s not sure what he’d do if two hawks flew down on them.

When they reach the northern gate Chan sighs inwardly as not having brought his scooter today of all days. It would have been faster and less tiring for Minho for sure.

I should have brought my bike Chan sighs morosely should I hail a taxi?

‘Traffic will be terrible right about now,’ Minho points out before asking. ‘Bike?’

Scooter actually.

‘Sounds convenient,’ Minho chuckles.

It actually truly was.

Good storage space – knees are protected during winter too.

Minho’s lights shift and adjust every time he looks down at the waardar- very much like how it did the first time Chan saw Minho. Now would actually be a good time to tell Minho about that – but that would mean typing it out and showing Minho and having to slow their pace. He’s not sure how quickly the waardar will need treatment but he doesn’t want to cause any delay.

When they reach the clinic which was on the first floor of a commercial building though a littler further in past the travel consultancy office and past a well maintained lobby area.

Chan is not expecting to come across a familiar face as Minho rushes the waardar into what he suspects is one of the examination rooms. An older man takes Minho and the waardar and they vanish and Chan turns to the older man he hasn’t seen since his freshman year.

‘Bang Chan?’ Kang Younghyun laughs in surprise and delight, ‘It really is you!’

Sunbaenim Chan smiles as he bows it’s so nice to see you again! I didn’t know you worked here!

‘And I didn’t know you knew Minho!’ Younghyun grins as he walks over to give him a quick hug, ‘You look good! More like you’re so bulked up from when I last saw you!’

Chan laughs I’m junior coach now, have to try and maintain some fitness and strength.

‘No way!’ Younghyun exclaims delightedly, ‘Come on, tell me how things are going for you right now- oh wait, how do you know Minho?’

Oh- Chan pauses a moment, He’s my classmate, we’re in Basic Japanese together.

‘Hm I see,’ Younghyun nods, ‘So you both saw the waardar-?’

Yeah I was heading back to the training facility and I heard it making like, hurt noises, so I went to get Minho because I knew he’d know what to do Chan explains.

‘Oh, not the first time he’s brought in injured animals,’ Younghyun chuckles, ‘The first time he came in was last year, injured stray cat.’

Chan cannot believe he witnessed the moment that lead Minho to coming here. It had to be that right?

‘He’s brought in at least 4 different animals since then, it only made sense that he does his internship with us,’ Younghyun chuckles before saying, ‘Come on sit down, tell me what’s up!’

Chan tells him a little about his studies, his position at the university right now, also the whole pain about the additional credits he was required to take. Younghyun looks appalled by this information.

Chan in the meanwhile takes out Minho’s belongings and carefully puts them to the side, explaining to Younghyun why he was carrying Minho’s things.

They talk some more, Younghyun updating Chan with his own life. Chan really liked Younghyun- he was also a scholarship student and was there to basically help guide and explain university life to freshman students and focus more on scholarship students. Younghyun’s mother was a Siren so he was familiar with the Undine Community and was fluent in Selkie-Speak and had been incredibly kind and uplifting for Chan.

He didn’t see him again after he graduated until now of course. Because of course Chan would meet Kang Younghyun, the man who had helped him out a lot during his freshman year, in the same place where Minho worked.

Minho comes out about an hour later, Chan had honestly not noticed the time, catching up with Younghyun and just talking about things.

‘Minho-yah,’ Younghyun smiles as he waves Minho over, ‘I didn’t know you and Chan knew each other.’

Minho does a double-take.

‘-what?’ he asks, sounding taken aback.

Honestly this was really funny in so many ways now.

‘I was the university guide for Chan and some of his other classmates when they were freshman and I was a senior!’ Younghyun explains to Minho.

The lights around him are frozen still as he takes in this information.

‘How’s the waardar?’ Younghyun asks, unaware of the new additions he was adding into the strange ties that seemed oddly intent on tying Chan and Minho together.

‘O-oh- she’s doing okay sunbaenim, no broken bones,’ Minho gets out before turning to Chan apologetically, ‘Chan-shii, sorry for taking up your time like this.’

No problem! he says to Minho before pointing to the side where he placed his things.

But then another person steps out, looking over at them with interest before his eyes key in on him.

‘Ah! Minho-yah, and this is your friend who heard the waardar,’ the man smiles.

Nice to meet you, thank you for your work Chan signs hastily, bowing politely. This was clearly Minho’s supervisor and he wants to make a good impression.

The man’s eyes go wide dramatically, clutching at the front of his chest before turning to Minho who looks like he’s bracing himself and Chan’s not sure for what-?

‘Ah, your husband,’ the man exclaims in a dramatic tone.

Chan can feel Younghyun’s eyes on him but he refuses to look at the man.

‘Dr. Kim,’ Minho barely manages to say as he’s waved away by Dr. Kim – wait. WAIT.

‘It’s nice to meet you! You’re Minho’s classmate right? You’re in vet-science too?’ he asks rapidly.

No no- I’m in Sports Science and-

‘Sports science!’ Dr. Kim exclaims, eyes widening, ‘Oh maybe you know my friend Choi Minho?’

Yes.

Oh no.

Oh no he was right. Chan was right and he had briefly forgotten on his way here that Coach Minho’s friend worked here. He just didn’t expect it to be Minho’s supervisor.

‘That’s not surprising, does he go shirtless even when it’s not necessary,’ Dr. Kim asks him.

Only when he’s swimming by himself Dr. Kim, Coach Minho is a great example of professionalism to us all.

Dr. Kim rolls his eyes at that before saying good naturedly, ‘Well, it was nice meeting you! If you see my Minho around let him know I said hi!’

The vet leaves and both Chan and Minho turn to face Younghyun who has a very expectant expression on his face, smiling at them both in a way that makes Chan want to squirm.

‘It was an accident!’ Minho says hurriedly as Chan signs It’s a really long story and it was unintentional!

Younghyun’s eyebrows go up into his hairline.

‘Uh, wow, I guess you really should get going,’ Minho says hurriedly to him, lights spluttering all over his ears and down his neck in time to his rapid blinking. ‘I uh, let me see you out!’

I uh- I’ll see you sometime sun-sunbaenim, uh good to see you today after so long, please take care of yourself-!

He and Minho hastily exit.

Outside in the lobby they both seem to be seized by the same case of wobbly knees and cringe at the situation in unison.

‘I-…’ Minho starts to say but he seems somewhat in shock before sighing heavily in a way that Chan can honestly feel in his chest.

Chan laughs, unable to stop himself.

This was genuinely insane – the levels of connection they had.

Was this really fated? Was this really somehow meant to be one way or another? They had so many common factors coming in together.

Maybe Chan should make one of those charts he’s seen in crime dramas and movies, with lines connecting people and just see how many lines overlapped and brought him and Minho together because this was honestly insane.

What next, did they have the same doctor? Did they have the same dentist? What more?!

‘Well, at least you don’t have to see them any more after this,’ Minho groans from his spot, crouched against the wall just like Chan. ‘So does this Choi Minho person go shirtless frequently or-?’

Chan’s sides hurt from laughing at how ridiculous and just unbelievable this whole situation was.

Considering how fit and ripped he is, not as much as most people would like. Also that would be against some rule in the university I think Chan tells Minho once he manages to get his phone out to type

‘It better,’ Minho wheezes before saying, ‘Thanks for helping again.’

The lights around him are clearer and bright again. It had seriously worried Chan when his lights had completely vanished.

Please let me know how her recovery goes! Chan tells him sincerely.

‘Yeah of course,’ Minho nods as he stands up. ‘Thanks again.’

See you in class. Chan says as they head to the exit.

‘See you.’

Chan has to tamper down his smile as he makes his way out.

Well. This has been an interesting day to say the least. Chan cannot believe it, he’s somewhat still in disbelief over everything. He turns back around for no specific reason and-

Minho is still standing at the top of the stairs, watching after him.

Chan feels his face warm as he smiles before he can even mentally catch up to the sudden buzzing swarming rush making its way through his chest.

He waves at Minho and-

There’s a small eruption of lights around Minho’s head, concentrating on his ears as he waves back too, smiling shyly and ducking away quickly, leaving the softest haze of lights behind him in the process, still lingering even after Minho leaves. Chan, for no reason, waves at the lights and they twinkle a little before fading out.

Oh, Chan thinks to himself, definitely Magick.

*

It was good to get back to his usual schedule, the kids cheerfully greet him and ask him how he is and if he needed many shots at the hospital. His absence was excused as health reasons and so of course the children thought he was sick and that definitely meant getting shots at the hospital.

He chats a little to the parents of the kids, all from the Undine Community of course, and thankfully it would seem no one seems to have heard about what happened. Or even if they did don’t show it as they talk to Chan.

Chan’s about to head back to the pool to clean up for the night when the side door to the gym opens and Changbin grins at him from the doorway.

‘Your husband wears his wedding present.’ Is Changbin’s extraordinary greeting.

‘Uh-?’

‘Met him a couple of hours ago,’ Changbin explains, walking over to him and rolling his shoulders with a slight groan, ‘Went to eat with Hyunjinnie, Chaeryeongie, and Yeji.’

‘You guys met Minho?’ Chan asks with a slight frown.

‘Minho and his friends,’ Changbin grins, ‘I asked him if we could talk and-.’

‘Changbin-,’ Chan frowns admonishingly.

‘No not like that,’ Changbin guffaws, punching his arm lightly, ‘I wanted to apologize to the guy actually – I thought we came off hostile, so I wanted to apologize to him about that. He was really nice about it too – agrees with me that you’re too chill about all of this.’

‘I’m not “too chill”,’ Chan frowns as he makes his way back to the pools.

‘Nice bracelet by the way,’ Changbin says, his tone sly, ‘Can I see the matching one you clearly have on too?’

Chan stops and groans but holds his hand out.

‘Hehe,’ Changbin cackles.

He doesn’t touch the bracelet just inspects it carefully.

‘t’s cute,’ Changbin grins.

‘Have you been talking to Hyunjin about this,’ Chan asks tiredly.

‘No,’ Changbin lies staunchly. 

Chan snorts in disbelief.

‘But hey, I’m relieved,’ Changbin tells him, ‘He is nice.’

‘Like I’ve been saying from the start-.’

‘-being hot helps too I guess-!’ Changbin begins and yelps as Chan pretends to shove him into the pool.

Changbin maintains a wide distance, hands over his chest in an exaggerated pose.

‘I was gonna tell you how I was gonna bring in some clients for next month for you but now I guess I won’t!’ he exclaims. ‘Some of my cousins wanted to learn how to swim, but I guess they’ll never know now!’

Chan wheezes at his friends theatrics as he tries not to think about how something warms in him hearing that Minho was wearing the bracelet.

He didn’t have to.

But he was.

It felt nice.

‘Oh by the way, I heard from Lawyer Im that you’ll be going down to the Court this weekend?’ Changbin asks.

‘Yeah, transfer of finalized documents and stuff and submitting it to the Seely Court,’ Chan explains, ‘Now I’m mostly worried it might clash with my other Court dates.’

‘And you don’t want to delay divorcing your hot husband, yes,’ Changbin says with a wise nod.

Chan successfully shoves Changbin into the pool but only by tackling him in. A small sacrifice Chan is very willing to pay to hear Changbin wail and yell, hair covering his eyes as he splashes around in his tantrum.

He talks to Lawyer Im about it when they catch a quick lunch together in between breaks of the hearing during the weekend. Unfortunately Lawyer Im can’t do anything about clashing dates as it was out of his jurisdiction. He does however, reassure Chan that he would remind the processing office that Chan had a divorce he was filing and to take that into consideration.

Chan was fully expecting things to be terribly boring and he was mentally ready for that, but he just didn’t realize how draining everything would be.

They finish submitting his complete and finalized documents to the Seely Court regarding the restraining order in the most stiff and intense meeting he’s had to sit through with five of Go Youngmin’s lawyers and attorneys (five seemed a little too much in Chan’s opinion but he supposes it was for intimidation purposes or something) and present the situation completely to the very unamused very unimpressed looking court official.

As it had been the first official hearing regarding the restraining order, Chan had dressed up as smartly as he could without sweating buckets. He’s carefully brushed down his seal-skin, making it look silky and soft and even using the special wax to make sure it didn’t fluff up from the humidity later. Felix had even helped him with his hair (also ensuring his hair wouldn’t fluff up from the humidity), offering to go with him for emotional support but Chan had told him not to. It took a lot to convince Changbin not to go with him too and his friend had been all huffy but relented though he suspects they’ll be waiting for him at the natatorium when he gets back.

However Chan had felt a bit better seeing that the court official didn’t seem to be interested or moved by the Go Family’s entire legal workforce attempts to sway him to their side. He regarded all of them with the same sort of disdain and indifference that, honestly in Chan’s opinion, was refreshing.

Lawyer Im had pushed for a higher sentence that he told Chan would be argued down immediately and they would let it happen – they apparently needed to negotiate it from a higher point to a more realistic one. So far they were able to settle at an initial agreement for the order to last 18 months which is much more than what Chan was expecting.

They would be notified for the next date soon and Chan is once again concerned about the dates potentially clashing with his other not-yet-announced divorce-related appointments.

The whole session lasts longer than he was expecting and hoping and Chan thinks he could never be a lawyer because Lawyer Im has to immediately go attend another meeting about something else and cheerily bids Chan a farewell, clearly taking the whole session as a positive.

If that was a positive Chan doesn’t know want to know what a “negative” was in this context.

He still gets no information regarding the divorce and when they’d need to go in again. Lawyer Im had told him in a hilarious tone that makes Chan think it might be the truth, about how the weather was really delaying things because it was just so hot. And honestly even inside well air-conditioned rooms and places Chan never quite cools down. The idea of processing legal documents while it was boiling outside seemed like the worst punishment you could inflict on someone and Chan can’t bring it in himself to fault anyone here for delays.

The heat continues into the new week and Chan is thinking of investing in those clothes with in-built fans he’s seen advertised all around the internet when he walks across the university grounds to get to the Linguistics faculty building. He’s reaching the front of the building when he spots Minho walking towards the building too.

Chan waves at once and Minho gives him a small wave back, small but genuine smile on his face.

‘How was your weekend?’ Minho asks as they walk indoors.

Here inside the building out of the direct sunlight Chan notices that the lights around Minho seemed dim. Looking past the flush on his skin due to the heat Minho seemed a little pale, like he was sick or something.

Chan replies with a it was all right motion with his hand before gesturing back to Minho with concern.

‘Just my thesis slowly murdering me,’ Minho explains with a truly tired sigh, ‘I have to submit the final draft next week, and the final submission is coming up right after that – literally the same day as the midterms.’

One thing Chan does not miss is the terrible ways in which deadlines all seemed to like to clash – it got worse each year and the final year exhausts you so much you’re not even in the mood to celebrate once you’re done, just lingering dread and paranoia that Chan has yet to leave behind.

That’s in two weeks!

‘Yeah, but thankfully this class is easy,’ Minho says, walking a little slowly, movements a little heavy. He’s clearly exhausted. ‘Not too worried about the scheduling in that sense.’

Well, that was a plus Chan supposes. But still. Minho seemed really eaten up from his thesis so Chan switches topics and mimes a bird with his hands.

‘Oh! We’ll be able to release her tomorrow,’ Minho says with a smile. ‘She’s recovering very well, just needed to help heal and realign her hurt wing – final night of observation and she’s good to go.’

That was good to hear. Chan’s been thinking of the waardar everyday and actually wanted to message Minho about it but felt a little awkward to reach out about it. He’d actually done some research into waardar (also learning how to differentiate between waardar, crows, and ravens in the process) and found out quite a lot of cool information about them.

I was reading some things about waardar Chan tells Minho once they take a seat. There was some time before class would start so Chan takes this moment to freely talk to his legal husband. They have really good memory! It’s really likely she might remember you if she sees you again.

‘Yeah, you can apparently train them or something?’ Minho tells him, lights shifting briefly and faintly but still very much focused, ‘But it’s illegal to have them as pets.’

Chan read about that too. He actually also read up some more about kappa and finds them even cuter now.

I imagine that would be quite cruel. I didn’t know that they were somewhat rare?

‘Well, here at least they’re a bit rare,’ Minho explains, ‘Especially in cities like this, but I guess our parks are good enough for her.’

I hope she has friends and she’s not alone :]

Now that Chan can tell the difference, he’s unfortunately not spotted other waardar around the university but they usually only flew out during early mornings or after it got dark, being almost nocturnal though that did shift a bit when they were in the city.

The lights sparkle around Minho at Chan’s words and it makes Chan think he might have said something good or right.

‘They’re pretty social,’ Minho nods, looking thoughtful, ‘They get along well with crows and ravens – we have plenty of those in the city.’

The lecturer enters and they both turn to look forward, putting up a pretty convincing front of paying attention. A little while later Minho draws a hangman and some lines and pushes it to him.

They’re so engrossed in this competitive mini-game that Minho, being called upon the lecturer to answer a question by the lecturer, nearly fumbles his response.

The stars though still fainter than usual, gather and coil around his ears and down his neck the same way he turns rosy from embarrassment of having the whole class stare at him.

Minho glares at him once he’s done because Chan had to physically turn away to try his best not to smile or laugh.

It’s only once when they leave that Chan wheezes.

‘My life flashed before my eyes,’ Minho sighs dramatically, shouldering his bag with a grumpy expression.

See you, Chan mouths to Minho as they part ways at the building entrance, immediately swamped by the heat. Chan hopes Minho heads back home quickly away from the heat and gets some rest because he probably really needed it.

‘See you,’ Minho smiles, no lights visible under the sunlight, and turns off towards the right hand side of the street and Chan heads down towards the left.

Usually when Felix was unwell, his Light Magick had the tendency of dipping too. When he had caught a really nasty bout of flu he’d been completely dim- and it had been winter too, with inconsistent sunlight. Chan and Changbin had gone and got him one of those sun lamps used for plants for added help even if he did have a sun-quartz with him.

Chan glances back, slowing down a bit, hoping Minho will do better the next time he sees him-?

Suddenly Minho stops and turns around.

‘Chan-shii-!’ Minho calls out before he realizes Chan had already been turned around, looking back at him.

Chan feels himself turning bright red, face heated over. Well, there’s nothing to do but stop and wait for Minho to walk back to him.

There’s the glint of determination in his eyes again, faint but present but also bleeding a little to his ears, as though a bit shy.

‘Uh, do you want to help me release the waardar tomorrow?’ Minho asks once he’s close enough.

Chan nearly jumps a little at the request. He tampers down his enthusiasm and nods instead. He taps at his wrist to ask for the time as Minho breathes out, as though relieved Chan said yes.

‘I was going to do it after work,’ Minho tells him, ‘Does 6:15 suit you? I can meet you at the northern entrance.’

It would work very well in fact, so Chan nods in response.

‘Okay, I’ll message you before I leave the clinic,’ Minho says as he takes a step back, rosy colour making its way back to his ears.

Chan isn’t able to stop himself before he makes a cheering motion with his hands and quickly lowers his hands down before managing a more socially acceptable wave and turns away, very loudly telling himself to not turn around again even if he wants to. He can’t have Minho catching him doing that again; twice was bad enough.

He watches videos on how people release injured birds back out into the wild. Some are very intense and dramatic and some are extremely simple and to the point. Chan thinks they’ll most likely end up doing something like the latter as the dramatic ones had maybe months of rehabilitation for the bird and several complicated surgeries and stuff. But still. This was cool – he’s never been involved in saving and rescuing and releasing an injured creature. Admittedly he wasn’t directly involved in the betterment of the waardar but Chan is just glad to be a part of it.

He in a sort of excited state the whole following day, checking his phone from 2 in the afternoon even though he knows Minho is going to message him most probably after 6. Still, he’s excited! This was cool!

The weather, however, is not cool and the humidity goes up higher than yesterday and even Felix who usually had no issues with the heat was complaining and talking about going bald in hopes of relieving himself from the clinging heat.

Chan has an afternoon coaching session where he’s assisting Coach Minhyuk with some elderly hydrotherapy in the pools and his hair is unsalvageable towards the end. He could ask in anyone has styling mousse or something but he doesn’t want to draw attention to the fact that he’s trying to fix his hair before going home for the day. 

He was unfortunately surrounded by people who were good observers and he has no doubt would teasingly ask him questions because Chan rarely bothers fixing his hair or appearance once work was done and he was headed home.

So instead he jams a cap over his head, just hopes he doesn’t smell like pool water (though like Hyunjin had once said, there were worse things you could smell like), and gets ready to meet with Minho.

He gets his message as he walks out, the evening air thankfully a little less oppressive without the sun glaring down on him.

He reaches the northern entrance gate, fidgeting a bit with his hair. He usually felt a tad awkward in caps, especially if there was no sun around as he felt a bit like a poser but his hair was truly not suited for the public, or well, he doesn’t want Minho to see him in such a messy state.

Minho was always neat and though never showy or prim, was always very well put together, coming across chic even in a loose-fit shirt and jeans.

Chan is adjusting his cap a bit when he spots Minho making his way towards him down the street. He immediately waves his hand up and from this distance Chan can see Minho smile back.

When he’s closer Minho lifts the carrier he had in his hand, clearly with the waardar now set to be free.

‘Hi,’ Minho says with a smile, ‘She’s ready to be set free.’

Minho looks worse than yesterday – at least yesterday there were glimpses of light here and there even if a bit weak and slow. Today there’s a sort of shadow cast all over him, weighing heavily under his eyes, around his shoulders.

‘I’m okay,’ Minho tells him at once – clearly people noticed how unwell he looked because Chan doesn’t even have the chance to ask. ‘Been losing some sleep recently, you know, thesis and all that. And also the weird weather shift kinda hit me and I’m a bit under the weather – nothing infectious!’

That wasn’t even in Chan’s mind in all honesty- he can tell just by looking at Minho this wasn’t some cold or flu.

I got my flu shots earlier this year so I’m not worried Chan tells him after taking his phone out.

‘Should have been me,’ Minho declares before lifting the carrier up a bit, ‘Wanna say hi?’

Chan would love to.

He crouches down and looks into the opening, finding the waardar perched inside, dark intelligent eyes looking at him intently as though observing him.

Hi Chan signs, I’m Chan, I’m glad to see you doing well.

Minho chuckles at him.

It was odd not seeing any lights around the man.

Where are you releasing her Chan asks once they head back inside the university grounds.

‘There’s a spot in the canopies,’ Minho replies before glancing at him with a bit of hesitation, ‘I’m not stopping you from uh, being on duty?’

I finish work at 6 most days! Chan reassures him. With his current schedule he only worked past 6 three times a week.

‘Ah, okay,’ Minho says, looking a bit relieved, ‘You’re not pressured to do overtime?’

You can’t do overtime when there’s no one to train or coach Chan explains with some amusement before adding, We do have special evening hours catered for people who want to use the facilities after their work hours but it’s not every night. And they aren’t the ones who usually need help either

It was usually booked by families from the Undine Community, especially after 7 in the evening. There were whole booking systems in place, and during this summer holiday, it was always packed from the moment all coaching and lessons were done for the day.

‘I’ve never been to any of the training facilities, even during the tour of the university,’ Minho tells him as he glances back towards the training facilities, ‘I’m just like, imagining massive swimming pools, is it like that?’

Chan is always very pleased to tell anyone about the training facilities and the different sorts of natatoriums they had. As an Undine, it was definitely a point of pride for him to be able to work in an environment and facility that not only supported his kind but also be directly active in something that would bring comfort and confidence and connection to stranded or land-locked Undine.

Minho is genuinely interested, also surprised by the extent of what the facility had to offer as Chan shows him photos from the official website.

‘Woah, it’s like there’s a whole lake in there – I had no idea,’ Minho breathes out in awe.

I mostly work in the first pool with kids, to help them gain more strength and familiarity with water before moving on to either the freshwater or salt water. Chan tells him with some pride.

Minho gives him a small but genuine smile at that, blinking a little slowly, the tiredness around him even more apparent as the sky above gets darker slowly.

‘Wow, I feel so lame not knowing this was all here,’ Minho says as he looks back at the photos.

I’ve never really been here properly, so I’m feeling a bit lame too he says as he gestures to the deeper canopies within the park. They’ve had training runs around the parks and the main routes that were made to be walked through. But he’s never been within the actual park grounds like this.

‘Just wait till we hit the trails, they’re intentionally unkempt.’ Minho warns him, even his voice though he’s expressive, sounded heavy and a bit lagged.

Do you need something before we go in though? Water? Chan asks him worriedly.

‘I’m okay, I’m already on meds,’ Minho hurries to say, standing up a bit straighter and nodding as though to reassure him, ‘This is my fault, I’m the kind of person who needs 7 hours of sleep to function or I’ll die – besides, every time we get weird weather like this I always tend to get sick.’

That sounded a lot of like Felix too when he was being careless about not wearing his sun-quartz during winters.

During the winters too?

Minho looks a little surprised at the question but he nods.

‘Ugh, it was worse when I was younger,’ Minho sighs, ‘Have you heard of SAD? It’s seasonal affective disorder and it was so bad when I was a teenager.’

Chan has heard of that and he’s heard it from Felix. Did Minho know he had a lot of traits that were associated with Light Fae?

‘Obviously I’m not like that anymore,’ Minho tells him as he glances up at the sky, ‘Mum says it’s because I’m like, 10% Fae – out of all the things to remain in my DNA.’

So Minho did know. Chan wonders if Minho was aware of his lights but didn’t think they were noticeable.

‘But anyway, the season change during this time always gets me.’ Minho says with a shrug, ‘I’ll be okay with sleep and meds, no worries.’

Felix also always bounced back, knowing his limits and the extent to how much he could push himself. From how much Chan has interacted with Minho he can tell that he wasn’t the type to be reckless. If this was somewhat normal and he knew it, then Chan guesses there was no need to worry too much.

I’ve never been to this side of the parks Chan says as they head deeper in. Honestly he didn’t even know they were this extensive. This feels more like a hiking trail

‘I kid you not we were once sent here for 3 whole classes to find insects and grubs which we would then feed to our poultry coop.’

What on earth were they doing in vet science?!

I’m not good with insects he tells Minho with a grimace.

‘So should I not tell you about the centipede on your shoulder-?’

It’s obviously a joke and Minho is teasing him but the full-body shudder at the mere suggestion of a centipede on him makes Chan jump a little. It’s worth it when Minho laughs, the faintest hint of a small spark of light flitting around his hair.

They reach a spot that Minho deems appropriate where tall pine trees were growing. This was a nice spot – it would be really nice on days when it wasn’t this humid and gross Chan thinks. Minho places the carrier down, angling the opening hatch towards the trees up ahead.

‘Uh, maybe stand in the back, don’t know if she’ll be offended or agitated,’ Minho warns him. Chan quickly shuffles so he stands a bit behind Minho.

‘Okay, you can go now,’ Minho says softly as he opens the hatch, small hints of light blinking around him at his words.

Chan’s so caught up in trying his best to catch sight of Minho’s Magick that he doesn’t realize the waardar hasn’t flown out immediately.

It’s after some long seconds that the waardar hops out.

She doesn’t fly out immediately, instead turning to them as though studying them.

It turns his head curiously at them and Minho steps a little to the side, one arm extended out, stance protective.

Wait. Was Minho doing this to possibly protect him in case the waardar flew out at them?

The waardar seemingly has no intention of flying out just yet and well, Chan just decides to Speak to it.

I hope you get better and stronger he tells the waardar. He has no idea if he looked insane Speaking to a creature but this felt right. Also little lights slowly and softly pop up around Minho’s brow, lifting the shadow just a little from around him.

I hope we were able to bring you close enough to your home, I hope to see you again around the parks.

‘Stay safe,’ Minho also adds, speaking gently, ‘I think you know where the clinic is at this point, so if you’re not feeling well, just come there?’

According to Chan’s research waardar had excellent memory and in the past were used as a means of navigation indicator and were even used as messengers. So Chan has no doubt the waardar could very much do exactly that.

The waardar then flaps her wings, caws once at them (Chan would like to believe it’s in thanks) and flies off, wings barely making a sound.

Chan breathes out in awe, smiling as the bird smoothly flies up and vanishes past the branches of the pine trees. Chan can’t help but clap a little, grinning at Minho who turns back to look at him with a smile of his own, small lights dancing around his eyes.

The lights disappear though as Minho shivers very slightly, bringing back Chan’s concerns for him

Minho really looked so dim, the air heavy around him, Chan wishes he could do something but he doesn’t know what. Did he need a sports drink? Electrolyte? But he didn’t seem too worried about himself, and well, Chan isn’t going to be pushy so he tries to leave it and picks up the carrier instead. Not a great act of any sort of service that would be useful to Minho but still.

Minho takes out an additional layer he had in his bag and pulls it on. He’s adjusting his collar and pulls his bag on properly and that’s when Chan notices it.

Minho was wearing the bracelet, but only around his neck in a rather haphazard manner. Chan blinks intentionally a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t just seeing things but that was the bracelet for sure.

Did it break? Did something happen or-?

He points to it, giving Minho a questioning look.

‘Hm?’ Minho looks a bit confused before he reaches up to touch the make-shift necklace like he just remembered it. ‘Oh yeah, I was worried that while working it would get snagged or something- so I made it so that I could uh, wear it as a necklace instead- at least for today. It’s not- oh shit, was I not meant to do that?’

There’s a small burst of lights, swaying with the shadows, clearly panicked because he thought he did something wrong.

Chan shakes his head quickly, placing the carrier down so he could type quickly.

Not at all! he pauses a moment before writing the second bit down. Just surprised you wore it.

‘Well, yeah of course I would,’ Minho tells him, scratching at the side of his neck sheepishly, the lights and shadows around him calming a bit. ‘It’s part of your culture, it would be disrespectful.’

He gestures to the bracelet he gave him that Chan hasn’t taken off once since getting it.

‘Also you wear the one I gave you – I should too right?’

Chan shakes his head as emphatically as he can.

No no not at all! he starts to say.

This was not what Chan wanted – he didn’t want Minho to feel obligated to do this in any sense. He’s quickly typing but then Minho stops him, hand hovering over his phone, physically blocking him.

‘And besides,’ Minho says, looking a bit nervous, small specks of weak light shining around his ears and down his neck before he Speaks: we’re friends, right?

There’s such a sudden surge of joy, of surprise, of delight that rushes through Chan. Did Minho take the time out to learn that? Just...just to be able to speak to him?

He nearly drops his phone as he Speaks back: Yes, we’re friends.

Minho smiles bashfully, lights clinging softly to his lashes, looking down as he says, ‘So yeah, we can get going now.’

Insides feeling a bit of a gooey rush, Chan glances back out to the pine trees once more before taking up the carrier and making his way back down with Minho.

Minho doesn’t seem as strained as they make their way back, but it was probably because they were moving down-hill so it wasn’t as strenuous as making their way up the crest of the hill.

‘See you on Thursday,’ Minho says as he takes back the carrier.

Should he offer to take Minho back? He really looked so tired and unwell Chan can’t help but be worried he might collapse or worsen his condition by pushing himself.

Minho heads out first, giving him a wave and slowly making his way down the street that would lead him to the closest entrance point.

Chan makes up his mind and before he can over think it and hurries back to the parking lot where his scooter was. He always had a second helmet; he sometimes dropped Felix off where he needed to go or even gave Yuna a lift sometimes if they were heading out at the same time.

The security guard at the parking lot looks a little confused that he’s not turning down the road that will take him to the northern entrance but rather further inside the university grounds.

Minho must be truly tired because he’s barely made it out of the general grounds that skirted the parks before leading out to the manicured compounds of the different faculty buildings.

He does, however turn around, eyes going wide with surprise, the shadows weighing on his skin lifting briefly to make way for a shimmer in his shock.

Chan feels a bit awkward, a bit embarrassed but slows down a little as he comes to stop next to Minho.

I’ll drive you back home he mimes as best as possible to Minho who gives him a sort of embarrassed look and sigh.

‘Do I truly look that sick and pathetic,’ he asks.

Should I take you to a clinic? Chan asks once he gets his phone out. Maybe he should at this point?

‘No,’ Minho tells him with a sure nod, ‘Like I said, this happens every year – this time around it’s just this whole thing with my thesis. I actually had it worse 2 years ago, I was throwing up and everything.’

Chan had no idea that being “10%” Light Fae would actually effect someone like this.

I don’t think you should be walking back Chan tells him I’ll drop you off to your place, it’s no problem for me

‘Are you sure?’ Minho asks again if as Chan can physically see his relief.

Chan’s concern about coming off pushy is placated. He nods and quickly gets out the spare helmet and hands it to Minho. Safety was the most important after all.

‘Thank you,’ Minho tells him sincerely.

He places the carrier on the space before him between his feet as Minho puts on the helmet. There’s a bit of a struggle because the strap is a bit short so Chan helps him lengthen it and snaps the safety strap close.

Okay? Chan asks, pointing to the helmet on Minho’s head, his hair poking around in every direction.

‘Well, I guess we’ll see if I fall off and whether or not my head cracks open,’ is Minho’s response which makes Chan grimace. Minho wheezes at his reaction before adding a little sheepishly, ‘I’ve uh, never been on a scooter before.’

Chan does his best to reassure Minho he wouldn’t be speeding or anything.

He waits for Minho to get on and wiggle about a little to secure himself before he’s satisfied and gives Chan a small pat on his shoulder.

‘Okay, I’m good.’ Minho tells him quietly.

Chan mimes directions at Minho and he nods in understanding.

‘I’ll let you know which turns.’

He doesn’t want Minho yelling over the traffic while being tired like this. So taking his phone out again Chan quickly types out:

You can tap on my shoulders for the directions

It can get difficult to hear with the helmet sometimes

No need to exert yourself by yelling

He tacks on a smiling emoji.

^_^

‘Okay,’ Minho says, relief and gratitude evident in his tone, ‘Thank you again.’

Minho is a little stiff for a couple of minute before he relaxes. Chan goes slower than usual, not that he liked speeding or going fast – he’s well aware of traffic rules and how both pedestrians and car drivers both disliked two-wheel drivers (though considering how so many of them drove Chan doesn’t blame them).

Minho’s place wasn’t too far and it wasn’t a complicated route. He only has to give Chan a couple of small taps on his shoulder here and there before they arrive at a series of buildings in a street Chan has come to before because a couple of his university friends actually lived on this street too.

He comes to a stop in front of a driveway and Minho carefully gets off. To Chan’s relief there’s definitely more lights around Minho now.

Carefully unclipping the helmet and removing it Minho hands it back to Chan and fluffs up his hair a little, small faint stars falling off in the process.

Chan gives Minho a faux serious expression and points at him and mimes going to sleep.

‘Yes, I’ll rest,’ Minho grins, ‘Thank you again Chan-shii.’

Chan shoos him away with small motions of his hands, mouthing go in, hurry hurry.

Minho laughs at that, miniscule stars, shy and soft peaking out through his hair.

‘See you in class! I’ll be 100% healthy by Thursday, you’ll see!’ Minho tells him as he walks up to the doorway.

Good, Chan mouths and then he signs bye friend.

Minho signs it back to him with a smile and vanishes through the door.

And though incredibly faint and weak, a few specks of the stars from his hair remain out here, blinking softly before vanishing as Chan waves at them again.

Friend.

Chan smiles as he makes his way down the driveway and heads home, humming silently to himself the whole way.

*

Chan has a Plan™.

He packs a small strong scissor, and after lots of hours of research that has his algorithm thinking he’s a crafter or DIY artist, a very nice braided cord with a fastener.

Can you give me your bracelet for a moment? He asks Minho before they can finish even saying hi properly.

Minho is a little taken aback but he hands him the bracelet.

Completely ignoring class Chan starts taking apart the bracelet’s adjustable mechanism and makes it so that Minho can wear it as a necklace when required but also able to loop it neatly into a bracelet. He’d calculated the length based on what he felt would fit Minho’s wrist but also be able to wear safely as a necklace and when he returns it to his legal husband near the end of the class Minho wears it at once.

It’s at a good length and Chan is relieved his calculations worked but then Minho turns to him, his Magick back in full strength because he did completely recover, glimmering around him as he smiles at Chan and gestures at the necklace now around his neck.

Okay? He signs.

Chan can feel his face warm up, words escaping his mind so he nods instead.

Okay he manages to sign back and he needs to look away and do something else immediately.

He hears Minho’s soft chuckle and how he fiddles with the sea-stones a little before turning back to face the lecturer.

When he had been braiding the extension necklace Felix popped in to his place with yet another shirt he’d been robbed of (and completely forgotten about). And considering Chan’s never done something like this or at least Felix has never witnessed him doing anything remotely close to jewelry making (or altering in this case) he had been very curious.

Minho wore it as a necklace the other day, Chan had told him, he said he was worried it would get snagged while he was working so I thought I’d make an extension for the bracelet so that he can swap it to a necklace or bracelet – whichever suits his needs.

‘Oh?’ Felix tilted his head curiously, ‘Not just pocket it or like, not wear it at work? Interesting.’

And well. Yes. That was interesting.

Again. Minho doesn’t have to do this at all. If he wore it only on Court days it would make sense. It would be a show of collaboration between them. He didn’t have to wear it any other time, least of all during work. But he did. And he was worried it would get snagged and rather than pocketing it away or putting it in his bag, he took the effort to make a sort of extension and wore it as a necklace.

The same way he was making an effort to learn Speak. It’s obvious in the way he carefully watches Chan’s hands when he’s sometimes asked mandatory participation questions in class, fingers twitching a little as though trying to imitate his actions.

‘It’s sweet,’ Felix had told him, ‘I’m actually really glad he’s being nice. I really wanna talk to him now!’

Chan had laughed at that.

‘What! He’s like my legal brother-in-law isn’t he?’ Felix had argued.

Only for a couple of months more.

‘Still. But it’d be weird I guess,’ Felix had sighed.

Maybe you can meet him again when he’s my friend and not legal husband Chan had grinned.

‘I really hope so,’ Felix had said seriously, ‘Besides, after meeting under such peculiar circumstances I would think you’ve built yourself a solid foundation for a hilarious friendship – you could be like, “yeah we’ve been good friends since we divorced” and people would think you’re lying but it’s literally the truth!’

Chan thinks so too. And he hopes Minho thinks that too.

Or all of this time spent together would be really awkward where they have to work together and face a common enemy: biased bureaucratic officers.

Chan had assumed they would be working only with Yubin and maybe her office, but apparently Selkie divorces were processed very thoroughly to the point where Chan feels somewhat violated by all of these pushy questions specifically addressed at him.

Chan had finished his weekend work schedule and upon checking his phone found he had an email from the Court detailing his next appointment. Thankfully it doesn’t clash with his classes but he might be late for a staff meeting if it extends longer than the estimated time detailed on the email.

When he shows up to class Minho is nervous like him, and also dressed smarter than usual as they were headed to an office and a floor they’ve both never been to labelled “Assessment Room E” and it sort of freaked Chan out a bit.

Neither he nor Minho are really able to focus on class or even play random games on the spiral notepad like they usually did.

I think this is supposed to be an interview Chan tells Minho as they leave the class with no recollection of what they were supposed to have studied that day. I’m not sure if we’re supposed to bring any other documents – I heard that during this time they ask for your official documents and things.

‘Shit,’ Minho curses, ‘I wonder if having a digital copy would suffice – most of my original copies of stuff is actually still with my parents.’

Mine too, I hope they don’t ask for original copies Chan has been worried about this for a while now actually. While he had a lot of his original documents on him, other detailed items were all back in his family home. He has copies which worked fine, has worked fine for the entire duration of Chan living here. And with both his siblings not being in the family home it would make things complicated for him to ask them for a helping hand.

They’re at the main road looking to grab a taxi when Minho clears his throat a little hesitantly.

‘By the way. Uh, what’s the cost of all of this?’ he asks.

Chan’s not sure what Minho was talking about. The taxi ride-?

‘The divorce,’ Minho clarifies.

Oh.

Ah. Right. That.

Well. That was a good question actually and Minho probably didn’t know, how could he, he didn’t understand Speak, but basically when they had applied for the divorce, Chan had already clarified that he, was the primary applicator so he would be covering the fees.

He didn’t mean to intentionally not tell Minho, but considering the fact that Minho had been pulled into this completely out of his own will, Chan felt a sense of responsibility to at least ensure Minho wouldn’t have to be inconvenienced beyond what he was already having to go through.

Usually the fees are different depending on the category of your divorce, especially when it comes to Selkies, so right now I’m not sure about it myself

Minho nods slowly to that.

Don’t worry about the cost! Chan adds and it’s probably not the best thing he could have written because Minho stares at him, that focused beam of light forming around the corner of his eyes.

‘Chan-shii.’

There’s something oddly thrilling about how he says his name in that tone.

‘I hope you’re not trying to imply or say that you’ll cover the fees.’

Okay he needs to do damage control-!

‘We are both getting a divorce, we both pay the costs equally!’ Minho argues at once, turning completely to face him, ‘And like you said to me many times before, this was neither of our fault, it happened like some weird freak accident, not a result of our direct actions. Meaning neither of us bears the direct responsibility, therefore the financial cost for it either!’

So this is how it felt arguing with someone who had excellent mastery over their words and used sincerity and logic in their statements. Chan has been so exposed to some truly incredulously dumb shit that he’s honestly taken aback that people could argue and make points in a completely normal way.

‘My friend is a soon-to-be-lawyer, and I will use his brain to prove my point Chan-shii,’ Minho adds.

However no matter how logical Minho’s argument was, Chan still doesn’t feel like Minho should be doing anything more than he already was.

We can discuss it more when the time comes? Chan offers.

‘Well yes, because it will be split evenly,’ Minho states before making his eyes a little bigger, eyebrows going up and leaning forward in a way that’s clearly meant to echo some sort of threatening stance as though challenging Chan to argue him.

Okay okay no need to be scary!! Chan wheezes, taking a step back, feigning fear.

He then raises his arms up to T-pose and gestures to his clothes and gives Minho a questioning look.

Minho appraises him with a comically serious expression before saying, ‘Yes, you look very ready to get divorced.’ He does the same and even does a 360.

Very divorce worthy.

‘…is that a compliment or a diss,’ Minho asks slowly after he reads what he had to say.

A different sort of thrill rushes over him when he realizes how what he said could be mistranslated.

NO NO NONON NO oN he hastily types very un-divorce!

Minho laughs heartily, slapping him on the back with amusement.

It helps with the nervousness and anxiety of their appointment. Minho tells him about how he once went to a friend’s birthday party when he was 17 years old, in a complete giraffe costume because he misheard it was a costume party and Chan tries not to laugh too hard because that would have been harrowing to experience as a 17 year old teenager. In exchange Chan tells Minho about how during one of the warm-up runs they had during second year he accidently caused a domino-like effect of knocking down all of the runners who were lined up because he tripped on his own shoelaces. Thankfully his classmates all got a kick out of laughing their lungs out laying on a heap over each other – they’d admittedly been tired from a game of football earlier that day so none of them had the strength or physical wherewithal to try and balance themselves and gave into gravity.

In fact he still has a scar from the weirdly angled gash he got that day on top of his elbow. He shows Minho who laughs because it did look uncannily like the map of Japan, Okinawa islands included.

‘You’ll never get lost if you find yourself in Japan I guess.’ Minho chuckles.

The office they were headed to was towards at the back end of the Undine Department on the sixth floor and they’re both nervous again.

Honestly so far things were all right with the divorce process in Chan’s opinion, especially compared to the things he’s had to sit through regarding the restraining order.

But this officer? Clerk? Mr. Yoo, definitely working with a lot of bias against Chan in specific and wasn’t doing much to hide it either.

They both realize, around the same time, that these questions were definitely pushing unapologetically and rather carelessly into categories they should not be in.

Chan is already making plans on contacting Yubin and asking her about this because he doesn’t understand why they’re being asked questions that sound like what a marriage counsellor would ask a couple with relationship problems. Because when Mr. Yoo asks him “what have you learnt about yourself during your marriage to Mr. Lee” Chan thinks they need to sort out something, anything, because he cannot see how any of these were relevant to their divorce process.

‘Chan-shii and I don’t have like, an actual relationship like, a marriage,’ Minho interjects stiffly to Chan’s surprise, voice kept as neutral as possible despite the slowly rising shadows weaving through his hair.  ‘We’ve known each other maybe a month.’

Mr. Yoo doesn’t even seem to take anything Minho had to say seriously. This really irks Chan.

‘Mr. Lee, we’re just following protocol,’ the man replies flippantly, ‘I have to ask these questions, regardless of the nature or history of your relationship.’

We filed our divorce under Accidental Marriage and were given documents and a format that falls under those specific jurisdictions, considering these factors, wouldn’t it be redundant to have us go through this process? Chan asks, leaning forward and making his signs as clear and clean as he could.

‘That’s neither here nor there Mr. Bang,’ Mr. Yoo says dismissively, barely looking at him when he Speaks before asking, ‘Have there been moments where you’ve felt threatened by your spouse?’

Chan doesn’t need to look at Minho to know he’s shocked – every small speck of nervous agitated light freezes in place, the shadows coiling and hidden in his hair and down the back of his neck darkening.

No Chan replies firmly.

What the fuck. What the fuck?!

Chan wishes he could take Minho and step out of this. He has no idea if this was at all protocol or an attempt to humiliate both of them or something. Each question makes his stomach churn, and at this point Chan isn’t even going to bother masking his outrage at what they were being forced to sit through.

He can sense Minho’s discomfort and frustration, he doesn’t need to look at him to know. Minho’s hands are resting lightly on the arm-rests and Chan can tell he’s trying to not clench them into fists. He almost instinctively reaches out a few times to take Minho’s hand but stops himself.

The torture lasts 30 minutes longer and Chan was going to absolutely message Lawyer Im because this felt wildly inappropriate at every level.

‘What the fuck,’ is the first thing Minho whispers as they exit the office, immediately bee lining towards the elevators, ‘What the fuck?!’

Chan doesn’t even know what to say at this point honestly.

Minho clearly thinks they both need some sort of sustenance and Chan is grateful for the intensely sweet chocolate he shares with him.

‘I didn’t realize it was going to be so…so invasive,’ Minho exclaims, lights a riot around him. ‘The way some of those questions came off were so accusatory!’

They were and Chan cannot believe it’s the standard of questioning when both people were present. Even if this was all done with the intention of keeping Selkies safe amidst the historical proof that they were more often than not the victims in accidental/forced marriages surely it could be conducted in a way that was less dehumanizing.

I was expecting some sort of questioning but I thought considering that we don’t know each other and this was filed under accidental marriage we would be processed differently – I can’t believe we’re going to have to go through this Chan tells Minho as he chews through the chocolate like his life depended on it.

‘Do you think they make things intentionally uncomfortable to like, deter people from wanting to go through the process?’ Minho asks, ‘Seungmin, my friend who’s studying to be a lawyer, said that sometimes a lot of processes are done in a way where it discourages people from trying to file their issues.’

Well, that’s certainly an angle he’s not thought of before but it somehow made sense in a horrible way.

If that’s the case, it makes sense that the process takes so long

‘I hope tomorrow’s session is better,’ Minho sighs, ‘I was worried I might be late for tomorrow but it seems we’re always being made to wait for everything here at the Court so maybe I’m okay.’

Late?

‘I’m meeting my advisor tomorrow to submit my final draft,’ Minho explains, ‘If she approves, I just need to change and adjust the format, cite my sources properly, and check for errors.’

You don’t do it online? Chan asks worriedly.

‘I have to do both,’ Minho groans, ‘It’s also like, I guess a way of making sure the students are plagiarizing, it’s basically a one-on-one presentation in a way.’

Every time someone he knows mentions having to do a thesis or some sort of final project it’s always with such a weariness and sometimes even hatred that Chan is relieved he’s never had to do it.

Makes me really glad I didn’t have to do something like that Chan tells him before he sighs, ah, this just really sucks :\

The lights around Minho soften a little before he jokes, ‘Yeah, maybe we should have just stayed married.’

Chan wheezes, elbowing his legal husband in amusement.

‘Uh, by the way is it okay if I ask you about what happened to the people who stole your seal-skin?’ Minho asks a little hesitantly.

Chan’s surprised Minho hasn’t asked before actually so he tells him a shortened version.

They’re serving some time in prison. But they’re going to have a hearing in a couple of months, Chan tells him. That much was true and a sort of rough estimate on the timeline based on what Lawyer Im had told him too. A few of them are from rich prominent families, so I think things will lean forward for them.

‘You’re kidding,’ Minho frowns, looking upset. ‘I was already thinking that 7 years was too less a punishment.’

Of course Minho read up on the punishments, he also had a friend studying law so he probably knew the “printed” information, so to speak, and not the unfortunate truth regarding so much of the finer details regarding sentencing of this kind.

I’m just grateful I got my seal-skin back Chan tells him and he means it.

‘…I mean, I guess you could say it cost you.’ Minho says dryly, gesturing in between them.

He’s obviously referencing the fact that he now had to also process a divorce on top of everything else but honestly, if asked, Chan would say without hesitation that he didn’t mind. At least for him personally – was it a headache in the sense that they both had to be exposed to stupid treatment from stupid people? Yes. Was his major gripe with this specific situation based solely on the fact that this was an experience Minho could have done without? Yes. But honestly for Chan, and he has no idea what it says about him now, he doesn’t mind.

Friend, he signs and points to Minho in reply instead.

‘Chan-shii, I can assure you that we could have been friends without needing a divorce.’ Minho tells him dryly but there’s a soft sparkle of lights around his ears at his words.

Chan laughs, looking away.

‘These appointments won’t be an issue for you at your work will it?’ Minho asks him as they finish their sugary snack which does wonders in making Chan feel a little better, ‘It seems the timing is all wack – at least on days I have class I know I don’t have to worry about adjusting the hours of leave I’ll have to take from work, if not, well.’

Most of my coaching appointments are later in the afternoon into the evening Chan tells him or very early in the morning sometimes so I’m okay.

If this was an issue for Minho then they should be able to procure some sort of legal document from the Court right? Chan understands Minho’s worry in this situation – being an intern put you in such a delicate position especially when you were aiming for employment once your internship period ended and Chan knows Minho was working towards that.

Maybe we can ask for like, some sort of document to show at your clinic? Like how you have medical forms for missing out on work?

‘Thankfully Dr. Kwon is really nice, she’s the head of the clinic,’ Minho tells him, ‘She was very understanding and just told me to make sure I inform Dr. Kim in advance.’

I’m assuming they’ve never had an intern going through divorce? Chan asks him because he sure as hell knows no one in the history of the Sports Science Faculty had to witness what happened to him in the past couple of months.

‘I don’t think so,’ Minho wheezes, ‘I’ll offer to work weekends to make sure I cover my hours though.’

That guilt comes back again, pushing down the comfortable ease with which he could talk and interact with Minho, pushing down the hope that they can be friends. Whenever Chan feels that connection, that bond he was starting to believe wasn’t entirely just from his side, he can’t help but rewind – can’t help but take some steps back knowing that even though it might not have been his direct responsibility, Minho was caught up in a situation because of him.

I’m sorry about all of this Chan tells him, I know it’s not “my fault” but still, I’m just sorry that you’re doing all of this.

‘Well, I’m sorry you’re going through all of this too,’ Minho tells him earnestly, sincerity in his expression.

Chan can’t quite accept that just yet. Had he better self-control, not lost his temper and cool from Youngmin’s very clear attempts at upsetting him, they wouldn’t be here in the first place.

Should we get going? He asks instead.

‘Yeah,’ Minho says and then looks down at himself with a sigh, ‘I’m not even going to bother trying to look smart tomorrow.’

I’ll come wearing my diving gear Chan tells him with an amused grin.

‘If I said I would give you money, would you actually do that.’ Minho asks with a teasing smile.

How much are we talking.

‘Like, enough for a fancy cup of coffee. Maybe.’ Minho offers with a serious nod.

Tempting, but I’ll pass.

‘Your loss.’

They part ways, with Minho saying he was going to catch the bus and Chan has to tell himself again to not look back to watch after Minho and see if his lights would still linger after him.

‘Chan-shii, I can assure you that we could have been friends without needing a divorce.’

It was obvious and it was fact that their “relationship”, at any capacity, was born out of accident. They both of course made the effort to make it as amiable and pleasant for not just themselves but for each other too. But once you took out the factors that required them to see each other, Chan wonders again if that would be it. That being their growing friendship because Chan’s pretty sure they were moving past just simply being “acquaintances”.

It came so naturally to him. Because despite the fact that most people viewed him as a friendly guy, Chan often had trouble actually connecting with people without a lingering tenseness and concern about how they'll regard him; it took time for him to lower his guard in a sense, took him time to lower the facade of constantly being easy-going to ensure the people around him weren't burdened by his presence. It was stupid, he knows that, but experience and self-preservation were difficult lessons to forget. But with Minho, other than concern for him as a whole in this situation, Chan finds himself at complete ease without even trying, without even meaning to. 

There was a sense of steadiness to Minho, a somewhat no-nonsense and to-the-point attitude that Chan appreciated greatly and respected deeply. There was just something about his being that was soothing; dependable and honest. 

More than anything, Chan finds himself admiring Minho for who he was because despite the situation he had been thrown into without warning, Minho was managing to stay not only level-headed, determined, and alert, but also kind and generous without bending backwards. It's something Chan truly admires and would want to learn from Minho bit by bit.

But after all of this is over, would they make the effort to see each other outside of their legal obligations once everything was over? Should they?

Chan hopes they can.

He really wants to.

Maybe when this divorce is over. Maybe when all of this is behind them, not sort of looming over them, casting a shadow over their interactions, maybe then they could start anew? Reintroduce themselves to each other not as accidental husbands but as friends, as-…as something past all of this.

Could they? Would it be possible?

Or would this always somehow loom over them in every aspect of their interactions?

Or maybe that would change. Or maybe it didn’t need to change.

Or rather than try to figure it out or put a label on it, it could just be a tiny unique Magick shared between just the two of them. Something they could grow from, something they could use to move forward into a new path together with intention rather than navigating an accidental circumstance.

Yeah. That would be nice too, Chan thinks with a smile.

If Minho was okay with that, and if Minho wanted that too, then that would be really nice.

*

Chapter Text

Chan does not wear his diving gear but he’s not dressed in boardshorts either when he heads to the Court; that was more appropriate for class, not a place where he was getting a divorce.

He’s parking when a group of men catches his attention on the other end of the parking lot – Go Youngmin’s lawyers. Why were they here today? There was no meeting, at least none he knew of, regarding the restraining order. Or maybe this was only for their side of the ordeal?

He makes a mental note to tell Lawyer Im next time they meet.

Chan really hopes that they don’t have to meet with Mr. Yoo today. The appointment location in the details of the email didn’t direct them to the same room, not even the same floor actually, so Chan is a bit hopeful.

He’s there before Minho who messages him to let him know he might be a bit late. Chan lets him know that he was still waiting and considering how oddly empty many of the office rooms and cubicles were, Chan guesses not a lot of people were actually in.

About 10 minutes later the elevator opens and Minho quickly steps out, spotting him almost at once.

There’s such an obvious difference in how Minho was feeling, he’s practically alight as he walks over towards him, the air around him shimmering.

It has Chan smiling before he can even check himself.

‘Hi,’ Minho says in a breathless rush, ‘Sorry, talk with my adviser went on further than I thought but it’s all good she approved and now my suffering has come to an end!’

He then drops into the seat next to him, small little bursts of light falling over onto Chan in the process, disappearing out of sight when Chan blinks.

Chan claps, very quietly, but enthusiastically.

Congratulations! He types out quickly, Do you just have to finalize and submit it now?

‘Yeah,’ Minho nods, ‘Obviously go over it to make sure there are no errors- might send it to my dad to have him proofread it.’

During one of their random note sharing session in class Minho had told Chan that his father was a school teacher and would sometimes send him his essays just to proof-read it for him.

Will you celebrate? He asks.

‘Not today,’ Minho tells him, ‘Just because it’s been approved right now doesn’t mean anything in a sense – it needs to read by the head of faculty and approved and then I’ll celebrate. For today I dunno, maybe I’ll have a whole round of pizza or something.’

Pizza is good celebration.

‘Yes,’ Minho says with serious agreement before asking. ‘Were you here long?’

Got here maybe 10 minutes ago Chan tells him before gesturing around, I don’t even think the person we’re supposed to see today is here yet

Minho makes a face, shaking his head as he says, ‘If it’s the same person as yesterday I might explode.’

Please don’t explode, I don’t legally want to be a widower.

Thankfully Chan does not become a widower.

Kim Sunmi is gracious and lovely and literally heaven sent compared to Mr. Yoo. She was Rusalka, Chan can tell, just like Yuna, and spoke fluent Speak, paying attention to him intently and warmly.

She has to interview them individually and Chan immediately excuses himself, letting Minho go first. It doesn’t take too long for Minho to finish and for Chan to head inside. She asks him for his side of what happened and Chan makes quick work of it – at this point he’s very well practiced. He also tells Sunmi about Mr. Yoo, asking her if any of it was actually necessary at all.

‘This is an unfortunate circumstance,’ Sunmi says slowly, looking serious, ‘Unfortunately it is part of protocol but you’re not the first person to raise an issue regarding Mr. Yoo.’

Chan sighs quietly.

‘He’s a senior staff member,’ Sunmi says carefully, and it gives Chan insight into this man, ‘While I cannot guarantee that he will be, well, more pleasant the next time you see him, he has no say in the process; he really is there just to oversee these following steps in your divorce and nothing more.’

Chan supposes that was at least one positive.

‘How has it been?’ Sunmi asks sincerely, ‘I want to hear how you’re dealing with things, the restraining order, the divorce, all of it.’

Well, Chan pauses a little, better than what I could hope for I guess. I’m extremely lucky, having such good friends – Lawyer Im has been extremely clear and helpful in this whole step; I just hope it resolves without any further incident.

Sunmi nods to that.

‘And what about Minho-shii?’

He’s great, Chan says at once, He does his best to participate, to understand and really be present with everything. Again, I’ve been extremely lucky with how things turned out if I’m being honest.

Sunmi smiles before she says, ‘He showed me that you’ve both exchanged bracelets is it?’

Chan nods, pulling up his sleeve to show his bracelet.

He’s the one who initiated it Chan explains, he’s not familiar with Selkie culture actually, and he’s taking a lot of steps to educate himself. He’s even learning some Speak.

Sunmi’s eyebrows go up, smiling as though pleasantly surprised.

Yeah, so I’m just- I’m grateful. I just hope all of this process can be finalized and completed quickly, more for his sake than anything else.

‘I understand,’ Sunmi says, ‘Again, I can’t promise you how quickly we can process this, but I’m glad to hear you’re both on the same level of understanding and collaboration.’

Chan nods quickly to that before being hit with a sudden wave of anxiety at the idea of Sunmi asking Minho questions about him – was he being a good soon-to-be-divorced-husband to Minho in all of this from his perspective? Chan was of course doing his best but what did Minho think?

Chan goes and calls Minho back inside once they’re done and Sunmi tells them some more details about future dates for their Court schedule.

‘All right, you’ll be meeting with me once a week at least for this month,’ Sunmi tells them, ‘And after discussing with both of you I believe Thursday afternoons would work for the both of you?’

This would work out the best for both of them, at least Chan thinks it will.

‘Great – I can at least fix this so that it best suits the two of you, however the police interviews as well as other Court appointments is out of my hands,’ she adds rather apologetically.

Minho seemed to be relieved by this information, the very rare bits of lights that flickered in the corner of Chan’s vision softening a little from its agitated state.

They leave once Sunmi hands them a schedule for their appointments with her and they thank her with great relief and genuine gratitude.

I was so ready to be mentally drained again today Chan tells Minho as soon as he’s able to start typing. I’m happy this appointment didn’t put a damper in your good news!

‘Yeah, me too,’ Minho smiles in relief, ‘Sunmi-shii seems really nice, I guess we lucked out?’

They really did. Chan’s relieved that Minho’s good start to the day was extending on past their Court appointment; it would have been really annoying if after all that relief it was ruined by Mr. Yoo or someone similar.

Minho waves goodbye to him when he exits the elevator at the floor of the main lobby and Chan goes down to the parking lot.

He feels confident now- at least a bit more, now that Sunmi was going to be someone who they would be meeting the most in all of this.

He quickly texts Changbin and Felix a quick update before getting into the car. Glancing at the time he has more than enough time to get to work, get something to eat, and then attend the weekly meeting.

Slowly making his way up and out of the parking area, Chan hits the main road, feeling light-hearted, fingers thrumming randomly on the wheel as he hums silently to himself again.

He turns the corner and pulls up to a red light and slows to a pause when something catches his eye.

Minho.

Minho was in the taxi just next to him.

They were literally headed in the same direction-?

Minho turns, clearly sensing Chan’s stunned look and they lock eyes for a second before breaking out into amused grins.

Work? Chan mouths in question.

Minho nods, eyes crinkling with the force of his smile that he tries to tamper down as he glances at the taxi driver.

And Chan doesn’t even try to, but he’s constantly in the same speed as Minho’s taxi. He can feel his legal husband’s amused glances in his direction every now and then and Chan at least has the luxury of chuckling freely inside Changbin’s car.

Once they reach the university area Chan gives Minho a smile before switching lanes.

Still in a light and cheery mood, Chan finishes parking, getting something to eat, and finally checking into the work with plenty of time to spare for the meeting.

His schedule would be changing soon to adjust to the change in holidays as well as the junior swim team coming in for practice sessions. They’re mostly in the afternoon so Chan’s coaching sessions would be shifted to the evenings which would then transition smoothly also for the different families who had younger kids whose schools would start a little before semester started up again for them at the university.

It would be great if Chan was able to get exact dates for when he had to attend Court dates (for the restraining order mostly, as he now had a decent idea of what to expect for his divorce schedule) but at this moment everything was still too “soon”. This seemed to be the norm though and Dr. Kim seems to have no problem about this and neither do any of the senior coaches at management level. Only Chan seems to have anxiety about it somehow while everyone else seemed to just go “yeah that sounds about right”.

Today's schedule was Chan, and Yuna who would be observing as part of her internship, and Coach Hyunwoo who as a nereid mostly used the Lake as his preferred coaching space. Coach Hyunwoo mostly helped train and coach teenagers, something about his easy-going somewhat “old-man” attitude that never caught onto how weird teenagers were or what they said made him a truly irreplaceable coach. Chan is personally a little scared of teenagers but this group of 14-15 year olds were so far not causing Chan any traumatic flashbacks to that time he was supervising a swim session and they all spoke to each other in “uwu”. He still has no idea if they were doing it ironically or not, and if it was meant to be some sort of bit or just genuinely how they were conversing with each other. It was very confusing and had rattled Chan in his early internship days and that has never quite left him.

The girls are all really shy, sneaking glances at Yuna and whispering to each other about how pretty she was while the boys were all trying not to stare too much as the Rusalka who was giving them her best brightest big-sister smiles of encouragement from where she stood. 

When the class is done and they make way for a family booking Chan heads to the practice pools where he knew Hyunjin and some other student athletes were starting their practice sessions. He looks around to see if Changbin was in but maybe he was at the gym instead?

He arrives during a short break it would seem and Hyunjin spots him at once and makes his way to him.

‘I have weird news,’ Hyunjin declares, wrapped up in his massive green towel.

‘Weird?’ Chan echoes, ‘Like, good weird or bad weird.’

‘Bad weird,’ Hyunjin grimaces, glancing back at some of the junior students who were warming up in the back briefly. ‘Do you need to be in here right now or-?’

‘No-?’

Hyunjin steers him out and into the study/break room.

‘Youngmin’s been asking about you,’ Hyunjin tells him.

Chan grimaces at once.

‘Asking about me in what way?’ Chan asks at once, lowering his voice even if no one else was around.

‘He’s been getting in contact with some of the juniors, I don’t know how he got their contact but,’ Hyunjin frowns, ‘Apparently just poking about regarding you and what you’re doing.’

Chan sighs.

‘I don’t think the juniors said anything specific – most of them know he’s rotten,’ Hyunjin scowls, ‘But yeah, just asking about you it would seem.’

‘Is he hoping that this news would come to me just to rattle me?’ Chan grumbles.

If that was the case, it was partially working.

‘He’s an idiot and a sore loser,’ Hyunjin says at once, ‘He’ll drop this sooner or later- he has to.’

‘Sooner, hopefully,’ Chan sighs, ‘Thanks for the information.’

‘Yeah of course,’ Hyunjin scowls before asking, ‘You had to go to Court today right? Yesterday too right? How was it?’

Chan gives Hyunjin a summary of what happened yesterday as the latter gulps down some chilled tea from the vending machine.

‘Pretty sure you can lodge a complaint against the guy,’ Hyunjin frowns, ‘Right? His behavior is atrocious, like what the fuck?’

‘If I was going to lodge a complaint against people like him then I’d be doing it too often,’ Chan sighs tiredly. ‘I just hope I don’t have to see him again.’

Hyunjin grumbles, clearly displeased.

‘Did you see him again today?’

Chan tells him a bit about Sunmi and Hyunjin groans in relief but it’s short lived when Chan shows him in rough schedule for the upcoming month.

‘It’s so weird!’ Hyunjin exclaims hotly, ‘Like why can’t it be simpler? I feel like all these systems are just in place to make things more complicated than they need to be. And it’s not even really working to make things safer or better in my opinion.’

‘Well, I don’t know about that-?’

‘Uggggggggh!’ Hyunjin groans, head tilting back dangerously, ‘Hyung, you know I’m right.’

‘Okay okay, but please don’t do that to your neck again,’ Chan says hastily, pushing his head back up properly, ‘You don’t need to be pulling muscles over something so lame.’

He delivers Hyunjin back to the pools and heads to the gym where he was right in guessing Changbin was, but to his surprise so was Felix. They both quickly ask him some more questions past the information he had texted them.

‘Hyunjin was telling me that Youngmin’s been asking about me,’ Chan frowns a little as the two go back to working out, more like Changbin spots Felix as he carefully does some bench-presses.

‘He’s what?!’ Felix demands, eyes flaring with sharp light in his irritation. ‘What-?!’

Changbin has to hastily take away the weights as Felix sits up, fury in his eyes.

‘That piece of shit-?!’

‘It’s okay Lix, he’s just doing this to like, get to me and-.’

‘-it’s getting to me-!’ Felix hisses, hands clenched into fists, ‘What if I go punch him-?!’

Chan grins, going over and putting his friend in a head-lock, messing up his hair before kissing the top of his head.

‘Can we not start fights,’ Changbin says as though he hadn’t been the one to seriously declare he would literally fight Minho if needed, ‘Youngmin’s humiliated at this point – he’s not used to thing not going his way so he’s going to try and do something stupid and most likely scenario is he tries and fails – however if he does do something, knowing him, it’ll be something obvious and stupidly connected to him, making things more complicated for himself.’

‘This is all just so upsetting,’ Felix exclaims, ‘He’s such a-! Such a fucking loser oh my god-!’

Felix leans back on the bench in dismay, feet kicking a little.

‘He’s going to try and do stupid things like this for a while,’ Changbin sighs out, ‘He might even do stupid things like spam calls, you know like, basic harassment techniques and stuff.’

Felix screeches, making a few other people around the gym look around in alarm.

‘If he does something, record and take photographic evidence,’ Changbin tells him seriously, ‘It can all be used against him.’

‘We might be able to finalize restraining order soon,’ Chan tells him, ‘I hope that stops him.’

Changbin gives him a shrug, sighing out a little.

‘I need him arrested,’ Felix exclaims, sitting up with a frown.

‘That would be ideal,’ Changbin says rather darkly.

Chan has to agree in all honesty. But he just really hopes this was enough to show Youngmin he wasn’t just going to tolerate whatever stupid vendetta he had against him.

He doesn’t hear anything else about Youngmin thankfully for the rest of the week. He has other things to think about, like how terrible the weather has been.

‘It smells like rain,’ Felix tells him as Chan gets ready to leave for class and he returns from his morning baking shift.

Chan glances out of the door to the gross muggy skies and frowns at his friend.

‘Trust me- well, rather my nose. And my knees,’ Felix adds, ‘You’ll want to take an umbrella.’

And Chan does listen to Felix except he forgets his umbrella in his scooter trunk so when rain starts to fall (Chan can literally still see the sun shining in certain areas out in the city) outside, everyone in the class sort of pause and stare at each other in surprise.

Chan thinks it might be one of those summer showers that makes things even hotter once it’s done but he’s proven wrong 10 minutes later when the rain picks up, the sky darkens ominously, and thunder booms so loud the windows shake.

Chan shares a look with Minho, his legal husband’s expression one of surprise.

Did you bring an umbrella? Minho asks him.

No >_< but it’s not that far for me so it’s okay Chan tells Minho and adds, Besides it’s not like I’m not gonna get soaked either way

Minho chuckles at that, looking like he was dreading the idea of going back home in this weather if it continued in this vein.

And it definitely continues. In fact, it gets worse as class ends and everyone sort of nervously head downstairs.

Felix’s nose and knees were right.

Downstairs a few students bite the proverbial bullet and open the door to step out only to have the wind slam the door shut, making everyone jump and curse a little.

Minho was starting to get that gleam of determination in his eyes and Chan does not think, under any circumstance, should Minho try and brave this weather. The traffic would be terrible and visibility even while walking would be horrible.

You’re not going to walk out in this rain are you? Chan asks worriedly.

‘I mean, you were too,’ Minho points out.

Mine’s not that far, compared to yours Chan reminds him – if he took “shortcuts” then he could avoid being exposed to the rain all that much.

‘I thought I’d go sit in a café till it lets up a bit,’ Minho starts to say but then thunder booms overhead so loudly Chan’s ears ring slightly.

Do you want to wait the weather out at the gym instead? Chan asks him as people nervously and listlessly shuffle around, wondering what to do.

Minho’s eyes widen just a little, clearly thinking it through as he turns to look towards the back entrance of the building, as though visualizing the way to get to Sports Science Faculty building.

We also have a coffee machine.

‘Say less,’ Minho says seriously but there’s a sparkle of amusement in his eyes.

Using Minho’s umbrella they’re somewhat shielded for most of the part but it’s mostly because they’re able to duck under awnings and parking covers and ledges and even cut across from inside a few faculty buildings that they’re mostly dry.

When they reach the Sports Science Faculty building they’re not really worse for wear – Chan’s shoes are definitely soaked through but he did intentionally wear one of his older pairs so he’s not too bothered. Minho shakes off the excess water from his umbrella and Chan quickly shakes himself off of rain water that ricocheted onto him on their way back.

Honestly it could have been worse and Chan turns around to grin at Minho just as little sparkles of light disappear from his cheeks and ears.

‘Is this facility new because that thing hasn’t aged one bit,’ Minho asks him, ‘My building is so old people say it’s haunted.’

Quickly wiping his phone screen Chan types out incredulously: Is it haunted?

‘I’ve never experienced anything creepy or scary in there,’ Minho tells him factually and then adds with a mischievous smile, ‘Well, that’s a lie – Professor Song is a nightmare.’

Tickled, Chan reaches over to smack Minho’s arm as he laughs.

Minho looks around, impressed and a little apprehensive as they enter the main entrance for the arena that housed all of the natatoriums.

Yuna is there of course, and when she glances over she brightens up and jumps up to her feet, waving cheerily.

‘Hi!’ she calls out and adds, ‘Oppa, I don’t think we’re gonna be getting most the appointments today. Unless you brought a new student with you!’

She turns to smile brightly at Minho who is quick to correct her with some amusement.

Yuna-yah, this is my husband, we’re here because it’s raining too hard to go anywhere else.

Chan pauses and then adds: please be very normal about this.

‘I’m Yuna!’ Yuna greets Minho at once, not acknowledging Chan’s request, ‘It’s so nice to finally meet you! I didn’t think I’d ever meet you!’

Chan can only give Minho a slightly sheepish expression because it was now obvious to Minho that he had told Yuna about him.

‘It’s nice to meet you too, let’s say today is take your husband to work day,’ Minho says with an amused smile.

Chan feels his face warm at Minho’s words and Yuna laughs delightedly.

I’ll go change just in case we do have people coming in Chan tells Yuna, how about you give him a tour and show him the different pools?

‘Ooh! Yeah, I can arrange a tour,’ she says enthusiastically, ‘Please let Coach Minhyuk know I did extra work so that it gets added to my report?’

Of course, gotta get those intern bonus points.

‘All right, I need to sign you in first,’ Yuna tells Minho, straightening her back and doing her best to exude professionalism, ‘Can I have your university ID or any other ID you might have on you?’

Chan walks around to access the computer inside the reception desk area to sign in his time as Yuna logs Minho in as a guest.

Once Minho walks after Yuna to get a tour Chan goes and changes. He doesn’t think they’ll get people coming in today with the weather being so unpredictable but still, just in case, Chan changes out into his usual wetsuit combo and removes his wet shoes and wears his water-shoes instead.

Making his way towards the staff-room, Chan finds both Coach Minho and Coach Minhyuk. They're watching some sort of live sporting event it would seem.

‘Oh, Chan-ah, isn’t this storm insane? How are you not soaked through?’ Coach Minhyuk asks in surprise.

I was in class, snuck my way around Chan explains as he heads for the coffee machine to get Minho a cup. Yuna says we might not get people coming in?

‘Yeah,’ Coach Minho nods, looking displeased as he glances out of the windows with a sigh, ‘Not the most motivating weather, I guess I can understand that.’

Is it okay if I have a friend with me for a while, Chan asks the two, taking shelter from the storm.

‘Yeah, it’s no problem,’ Coach Minhyuk tells him.

‘Do they want to hit the gym while they’re here?’ Coach Minho asks with interest, ‘I have all the time right now for a free session.’

Chan highly doubts Minho would want that.

Yuna is giving him a tour, Chan tells him quickly before adding, he’s uh, a little under the weather right now.

Minho was not under the weather (which was great, Chan was briefly concerned Minho’s 10% Light Fae DNA might try activating in full force given the weather conditions but he seemed quite all right) but Coach Minho was a firm believer of not exercising when unwell and to “listen to your body”.

He gets the coffee and leaves quickly before both bored coaches can start offering his Minho free gym lessons and more. Thankfully there were a couple of people at the reception area, clearly waiting to be signed in. Chan spots them and quickly goes to sign them in. Both of the gym-goers are soaked wet and sheepishly apologize to Chan about the rain water they’ve dragged in.

Chan heads to the ponds and there finds Yuna enthusiastically showing Minho the streams and segmented pools, Minho’s expression attentive and listening intently.  

His shoes squeak as he makes his way over, making both Minho and Yuna grin in amusement, the latter actually laughing. Unfortunately, not all of them could be elegant and regal so Chan gives Yuna his “unamused coach” face before letting her know that people had come in to use the gym.

‘Oh! Okay, thank you oppa!’ Yuna nods before turning to Minho, his ears a little rosy, ‘I have to cut my side of the tour for now, but it was really nice meeting you Minho-shii!’

‘It was nice meeting you too,’ Minho tells her sincerely.

Chan hands Minho the coffee and takes his phone out.

Sorry took a bit long, had to talk to head coach. It’s just regular coffee I’m afraid.

‘It’s okay- and this smells really nice,’ Minho tells him before gesturing around the place, ‘This is really cool. Now I’m tempted to bring a kappa and see what happens.’

The havoc that would cause financially and psychologically would be unprecedented.

I’ll finish the tour instead of Yuna Chan tells him as they make their way out.

‘I prefer Yuna.’ Minho teases.

Most people do Chan tells him, thinking of how all the people this past summer who inquired after Yuna, some of them in a nice way, and some of them in a way that has Chan and the other coaches in alert.

Chan leads Minho to the final space, his own personal favourite of course, the Lake. It’s a bit of a funny nickname as it was supposed to be a mini-sea more than anything else but considering it could be something of an actual mini-lake instead the nickname stuck.

‘Oh wow,’ Minho exclaims softly, lights flickering about him, almost confused for a while. ‘Woah, this is really so cool.’

Chan grins, feeling a sense of pride at Minho’s words even though he hardly had anything to do with the construction or creation of this place.

You wanna swim? Chan asks. All of the pools were open to the public at any time. They also had swimwear for people who might not have any or in case of accidents/wardrobe mishaps.

‘I can’t swim,’ Minho tells him with a small wince.

Not what Chan was expecting – oh wow, he hadn’t even thought about the fact that there were people who couldn’t swim.

Oh he says before adding with a teasing smile, the rule is that once you’re in here you HAVE to swim.

‘Is this revenge for that time I said you have a centipede on your shoulder?’ Minho says as he squints at Chan suspiciously.

Chan shrugs innocently.

‘Fair enough I guess.’ Minho laughs, ‘Okay, please tell me all of the cool details of this place, I am expecting information I would have heard from Yuna-shii.’

Who do you think taught her? Chan pretends to complain before doing exactly that.

He takes Minho around, showing him the shallow ends, the sloping area in one side that made for easier entrance or for family haulout. There were many small alcoves and steps and also a wider deeper area. They even had a bridge spanning the widest part of the lake as both a security measure as well just a cool addition to really appreciate the view of the Lake.

Chan is telling Minho about the underwater tunnel system, something Chan likes to do when training slightly older younglings to help them pace themselves and control their breaths when Minho pauses stiffly away from the bridge.

His lights sort of blink out, hesitant and pausing. It’s not quite what it was like when he was lying, where the lights were hiding in his hair. No, this was-?

‘It’s not that I only don’t know how to swim,’ Minho explains a little sheepishly, ‘I’m not great with water- I think I’m mostly uh, have a fear of depths – depth and height – with the swimming pool I could see the bottom, and it doesn’t freak me out as much, and the freshwater area I knew wasn’t deep. But uh, this is kinda creepy.’

Oh that made sense. It made a lot of sense.

‘But in general, just from like an engineering perspective, this is really cool.’ Minho tells him as though to reassure Chan that he did think it was cool and not like he was being creeped out the whole time while Chan was explaining how cool things were in the Lake.

It’s okay Chan signs to him quickly before reaching for his phone to apologize for potentially traumatizing him.

‘I uh, understood that,’ Minho says with a pleased smile, ‘I can pick out some words here and there – basic things like that.’

Oh, Chan then carefully and clearly signs that’s cool.

Thank you Minho signs back.

There’s that familiar tickling delight that he was now associating with Minho again.

‘Uh, I’ve been learning some phrases and like, words here and there,’ Minho tells him, looking a little embarrassed, ‘Thought that, especially when we’re at the Court, it takes time to properly communicate things when we’re talking to Yubin-shii, and now definitely with Sunmi-shii – and I don’t want you to have to like, constantly do extra work to make sure I’m in the loop and stuff.’

It’s not a problem for me Chan tells him quickly – he has no problem typing or writing to communicate with Minho.

‘Well, either way, I thought it was a good thing to like, pick up on some stuff,’ Minho explains, holding his cup of coffee closer, lights flickers around his ears and down the side of his neck, ‘Useful too – that way I’ll know if you’re dissing me.’

Chan laughs as he gestures to the benches at a safe distance from the water for them to sit down on.

‘It’s also embarrassing that both Jeongin and Jisung can Speak, pretty sure Seungmin can too, I can’t be the only one who can’t,’ Minho complains.

Where are you learning Speak from? Chan asks curiously. There were a lot of ways to learn Speak but seeing as Chan has never had to learn it himself he’s curious.

‘Mostly online – I ask Jisungie for input sometimes, but I feel like what he knows comes exclusively from like, niche internet content so I don’t know if it’s like, regional-specific slang to some of the Speak.’ Minho explains with amusement.

Chan laughs heartily at that – that explained Jisung’s Speak and the way he said certain words and even how he moved his hands and fingers.

That explains the way he Speaks – even I don’t know which dialect he uses, I understand it, but it’s unique!

There’s a distinct sense of pride but also amusement from Minho at that.

I can teach you Chan offers before adding to explain, maybe words and terms you might hear more from the Court to help you understand things.

‘That would be great,’ Minho says at once, ‘More helpful than learning shopping phrases in Speak.’

Oh? What can you buy in Speak?

He can already tell this was going to be funny because Minho gives him a look before he carefully and meticulously signs: I would like a kilo of grapes and 5 apples please.

Chan has never in his life had to go shopping for such a specific amount of fruits before and it absolutely tickles him to imagine Minho diligently learning Speak for something like that.

‘I don’t know when grapes and apples will come up in Court,’ Minho says with a laugh, ‘And I know basics are important, but uh, yeah, shopping it is for now.’

Grape is a tough word to sign! You did well! Chan tells him sincerely.

‘I did?’ Minho asks, little stars dancing on his brows for a fraction of a second, ‘Maybe those online classes are good.’

What would you like to know? Chan asks, eager to teach.

Minho pauses, clearly thinking hard for a moment before asking curiously, ‘How would you sign my name? Because I thought I’d be spelling it out but I saw some of the online instructors not spelling it out?’

Ah, Chan squirms a little at the question. For Selkies, though not very intense anymore, names were usually a very private and somewhat intimate exchange with people, especially non-Selkies. In the past they would have rather primitive nicknames they would use – mostly a combination of possessive nouns connecting a child to the parent and then later on maybe to a spouse. It was different now of course, but in a sense it was still a little interesting to have to explain.

Usually we have nicknames or two words merged together, kinda like a nickname that’s associated with the person we’re talking about

‘Oh, so it’s not just spelled out?’ Minho asks.

Not always, Chan explains, When Yubin-shii refers to you, she basically just addresses you as this man as reference

‘Ah, that’s all I am,’ Minho sighs despondently, closing his eyes as though wounded.

It’s actually the formal and polite way of doing it he explains and we actually do end up having multiple ways of signing our names – it varies between friends, family, workplace.

‘Oh,’ Minho says, looking intrigued.

For example, Yuna grew up knowing Selkies, so she knows her own unique Speak for her name, and I use that for her Chan says and signs Yuna’s name for him – it was a combination of sweet and lotus, very fitting for her. And then there’s Hyunjin – his aunt is Selkie actually, and she has his name in Speak for him and that’s how he introduces himself in Speak to other Selkies. But prior to meeting me, Changbin wasn’t familiar or close with other Selkie, so I gave him his name in Speak basically.  

‘What are Hyunjin-shii and Changbin-shii’s names in Speak? Can you show me?’ Minho asks interestedly, lights gleaming and focusing as he leans in a bit as though to see him Speak better.

Pretty dumpling = Hyunjin Chan explains with a grin. Bicep chop = Changbin

Minho laughs heartily at that, nodding as though in agreement to the break down of the names.

‘Should mine be tired vet-tech,’ Minho offers in example.

Absolutely not.

Chan has seen some Selkie give their friends comedic Speak names, obviously out of jest and a result of being close, almost like how he came up with “bicep-chop” for Changbin (he was a teenager, sue him). But for Minho? No – he deserved something nicer, something more fitting to who he was.

Something nice, that will suit you.

‘Tired vet-tech suits me and is accurate, especially in the upcoming years,’ Minho argues, eyes sparkling with mirth.

NO Chan writes emphatically.

Minho wheezes.

Or just this Chan grins at him and signs husband.

There’s a spark of recognition in Minho’s eyes as he squints at his hand and then back at him.

‘It’s short. What is it?’

Chan, a little embarrassed quickly types out husband and shows it to Minho.

‘I mean, you’re not wrong.’ Minho wheezes.

I’ll have to think about it Chan explains, now burdened with coming up with something perfect for Minho. Something nice and fitting.

Minho smiles, a shimmer of lights briefly washing over him, clearly happy at Chan’s words.

‘Will you teach me yours?’ he asks.

He absolutely could.

‘What does it mean, or like, is there a combination to yours?’ Minho asks. ‘Is it “3 times first place swim champion”?’

Maybe having Yuna give him a tour wasn’t the best thing. Chan cringes a little before he sits up and faces Minho and with a sort of resignation explains his name.

Water pup

The embarrassment is worth the tiny little bursts of stars as Minho laughs in delight.

‘You’re kidding! That’s so cute!’

Stuck since I was a kid. I used to hate being on land, had to be dragged out of the water – and seal babies are called pups Chan explains sheepishly.

‘Did you throw tantrums because you didn’t want to leave the water?’ Minho grins, hitting bull’s eye.

Chan sighs heavily and nods.

‘Heh, it’s cute,’ Minho grins, a teasing glint forming in his eyes but instead he asks, ‘Can you teach me?’

Chan nods of course, reading to teach Minho how to Speak his name when he thinks of something.

Minho watches his hands carefully, surprise in his eyes when Chan adds an additional word.

Chan-hyung he types out on his phone in explanation.

‘Oh,’ Minho pauses halfway signing his name.

I mean, we’re married, so I think we can drop the formalities? Chan explains, feeling a bit bashful but pushing on and adding: friends, right?

There’s an intense but very brief burst of light around Minho’s cheeks, shifting to his ears as he signs back, yes, friends and then asks him to show him again.

Chan shows him the motions carefully and slowly, Minho copying him with an intense sincerity that was genuinely so moving.

‘Chan-hyung,’ Minho says as he signs it to show Chan for approval.

Chan’s never really cared much for a lot of formality and what not. Felix rarely ever addressed him in a formal manner. Hyunjin sometimes like to teasingly drop all formalities but Changbin never really fully dropped it though Chan doesn’t mind because it came from such a warm place of mutual and shared respect for each other. Minho always spoke to him with such politeness and Chan is grateful because he knows it was sincere and careful because he meant it and wasn’t just doing it out of social obligation.

‘Thank you, Chan-hyung,’ Minho says as he signs it together.

Chan claps, giving Minho a small cheer.

Fast learner.

‘Good teacher,’ Minho tells him, an endearing and pleased look in his eyes.

Right, well, he should continue to be a good teacher. Thinking fast, Chan gestures to the weather outside which was still ongoing and turbulent.

Rain Minho signs carefully, mimicking him.

Chan nods encouragingly and Minho signs it again with more confidence.

Chan teaches him 5 weather specific words: rain, thunder, lightning, clouds, and shelter.

Minho is having difficulty with shelter in specific but after a few tries Minho thinks he’s improved. He carefully mimics the motion and looks at Chan for approval. Chan reaches forward, carefully angling his hand and putting slight pressure for him to turn his wrist a bit more.

For a brief moment, soft lights sparkle and form over Minho’s cheeks but his expression is focused, frowning a little as he readjusts his hands.

Again Chan signs.

Minho signs it again and looks up at him for approval. Chan gives him a firm thumb’s up and nod.

‘Thank you Coach Chan.’ Minho says in a stiffly formal tone.

Putting on an overtly strict persona, Chan makes a comically scowling face and signs again! before his chin trembles from being unable to hold back his smile.

Minho laughs with him and Chan tries not to stare after the lights too much.

The storm settles after 2 hours and 15 more words in Speak and Chan being horrified at some of the truly random Selkie Speak tutorials out there. Minho is then able to head back home, thanking Chan for teaching him again, all in Speak, before he heads out.

Chan is smiling to himself as he heads back into the lobby from seeing Minho off at the entryway.

‘I didn’t know he was Light Fae,’ Yuna says to him in an almost accusatory tone when he approaches the reception desk, ‘I’m guessing he’s mixed though?’

Y-yeah, Chan nods at once, turning to her, you can see his lights?

‘Yeah of course,’ Yuna nods, frowning a little, ‘Why?’

No it’s just- Changbin said he can’t really see them most times, Chan replies before asking quickly, how clear are they to you?

‘Oh, they’re really clear to me,’ Yuna says thoughtfully, ‘I think it’s cool when Light Fae don’t really care that their lights reflect their emotions in the moment you know? It’s nice.’

Uh, yeah, Chan nods, not sure why he felt somewhat a little let down by this information. Of course other people saw his lights, his closest friends and family did too, most likely. Like, what does it look like to you?

Yuna leans back on the chair, pouting a little in thought.

‘They’re very quick, honestly like, blink and you’ll miss it but they’re very shimmery – like those fireworks that you hold and they sparkle?’ Yuna says, ‘Silvery and small, very pretty!’

Yuna saw it exactly how Chan saw it then. So it wasn’t just him?

Yuna then gives him a somewhat knowing smug smile and Chan leans back warily.

What.

Yuna just grins, shaking her head, ‘Nothing! He’s really nice, even if he can’t swim.’

Chan chuckles before nodding at the computer, any cancellations or rescheduling?

‘Just two,’ Yuna replies, ‘But considering how this is slowed down, you’ll be on schedule for the rest of the evening oppa.’

Okay, thanks Chan nods and he’s about to tell Yuna that the two of them would be joining Coach Hyunwoo again this week when Yuna giggles a bit.

‘Ryujinnie was right.’

…about? Chan asks slowly, caught between wanting to know what Yuna meant and wanting to remain ignorant of whatever was being discussed.

‘Just something she observed,’ Yuna beams before she waves enthusiastically at someone behind Chan, ‘Unnie! I didn’t know you were coming in today!’

Jihyo smiles at them both before pointing at Chan, ‘You- come with me, you’re going to help me plan a recovery program for an elderly Naiad with rheumatism.’

Chan stands up and gives her a sharp salute in response.

He glances back at Yuna with a questioning look that she smiles a little too innocently at.

And honestly maybe it was better he didn’t know what was going on so Chan puts the whole interaction in the back of his mind and follows after Jihyo.

*

Chan has a truly remarkably calm and pleasant weekend. Well, more accurately Friday night to Sunday morning.

He helps Felix pack up the last of his things, helps take furniture and other items to second-hand shops, donation centers, and some other items to a recycling station. Felix’s place is bare-bones; only the furniture and other items that were already there remaining and the bare minimum he would need in order to do things until he left. He also goes with him to buy gifts and items to take back home (he’s the muscle basically, carrying all of Felix’s items).

It was sort of bitter-sweet, knowing Felix would be leaving. It was likely he would be back of course, he wasn’t going away forever, but still.

His siblings message him sweet updates of their family dog and nice updates on their own lives during summer break. Of course Chan doesn’t tell them about his accidental marriage but instead tells them a little about his work.

Chan coaches his first independent session with slightly older younglings in the Lake, helping them practice technical skills while underwater. Chan’s pleased to be coaching four Selkie younglings- more Selkies were joining and participating in the training facility according to Dr. Kim and Coach Minho which makes Chan really proud. Coach Minho had said that a lot had to do with the fact that Chan was here, and with a Selkie on the team, other Selkie felt more secure in knowing they could join. Chan doesn’t know if that’s strictly the case, or if it’s because as the younglings grew older and weren’t able to always access better options or resources, sought out this facility.  

On Sunday he heads for the Court for two separate appointments. He’s fairly confident that the appointment with Sunmi would be quick but he still lets Lawyer Im know just in case. He was meeting with the lawyer to discuss further details regarding the restraining order because it would seem Youngmin was trying to negotiate- or at least his lawyers were, regarding some of their specifications. According to Lawyer Im this was normal and to be expected. It still made Chan’s stomach churn though.

He’s responding to Felix’s messages, all of them in caps telling him to tell Lawyer Im about Youngmin sniffing about. Chan doesn’t know how important this information would be as there was nothing illegal about what Youngmin was doing but he reassures Felix that he would.

Minho arrives just then and Chan finds himself smiling, temporarily forgetting the next appointment after this one with Minho.

Hi Chan-hyung Minho signs to him, looking pleased with himself. He’s evidently practiced.

Hi M-I-N-H-O,’ Chan grins. How’re you?

Minho has that determined look before he signs back I’m good, the weather is nice today. What about you. Hyung.

I’m good. Fast learner. He grins with approval at Minho.

Tiny lights sparkle around Minho at that before he carefully signs good teacher very.

Very good teacher Chan corrects him gently.

‘It’s always the grammar,’ Minho groans as he corrects himself.

You’re genuinely doing a very good job Chan tells him, typing quickly over his phone, you’re picking up really fast, I’m impressed!

Thank you. Coach Chan.

He clearly learned that mostly to tease him.

Of all the things you could learn! He laughs and adds, what else did you learn.

‘Behold,’ Minho gestures before clearing his throat. I am an internship vet. I love pudding. I love cats. I love horror movies. I hate divorces.

Chan laughs heartily at the last line, nearly hitting his head on the wall behind him as he rocks about with the force of his laughter.

‘Oh, and this one too,’ Minho adds and very seriously signs: my thesis is death me straight to a fast grave.

Chan has to lean away and laugh, sides hurting a little because Minho was using an odd and hilarious combination of slang, very formal and old versions of a few words, and the most child-like grammar combined.

‘Admittedly I got help from Jisung for that so I don’t know if it even makes sense,’ Minho tells him, clearly very pleased with himself.

Those were very good. Chan is shaking as he types. Very glad you’re learning all the important things.

‘I know my priorities very well. Okay but did those make sense at all.’

They did Chan reassures him some grammar mistakes, but definitely understandable

‘As long as I make sense for the situation?’

Honestly that was all that mattered.

‘How was your weekend- well, Saturday hyung?’

Chan tells him about the funny incident with the head-hunter and Minho is wheezing when Sunmi calls them in. She looks at them with a sort of surprise- Chan guesses she normally doesn’t always see people who are particularly happy.

She’s apologetic first about the timing of their meeting on a weekend but gives them what Chan considers the first solid bit of structure in this whole procedure. It is, however, intensely packed and Chan can’t help but balk at how frequently they need to be here.

‘I know,’ Sunmi sighs, ‘This is the best we can do considering how packed the system is.’

It’s okay Chan signs quickly, if we can get this done faster, I don’t mind. We’ll just communicate to our work places and with this schedule we can plan ahead better so this is great.

Minho then tells Sunmi about how his address would be changing and Sunmi quickly explains to him what he’d have to do for that.

‘It could take time to change and register the new address, but it’s definitely better than changing your phone number I’ll tell you that.’

‘Where can I get the form-?’

‘I’ve emailed it to you,’ Sunmi tells him, ‘Just print it out, fill it out, and then give it to Yubin-shii the next time you meet her.’

‘Thank you so much,’ Minho says earnestly, looking and sounding relieved.

‘Any changes for you Chan-shii?’ Sunmi asks him in turn and Chan shakes his head.

‘Then that’s it for today,’ Sunmi nods, ‘Don’t be late for tomorrow’s schedule – that one is definitely important.’

‘Of course,’ Minho says quickly, sounding a bit nervous which was understandable as it was a questioning session with the police as their divorce case was unfortunately also considered a criminal investigation to an extent as Chan’s seal-skin had been stolen and Minho had returned it to him.

‘Chan-shii, you’re headed up?’

Minho is a bit surprised by the question, no doubt wondering why he didn’t have the same appointment.

Yes – just to smooth out some details with my lawyer. If there are any clashing dates I’ll let you know immediately.

‘All right,’ Sunmi nods, ‘I’ll be seeing you two again later this week then.’

Once they’re outside Minho asks him if he needed to come with Chan.

Chan hopes Minho is never involved with anything to do with Go Youngmin. Even the mere idea of it makes Chan incredibly upset.

Have a good day coach Minho signs to him carefully as the elevator doors close.

Chan is smiling to himself the entire time before he heads up.

Lawyer Im tells him not to worry too much and Chan, well, has no other option than to trust the man, this was after all his job. He does tell the man about how he’s heard about Youngmin poking about and asking about him. Lawyer Im looks thoughtful at that.

‘Obviously there isn’t anything concrete in this like you said, but it’s a good idea to always keep an eye out,’ Lawyer Im says seriously, ‘Unfortunately with people like this it’s important to always be on your toes.’

Chan wishes to not be on his toes actually.

Honestly he had hoped and wished that after graduating and placing a good spot with work he would be able to somehow start letting go a bit – stop surviving and maybe instead start living as he once read somewhere. He just needed a bit of reprieve from all of this, needed things to start slowing down gently.

‘Tomorrow is the official report with the Court police right?’ Lawyer Im inquires once they’re done.

Yes, Chan nods.

‘Should I come and supervise?’

No no – this has nothing to do with what you’re helping me with, Chan says at once.

‘If there’s anything you’re unsure of, let me know at once,’ the older man tells him firmly, ‘I’ll be in the area tomorrow anyway, so don’t think twice.’

Thankfully it’s not too bad.

A lot of it is just basically like the first day Chan had given his first account of what happened to the police, sans Lawyer Im by his side. But at this point he’s gotten used to it in a way so he’s ready and alert for any odd question sent his way but none come. It’s all fairly straightforward and clear but still exhausting nonetheless as it lasts nearly over an hour before he’s cleared.

Minho then goes in after him, very faint lights dotting around him, expression focused even though he was nervous.

Chan sits to wait for his legal husband but Chan is approached by an employee and he follows the man to another room similar to the reporting office he’d just been in.

He’s asked to make another statement, this time regarding Youngmin rather than Dong Ryusok who was responsible for stealing his seal-skin in the first place.

He’s asked to describe everything that happened, more specifically how and when he first attacked Youngmin. This was already information that he had explained and gave a statement on and he wonders why the secondary statement now. Unfortunately he realizes that he was definitely going to have a history of violence now tied with the divorce process. He has no idea how this would effect the divorce now.

He’s also a little agitated thinking about how if Minho was done, Chan wouldn’t be outside and he might think Chan just left without saying anything. There’s no time to discreetly message Minho either.

As time goes on and Chan has no idea when he’ll be done he just hopes Minho makes the decision to leave. Chan would message to explain what happened of course.

When he comes out Minho is waiting for him.

‘Hey,’ Minho says as Chan heads over to sit next to him. ‘What happened? Am I expected to go in there too?’

I needed to make a second testimony Chan explains.

‘Oh. About?’

Just some extra stuff that happened Chan doesn’t want Minho to know more than he had to, especially when it came to Go Youngmin, but he doesn’t exactly want to lie either. You’re done right? they said you could leave?

‘Yeah.’

Chan feels a bit bad for omitting things from Minho. So he quickly types: If you’re headed to work I can drop you off? It’s on the way for me

‘Oh is it?’ Minho grins in amusement before asking, ‘You have a car and scooter?’

It’s not mine. Chan explains with a shake of his head, It belongs to Changbin, do you remember him?

‘Yes,’ Minho replies, an interesting display of lights sparkling around him.

He told me to borrow his car anytime I had to go to the Court. Apparently it will help me make a better impression than showing up in my scooter Chan sighs.

‘Changbin-shii won’t mind you using his car to drop me off? He doesn’t know me,’ Minho points out.

Not at all Chan says he’d probably tell me off if he knew I didn’t at least offer. Like I said, it’s on the way ^_^

He would also mercilessly make remarks and give him teasing looks Chan’s sure. All of his friends, now that they were over the shock of things, were starting to take a teasing angle to this situation. Which was fine, but now Chan has to be prepared for whatever he says to be taken wildly out of context.

‘I don’t know, I thought it was hilarious driving side by side on the road,’ Minho hums thoughtfully.

Chan snorts, elbowing him.

‘If it’s really okay, then yeah, thank you hyung.’

It was genuinely more than okay.

Once they’re inside the car Minho points out Changbin’s sweet but slightly cringey photo of himself and Hyunjin he had on the center console of the car. Chan was actually the one to take that photo.

‘Are they a nauseating couple or are they chill?’

Both.

When they reach a red light Chan quickly adds on: they’re not a grossly pda kind of couple but they practically function as a unit in everything they do

‘Ah, so they’re the kind who say “we” when anyone mentions anything to them?’ Minho asks, nailing it right on the head.

Chan grins and nods before gesturing to Minho. Minho looks a little surprised before there’s a look of realization in his eyes. Chan realizes it could have looked like he was asking Minho about how he was when he was dating someone and not in reference to Jisung.

‘Oh, Jisungie? Honestly most people don’t know they’re dating from just like, looking at them. Jeongin’s not much of a touchy person, which I fully support because I’m the same. Jisung literally calls him bro, which is why a lot of people, like you, understandably think we are dating.’

Sorry Chan signs with a grin.

‘It’s okay – a lot of people assume that. Jisung just takes advantage of the fact that he’s one of the few people I don’t mind in my personal space,’ Minho huffs.

You said he’s moving in with his bf? So he already has a place? will he move out first?

‘Yeah,’ Minho nods, ‘He could move in now but he wants to finish his internship before making the move, not do everything in one go.’

That made a lot of sense and Chan thinks it’s a very smart move actually.

How long have you known each other?

‘Too long,’ Minho states without emotion but there’s a soft glow around him, warm and gentle from the corner of Chan’s eye, ‘We met when I was 17 and he was 15 – he moved into my neighbourhood after moving back to the country with his family – we became close rather instantly.’

That’s sweet

‘Well, the truth is that I haven’t been able to get rid of him,’ Minho in that same bland tone but he so obviously adores his best-friend, Chan doesn’t even need his little tell-tale lights to see that. ‘Obviously I’m just kidding, I’m actually feeling a weird sense of like, realization I guess? You have siblings right?’

Chan nods.

‘Jisungie is like a younger brother to me in many ways I guess,’ Minho hums, ‘Now he’s all grown up, moving in with his boyfriend, has a very promising career in the most niche field possible, ugh.’

Oh, Chan absolutely gets what Minho is saying.

Lix is like that to me. I knew him since he was a scrawny small boy and now I’m suddenly so aware that we’re the same height, he also deadlifts more than me, his voice goes down to the ocean floor and he’s graduated and just AN ADULT and it’s so bizarre

‘Oh, you really get it,’ Minho groans, ‘Now I’m like, I guess this is what being a parent is like.’

The chicks are flying out of the coop Chan manages before the light turns green.

‘Felix-shii already left?’ Minho asks.

Chan shakes his head, lifting three fingers.

‘Three weeks? Or days-? Ah, weeks- almost around the same time as when Jisung is moving out,’ Minho hums.

Chan quickly points at Minho in question.

‘Ah, well the lease is till another 4 weeks-ish,’ Minho grumbles a little, ‘I’m just going to move back with my parents for now – want to finish things without being worried about realtor fees and taking out more time from my internship hours to look for places and all of that. At least my thesis is pretty much done now.’

That made sense. Again, Chan can’t help but feel like if this whole divorce situation hadn’t happened, Minho would have very likely moved into the duplex. It makes him feel a little guilty again, but he can’t fault Minho for choosing something else.

See you in class, Chan signs to him as Minho gets out of the car.

‘You too hyung,’ Minho says and does a funny attempt at Speaking it too but it comes out incredibly inaccurate and funny. Thank you again! He adds with confidence this time.

You’re welcome any time Chan signs back to Minho before slowly picking up speed and heading back towards the university.

It’s in moments like these that Chan is reminded again that even if they were moving past the reason of how and why they even met and had this semblance of a friendship, the fact of the matter was that so much of this was effecting Minho.

So if that meant being able to drop him off whenever Chan could manage for these upcoming Court appointments he was going to do exactly that.

*

It’s the day of the Basic Japanese midterm exam and Chan knows that Minho was going to be submitting his thesis that day too. He stops by at a bakery that Felix had said was really good close to where they lived and picks up a slice of cake the salesperson guaranteed was very loved. Chan doesn’t quite know Minho’s preference in desserts, but he wants to give him something, even if it’s just a slice of cake, as a present to celebrate something Chan personally thinks is quite monumental.

When he reaches the Linguistics building Minho is already sitting outside the exam room, casually going through some of his notes. He waves at Minho in greeting and signs hi friend.

He’d spent the whole weekend also thinking of the best way to Speak Minho’s name. He’d come up with different varieties. He’s not that close with Minho that he can give him maybe a translation of his name in Speak- but he doesn’t think he’s that formal with him to, say for example, translate the meaning of his actual name into Speak which he knows a lot of people do.

Minho signs back the same and adds it’s not that hot today carefully, smiling in a pleased manner.

Chan gives him an impressed two thumb’s up.

Thesis submitted? He asks though he can tell from the relief Minho was exuding, a contrast from a few of their nervous classmates who were going over flashcards worriedly.

‘Submitted, and wait-,’ Minho turns abruptly to him and signs with concentration: submitted, buried, laid to rest, has continued to the after life, rest in peace.

Honestly Minho does an exceptional job at all of the words- he might actually have a natural talent for Speak but only for questionable phrases and words rather than anything conversational.

You did those so well! He tells Minho sincerely.

‘I’m just glad that I never have to ever think about it again,’ Minho exhales.

Chan just holds his hand out for a fist bump that Minho returns with enthusiasm.

Did you study for this exam at all? Chan asks, nodding towards his notes.

‘Just now,’ Minho laughs, ‘You?’

I will now.

But he knows neither of them need revision so instead they talk and share photos of their respective pets. Minho shows him a hilarious video of Soonie tasting soda water for the first time.

Chan wouldn’t say he was strictly a dog person, but he’s never really interacted with cats all that much. He just knows that they’re very curious and could be complete comedians. He didn’t know they could make the most hilarious wailing sounds known to mankind and he’s shaking, nearly crying as he laughs at Soonie’s indignant yowls.

It’s not the best thing to watch right before having to sit down in complete silence for a midterm exam because Chan is fighting for his life as he remembers Soonie’s yowls and retching faces; honestly he had no idea cats could even emote like that.

I had to focus so hard Chan complains to Minho the moment they’re allowed to leave the exam room. But I kept thinking about Soonie’s expression of disgust, I was shaking for a while.

‘I’m sorry!’ Minho laughs, not at all apologetic. ‘But you got everything right?’

What about you? he asks before adding with amusement because there had been a very funny question. Did you remember what purple is?

‘Yes,’ Minho glares at once, ‘How dare you bring up something traumatic.’

Chan just chuckles before he hands Minho the cake he got in its neat and pretty paper bag.

‘What’s this-?’ Minho starts to ask before he sees the cake inside.

Celebratory treat Chan explains, for submitting your thesis and finishing midterms.

‘What?’

Small little stars blossom around Minho’s head, concentrating on the edges of his eyes before he smiles at Chan as he checks the cake.

He liked it.

I was told this is one of the best flavours in the bakery and it sells out quickly so I hope you like fresh cream with layers of toasted caramel? Chan says, briefly wondering if caramel allergy was a thing belatedly.

‘Thank you hyung,’ Minho says, the little stars still blossoming at every other end of his blinks, ‘Honestly I don’t think you can go wrong with that flavour combination.’

Chan exhales in exaggerated relief.

It also wouldn’t melt or become too gooey they said Chan adds I hope it won’t be mush by the time you eat it.

‘It should still be fine,’ Minho smiles and then adds with an amused tone, ‘You know, you are a good husband.’

Chan throws his head back laughing, delight curling all around him.

‘Can I buy you something as a thank you then?’ Minho asks him as he nods towards the café, ‘My treat for midterms well done?’

The last thing Chan wants is for Minho to spend any money on him even if it’s for a nice gesture.

I have to go – staff meeting soon. Chan tells him – it wouldn’t be for another couple of hours, but Ryujin was working today he knows, and he’s not sure if he wants her to witness him and Minho together again.

‘Ah, well-.’ Minho pauses and then carefully signs, thank you hyung. I will eat…that…happy?

Grammar was always annoying so Chan corrects Minho gently.

Minho groans in dismay at himself before doing the correct one.

I will eat this happily.

You can say “rest in peace” but struggle with demonstrative adjectives? He teases, taking a small step back.

‘Priorities,’ Minho deadpans.

Chan just laughs before he asks ready for the coming weeks?

‘As long as we can avoid Mr. Yoo as much as possible I think I’m okay.’ Minho grumbles.

Chan really hopes so too. He’s got another appointments coming up in regards to the restraining order too, he doesn’t want to meet Mr. Yoo too.

‘We got this,’ Minho tells him with determination, holding his hand out for Chan to bump.

Chan’s not sure if he’s imagining it, but when he returns Minho’s fist bump, little quick bursts of stars where their hands meet.

He hadn’t seen it when they’d fist bumped earlier – was he just seeing things?

With the knowledge that Yuna could see exactly what he saw, it makes Chan pause to think, somehow even more confused. Because Minho never acknowledges it – he knows that sometimes when Felix was “flaring up” he would bat away his own light (mostly happened while he was gaming) and he’s seen it out in public too.

Should he point it out to Minho? Or was that somewhat maybe too personal? Or maybe it was connected to the weather – the sun, more like.

But that doesn’t seem to be the main culprit; at least not in Chan’s observation.

Their next Court appointment is with Mr. Yoo again unfortunately.

This time he doesn’t ask them dreadful questions about their “marriage” but instead reads them out a rather onerous series of statements that they have to either agree with or disagree with. It felt very much like one of those really specific personality tests and Chan feels like they’re getting a psychological analysis, but as a “couple”.

Their session with Mr. Yoo is not over unfortunately, but they did hit lunch break hour so the two of them make their way to the Court’s food court. Lawyer Im had told him about it last time and that the food was really good.

‘It feels slightly illegal to be here,’ Minho tells Chan as they queue for a stall with their trays.

Chan feels the same way.

A lot of people, not just employees were gathered in this very spacious area. They both spot what was clearly a feuding pair of families and wince a little at the seriously tense air between them despite sitting tables apart.

‘I’ll buy your lunch,’ Minho tells him as they wait for their cold noodles, perfect for the weather today.

Minho seemed very intent on returning the favour of Chan getting him a celebratory slice of cake and Chan is very intent on enforcing that he didn’t have to. He would use the “I’m older” card here if needed.

‘No no, you got me cake, and consider this a thank you for the free rides too,’ Minho replies quickly to head shakes as Chan’s hands are occupied and he can’t type or even gesture to Minho so he does to give his legal husband disapproving stern looks.

‘Oh, Sunmi-shii-!’ Minho’s eyes widen, small little sparks lining up his eyebrows.

Oh-?

Chan turns around but there’s no one behind him. He then hears a small ding notification sound and when he turns back around Minho has paid for both of their noodles already, a truly smug smile on his face.

Chan can only accept defeat.

‘Do not use the “older” card here,’ Minho warns him as they find a table and take a seat, ‘This is just being fair – or if it makes you feel better, considering dropping me off today as a thank you for the noodles.’

Well. All right. If that’s what Minho wanted to do, then Chan can play along too.

‘Hyung,’ Minho says in alarm as Chan stands back up from his seat, looking around, ‘Hyung what-?’

Chan goes and finds a stall selling side-dishes and gets an assortment of them. He also grabs bottles of water and heads back to where Minho was waiting for him, not touching his tray of food yet, furrow between his brows.

He looks a bit smug, even putting down bottles of water he had under his arm to balance everything.

Minho gives him an unimpressed look of his own as Chan makes a small gesture towards the side-dishes he brought for sharing. Picking up his bottle of water Chan gestures again, both asking Minho why he wasn’t eating and to grab whatever side-dish he wanted.

‘I’m waiting for my husband to take the first bite-?’ Minho says innocently, head tilted, little stars dancing about his eyebrows even if he was a little anti-light.

Chan nearly spits his water back out into his bottle.

‘Yes, see?’ Minho huffs, shaking his head, ‘Ridiculous isn’t it?’

Okay okay I got it. He suddenly thinks of the Selkie younglings from the weekend and the new slang they taught him and adds bestie.

He mimics their attitude and facial expression and Minho wheezes at him.

‘What was that?!’

It’s apparently a new like, trendy way of saying friend, I guess you could say it’s like saying bestie

‘Never call me bestie again.’ Minho tells as he holds his fork threateningly, ‘Or I’ll skin you.’

Honestly a hilarious joke to make to a Selkie. Minho has no idea that Selkies often referred to getting married as getting “skinned” so all of this was extremely funny to Chan.

‘Who showed you that,’ Minho chortles.

Some of the kids I coach Chan explains with a sigh they were using it and I didn’t recognize it – made me feel really old

‘Well, hyung, I guess you really are.’ Minho says with emphasis.

YOU’RE ONLY A YEAR YOUNGER THAN ME he immediately types out.

‘Yeah, that’s a whole year, 360 days, it’s a lot.’ Minho says and adds 360 days in Speak. ‘Which explains why you’re so old-fashioned.’

Chan has a feeling Minho was going to use Speak for explicitly non-Court related discussions and to maybe poke fun specifically at him.

He looks forward to it.

He nudges Minho’s foot in amusement and Minho exclaims dramatically.

‘This is spousal abuse! Remember, I will skin you!’

It’s absolutely hilarious in so many levels because Minho did technically already “skin” him so Chan pulls out his seal-skin and hands it to his legal husband.

‘Are you insane?!’ Minho gasps, so shocked that the lights around him freeze in place as he shoves his hands away, trying not to touch his seal-skin in the process.

‘Hyung!’ Minho scolds him in an agitated whisper, ‘Just because we’re legally married doesn’t mean you should just hand me your seal-skin like that!’

It’s exactly because we’re married Chan grins at this moment it doesn’t matter if you take my seal-skin, it’s technically yours too

‘Still!’ Minho exclaims, aghast, ‘How do you Speak are you insane because I feel like that’s going to come real useful.’

Chan can’t stop laughing. In many ways a lot of Selkies would say that Minho not wearing his seal-skin was against tradition, even if he wasn’t Selkie. The bracelet Minho gave him (and was wearing now) would be a symbolic exchange for the seal-skin if they were married for real.

‘What would happen now if someone tried to take your seal-skin right now?’ Minho asks after a while.

Someone other than you?

Minho nods.

Chan himself has never witnessed this but he’s heard a couple of stories about it.

Well, I wouldn’t be married twice. It would actually be considered something of a challenge Chan explains thoughtfully.

‘Challenge…as in a challenge against me? Like it’d be a challenge against me for you?’ Minho asks curiously.

Chan nods.

‘Oh my god, I always knew I’d have to fight someone one day,’ Minho exclaims dramatically.

Chan wheezes no no, no fighting!

‘Fighting is good,’ Minho says rather abruptly. His tone and expression genuine and serious. ‘Especially if it’s something you believe in. Fight and win.’

Chan smiles a little at that.

I don’t know if this can be considered good advice or not

‘It’s not advice,’ Minho tells him in a funny tone, ‘It’s a lifestyle.’

Chan can only give him an incredulous look to which Minho responds with an endearingly mischievous smile he clearly thought was innocent looking.

Actually it’s one of the ways in which in the past Selkies got out of unwanted marriages. They asked a trusted friend to steal their seal-skin in turn. Chan explains to Minho, then they’re able to make a choice, and then agree on a divorce

Minho looks deeply disturbed by this.

‘This is all so-,’ he sighs, ‘-so terrible.’

Changbin had offered to steal it from you, so to speak, if you weren’t going to agree with the divorce Chan grins, but you were very quick to return it back to me so he didn’t think he’d have to physically take it from you at least.

‘Yeah, I’m not fighting Changbin-shii,’ Minho states after a moment of thoughtful silence, ‘I hope you have a blissful married life together, you have my blessings.’

Chan shakes with laughter as he writes: oh it’s not Changbin you’ll have to worry about – he’s all muscle but he’s the sweetest softest person – genuinely the best person ever. It’s his best-friend you have to watch out for.

‘Uh, Hyunjin-shii?’ Minho asks slowly.

Chaeryeong, they’ve known each other since they were like, 5 Chan chuckles.

‘Good to know, valuable information I’ll need when I’m challenged for your hand in marriage,’ Minho says seriously before he pauses a moment, lights flickering a little agitatedly. ‘Wait- wait hyung, will this be an issue if like, someone asks you out or you go on a date?’

Chan has not thought about this.

‘I mean, of course no problem from me,’ Minho tells him quickly, ‘Like, obviously I have no right to say anything about that and-.’

Oh, this was definitely something they should discuss-!

‘-it’s of course not my business at all but just, in any case-.’ Minho is saying, sounding awkward but determined and earnest.

Chan types as quickly as he can before turning his phone back over to Minho.

No no not a problem. for you too, please date any one you want to.

Ofc this is not like a permission thing its nothing like that

Its not my business either

This whole marriage/divorce thing wont cause any problems!

Minho reads through his words twice over as usual before asking carefully, ‘Legally though, it would be considered cheating right?’

Wait. WAIT.

Legally speaking yes – it would, it could be translated as that, because legally they were married, not divorced yet. So by that standard, then yes, if either of them were to date someone, it could be considered exactly that.

I guess legally – but it’s uh, not like that with us in our situation? Chan writes. Was this something they should discuss with Sunmi? Or was this like something they could just clear up between them?

I’m not really much in the dating scene myself so that’s not something I think…-I don’t think it’s something that will effect the divorce

The last time Chan went on a date was…wow it was last year and he had gone on three dates with this person but they had both agreed that while it was a nice time, they were both not committed to investing any further effort into exploring a relationship with each other.

‘I guess if we do find ourselves in a position where we are dating someone we just don’t mention it to anyone, specially Mr. Yoo.’ Minho concludes with a nod.

That was probably a good idea.

All though, Chan says as he thinks of something, I have no problem being your very public husband if it means getting out of pesky situations

Minho laughs delightedly at that.

‘You know what, same – pull the husband card hyung. No doubt people are clamouring for a chance to be with three-times-swim champion-!’

He really regrets introducing Yuna to Minho now.

But Chan likes this comradery, the teasing, the jabs at each other based on a growing familiarity between them. This was nice.

Minho clearly becomes more comfortable each time they meet and Chan starts being able to point out more specifics in his mannerism not just with the way his lights flickered at random.

Minho had a sort of built-in habit of generally masking his immediate reaction to things, processing things for a moment carefully before reacting, taking things in properly before responding. He did that with everything, and also with whenever Chan spoke to him- well, wrote to him. He always read through Chan’s notes and words twice over, making sure he understood everything properly.

Another thing to admire for Chan, because in many ways (and he was aware of this and trying to change) Chan automatically reacted and responded to things in a way that would placate or carefully deflect any potential outburst or reaction from people. It was a lot worse when he was younger, fresh from leaving his family home and cutting ties with his parents – the many burdens of his childhood and the environment he grew up in still effecting him to this day.

And Minho did it so calmly, even if (at least to Chan) he was flustered or bothered, he always took a moment to really observe and then respond.

He could be blunt, but it was never rude or demeaning. Most people seemed to think being honest and blunt meant being harsh or rude, but Minho always asked questions or responded to things with an open frankness that was very refreshing and of course, admirable to Chan.

Minho was also incredibly funny.

He had a rather odd sense of humor which Chan doesn’t fully get maybe, at least not yet, but there’s a sort of odd thrill in not knowing what Minho would say or do, all with that somewhat endearing mischievous glint in his eyes.

He really loved learning the oddest things to say in Speak, always proudly showing it off to Chan during the many multiple Court appointments. Chan doesn’t think anyone has used those combination of words and phrases in Speak in the history of its existence until Minho decided he wanted to say “never turn down the blessing of a lizard”.

And who is Chan to discourage him. Besides, why should he turn down the blessing of a lizard?

For the following two weeks they meet 7 different times, and each time Minho has something incredibly odd to tell him in Speak, always finishing it up with an eager look of approval from Chan.

Chan learns more about Minho – about how he likes to cook because it’s something he did with his parents. He learns that Minho truly did love the horror genre and sometimes listens to horror podcasts and audio books while going for runs (apparently you could really hit insane run-times if you felt like something was chasing you in the dark).

He also clearly loved his job, telling Chan about some of their patients or guests and funny anecdotes from work.

Minho also clearly loved Soonie to bits- Chan could be completely blind but still be able to know how Minho lit up when talking about his cat.

And despite the way he nonchalantly talked about his friends, Chan can easily tell how much he cared for his friends. He was a lot more emotional about Jisung moving out than he let on that much was obvious, but there’s an unmistakable pride and delight in what he says when he talks about Jisung and Jeongin. Also despite the fact that Minho talks about Seungmin like he’s a constant headache, his words are all warm and kind and full of praise.

It’s an odd thing to say but Chan doesn’t think divorcing anyone should be this fun but somehow it was – getting a divorce from Minho has genuinely been the best thing to come out of this whole debacle.

Also the fact that Chan can say for a fact now that he and Minho were definitely becoming closer, not just bonding over court legal procedure trauma and mutual dread over Mr. Yoo.

They laugh a lot, had an incredibly smooth flow of conversation which Chan cannot say he has even with people who knew Selkie Speak. Minho never made him feel like he was causing awkward rifts in their conversation as he needed to take the time to type of write out what he was saying. He was also, other than the unhinged phrases he was putting together and learning, really doing his best to learn Speak and the idea of one day maybe being able to talk to Minho in an uninterrupted flow is enough to make Chan encourage Minho endlessly and help him learn every small trick to mastering the language.

When their intense Court appointments come to an end and their next schedule being next month, Chan is left with an odd sense of bitter-sweet which was dumb because it’s not like he’s never going to see Minho again. They were in the same class for the next 6 weeks or so, they were going to see each other no doubt. But these past two weeks have been some of the best for Chan.

He supposes he’ll just have to readjust to the normal amount of times he has been seeing Minho originally- which was twice a week for their Basic Japanese classes.

But once those end, then what?

But Chan doesn’t really have the time to dwell too much on that, as it would seem that there would be plenty of opportunities to meet with Minho outside of their hour and half Japanese classes.

Sunmi messages him about an hour before his coaching lessons would start asking if he was available for a call.

He’s then promptly informed that she would be sending him a few documents, as well as some additional things to look over to basically finalize all of the last procedures before the divorce would then get processed. She also mainly called to ask him if he knew what Minho’s new address would be as the older one had already been removed from his registration and he was currently, at least according to the Court, homeless.

Chan knew Minho’s work address but he’s not sure how polite that would be especially without permission or a discussion beforehand. He asks Sunmi to send him both of their documents and he would deliver it to Minho himself.

Chan then quickly lets Minho know, messaging him and wondering if he was caught up in work if he wasn’t answering or responding to calls from the Court.

He tells Yuna about it, that Minho might show up later in the evening and if he does to let him know at once. The Rusalka immediately nods, looking pleased at the idea of Minho possibly showing up again.

And right before Chan heads into the pools for his coaching session the files sent by Sunmi via express delivery arrives. He sort of gawks at that size and weight of the BOX it arrives in.

He quickly takes it into the staff locker room where Dr. Kim had replaced all of the lockers with newer improved designs to reinforce security (in fact she had, over the weekend, completely reinstalled all of the security measures including the electronic locks and doors as well as adding several more CCTV’s to offer better coverage) and Chan stows it away for now. He checks his phone once more just in case Minho has seen his messages but he hasn’t.

He’s on his the last coaching session for the day with a small group of his usual group of younger younglings, or fries as they were sometimes called in an endearing way when Yuna makes her way inside.

Chan first schools all of the kids towards the very shallow end where they could all stand comfortably and within his range of sight before heading over to where Yuna was waiting.

‘Minho-shii is here,’ she explains.

So he came here after all. Chan was somewhat expecting it and feels a bit guilty for having the man come all the way in here for this.

‘What should I tell him?’ she asks.

‘I should talk to him quickly, not waste his time,’ Chan ruminates, glancing back at the kids who were trying to squirt water out of their palms and giggling among each other by calling it water farting.

‘I could watch the kids while you go speak to your husband?’ Yuna smiles.

Technically Chan is not allowed to do that- Yuna was not a trained coach and it would be negligence on his part. It didn’t matter if the children were Undine or not, they were still kids and they could get into accidents of all kinds.

‘I think Coach Hyunwoo is free right now, could you get him and you both can watch over them?’ Chan offers instead.

Yuna nods to that and quickly makes her way out.

A couple of minutes later Coach Hyunwoo makes his way over, smiling cheerily at the kids.

‘I’m so sorry hyung,’ Chan tells the older man quietly, ‘And thank you for helping.’

‘No problem Chan-ah,’ Hyunwoo pats his back, ‘I can take over for a while, Yuna and I can watch them.’

Thanking both of them profusely Chan goes and quickly pats himself dry as much as he can and heads out to the main lobby.

He’s suddenly nervous- he was about to talk to Minho.

His legal husband is by the vending machine, looking for a drink probably when Chan squashes down his anxiety and calls for Minho.

Minho turns around, surprise registering in his eyes a beat late.

‘Uh-?’

‘I’m sorry you had to come out here,’ Chan pushes on, trying not to feel too self-conscious. ‘But I guess this way at least we can send it back at the same time?’

Chan has never seen Minho’s lights flicker like that – they’re faint and soft but Chan can still see them regardless.

‘I- yeah,’ Minho nods before quickly adding, ‘Yeah, no I’m sorry this all ended up being your responsibility hyung.’

‘Sunmi-shii asked if she should send it to your clinic, but wasn’t sure if that would be okay so I just said to have it sent to me,’ Chan explains, hoping Minho wouldn’t mind.

‘Yeah that’s totally fine hyung,’ Minho says, expression leveling out though little stars still flicker about but less densely. ‘What are these documents for anyway? I don’t remember Sunmi-shii saying anything about it.’

‘I’ve actually not had the time to look at them,’ Chan tells him apologetically, ‘They arrived just as I was getting ready to start my sessions. I’ll go get them, I put them in my locker.’

Chan sometimes felt self-conscious about his voice when he spoke to people for the first time using his voice. It wasn’t common, seeing as the circumstances of him having to speak required him to be in water for more than 5 minutes, preferably in sea water. So chances of being able to vocally converse with people were usually very limited.

He had never thought he’d talk to Minho but here he was.

He grabs the box from his locker and quickly makes his way out, mindful of both Minho’s time as well as Coach Hyunwoo’s time.

‘What the fuck?’ Minho gasps as he looks at the box in shock.

‘That’s more or less what I said when it was delivered,’ Chan tells him before grabbing a scissor to look at the contents.

‘I mean, surely this is just to make sure nothing gets crumpled-?’ Minho is saying slowly and hopefully but once they open the box it is filled to the brim with stacks and stacks upon files and folders.

Chan was really hoping it was filled with packaging stuffing or bubble wrap but unfortunately his hopes are dashed.

He doesn’t want to touch them immediately, his wetsuit was, well, wet, and he doesn’t want any accidental dampness to spread.

‘I thought these were just- just going to be a few documents-?’ Minho says and stops abruptly before he angle the file he was holding towards Chan. ‘You’re fucking kidding me.’

‘Oh my god,’ Chan groans as he reads the name on the cover of the file, ‘Should have expected this from him.’

Mr. Yoo was proving himself a pain without even being physically present. Surely a talent at this point.

‘Without any instructions?’ Chan complains. Sunmi hadn’t mentioned it, he wonders if she thought he might have known. ‘Not even like, an explanation?’

‘He didn’t call you?’ Minho asks. ‘I had a bunch of missed calls from the Court and Sunmi-shii.’

‘Just from Sunmi-shii,’ Chan explains as a header on one of the files catches his eye, ‘Wait, this says something about financial statements.’

‘I think it’s one each,’ Minho tells him as he pulls the files out, ‘One set for you and one for me.’

The younglings all make a loud cheering sound followed by the sound of lots of water sloshing about.

Chan should head back.

‘I should head back,’ Chan says with a small wince, ‘Shouldn’t let Yuna take over, I think it might be considered intern abuse.’

‘I don’t mind waiting,’ Minho says as he looks at the box with a frown, ‘We should probably look them through together I guess.’

‘Are you sure? My session lasts till 8 today,’ Chan informs him hesitantly.

‘I don’t mind,’ Minho tells him, that determination in his eyes again, ‘I’ll read through these and if I find out any information about it I’ll let you know.’

It was definitely a good idea to go through these together – he’d spied a lot of forms to fill out, they would probably need to discuss details with each other about some of those things.

‘Um, if you want something hot to drink, just ask Yuna and she can get you something from the staff room.’ Chan tells him.

‘From one intern to another,’ Minho laughs.

Little lights sparkle around his eyes when Chan laughs with him and it makes Chan want to hide away momentarily. Instead he quickly makes his way back into the natatorium and thanks Coach Hyunwoo, who was responsible for the massive splashing of water it would seem, and Yuna too who was relatively dry, cheering the children on and teaching them a fun dancing stretch.

Well, that took care of warm-up.

‘Can you maybe take Minho to the study room?’ Chan asks Yuna before she leaves as Hyunwoo bids the younglings goodbye. ‘I think he’ll be more comfortable there, maybe he can get something to eat that way too.’

‘Of course,’ Yuna smiles and nods, ‘I’ll take care of your husband, Coach Chan.’

She wiggles her eyebrows at him and skips out next to Hyunwoo who, none the wiser, waves at him too.

Chan goes back to focusing on the lessons for the day. Maybe he can get things done faster today? He had one less student today too, so maybe?

However his concerns regarding Minho’s boredom or inconvenience are eased up some time later when his legal husband makes his way inside the natatorium when Chan wasn’t aware. And he’s not alone.

Jisoo, one of the first Selkie younglings he was coaching, is sitting next to Minho, the two of them conversing.

Chan hadn’t expected to see Jisoo today, his mother, a warm and kind older Selkie woman named Hyerim, had told him how both her sons were going through a bit of phase regarding swimming without their seal-skins. Chan understands, it was scary when you were younger because with your seal-skin you were so much faster, with better control, and it just felt so much better too. Learning how to swim and move in the water relying on your legs and arms felt wrong and it could be scary too.

‘Jisoo-yah!’

The boy hops off of the bench and grins, quickly bowing as though remembering to.

‘Channie-saem!’ Jisoo exclaims, eyes bright with glee. ‘I didn’t know you got married!’

Chan glances over at Minho in surprise.

He didn’t think Minho would introduce himself like that.

‘Yeah I did,’ Chan confirms with a nod, ‘Did you introduce yourself?’

Jisoo shakes his head, a bit embarrassed when he realizes he hadn’t.

‘We just started talking,’ Minho explains.

‘Nice to meet you,’ Jisoo bows towards Minho who smiles gently at the boy, ‘I’m Cho Jisoo.’

‘Nice to meet you Jisoo, I’m Lee Minho,’ Minho says as he walks over.

‘You’re feeling better?’ Chan asks Jisoo, ‘You wanna join us?’

‘Um, not really saem,’ Jisoo replies, looking sheepish, ‘Just wanted to say hi.’

‘That’s okay too. Maybe we can take a short break for a bit for you to say hi, wanna sit here?’ Chan asks, patting the ledge of the pool.

Jisoo nods at once and lowers himself, feet kicking a little in the water.

‘Guys, we can take a break,’ Chan says as he turns to the other younglings who were all watching him, watching Minho, clearly curious as to who he was.

They immediately herd around him the moment Chan makes his way over to them.

‘Saem, who is that?’ Haseul asks at once.

‘Is he a new coach?’ Gahyun inquires.

‘Uh, he’s my husband,’ Chan replies.

All three younglings gasp at that, eyes and mouths wide before rushing in even closer.

‘Saem you’re married?!’ Gahyun gasps like it’s the worst thing he’s heard.

‘When did you get married?’ Haesul asks, a more practical question for sure.

‘Why did you get married?’ Yeri asks, an oddly existential question from the youngest of the fry.

‘I uh,’ Chan pauses, wondering what to say, ‘Well, he’s a really nice person, he’s very kind and very nice and I thought I should marry him.’

The kids stare at him with a combination of awe and confusion.

‘How long have you known each other?’

‘What’s his name?’

‘Is he Undine too? Is he Selkie too-?!’

‘-I’ve never seen him before, and I know a lot of people-.’

‘-my mum said people should wait at least 2 years before getting married.’

‘What does he do?’ Haesul asks.

‘He’s an animal doctor and-.’

They gasp even louder- Yeri’s hands coming over her mouth, eyes sparkling like it’s the best thing she’s heard.

‘Please please can we talk to him saem?’

‘Yeah! I wanna be an animal doctor too-!’

‘-this is so cool, can we please greet him-?’

Chan knows he’s not about to make any progress with today’s class so he looks over at Minho who was already watching them from where he sat with a slightly confused expression.

‘All right, you can go and say hi, but he’s had a long day at work taking care of many animals,’ Chan tells them, ‘He’s tired, so let’s all be calm and nice okay?’

All three younglings nod at once, eagerly moving about in anticipation.

Chan leads them over to where Minho was with Jisoo and introduces him.

‘Okay everyone,’ Chan says to the younglings, ‘This is Lee Minho, and yes he’s my husband-.’

There’s a cluster of lights that shine and ripple down from Minho’s ears to his neck. They reflect on the surface of the water, sparkling minutely. He sees the way Yeri watches the stars with a bit of awe.

‘-and yes, he is an animal doctor-.’

Jisoo gasps loudly at that, staring up at Minho in awe.

‘Now introduce yourselves, and then you can ask him permission.’

Minho leans back just a bit, almost bracing himself.

‘I’m Cho Jisoo,’ Jisoo repeats himself again.

‘I’m Min Gahyun.’

‘I’m Kim Yeri.’

‘I’m Kim Haseul,’ Haseul says quickly before moving straight to the point, ‘Can we ask you questions about animals.’

Chan gives Minho the quickest smallest shake of his head.

He has to coach them through this class he’s been paid to do that so he was going to do that.

‘Ye-no, no. Not right now,’ Minho replies, squatting down to be more in level with the younglings. ‘You guys have to take your classes right?’

Gahyun groans, throwing his hands up and then plopping backwards into the water, making Chan flinch a little as he hurriedly gets the boy out of the water.

Before he can try and get the kids to come back or come up with a sort of plan to appease them they all turn to him and give him their biggest teary eyes and pouty lips.

He doesn’t stand a chance.

‘Okay how about you can ask me whatever question after you’re done with your class?’ Minho offers from where he was still hovering, looking amused but fond.

The younglings turn to him, eyes filled with expectation and hope and Chan cannot say no.

‘Well, that sounds good to me so we should start our exercises and-.’ He starts to say but the kids instead cheerily cry out and rush back into the center of the shallow pool to continue their exercises.

Chan can only give Minho an apologetic look – he wasn’t here to entertain younglings, he was here going through their tedious divorce papers. But Minho looks amused more than anything and just gives Chan a shrug back.

‘Can I stay and ask questions too,’ Jisoo asks as Minho sits on the floor carefully, toes wiggling before carefully dipping them into the water, expression dubious like he didn’t quite trust the water or the pool.

Chan is suddenly vividly reminded of cats.

Chan is only able to really keep the younglings together and focused for maybe 5 minutes before Haseul points out towards where Minho and Jisoo were sitting.

‘No!’ she cries out, ‘I want to know things too!’

Out of the corner of Chan’s eye he can see the way Minho’s Magick sparkled and gleamed, shifting along with the waves of the water in the pool. He was having a good time it seemed, talking to Jisoo and answering his questions.

Chan does his best and at least they get through the main lessons of the day, though he’s pretty sure they were not going to remember anything about it before he lets them go.

They rush to Minho who is a little taken aback by their enthusiasm but nonetheless quite pleased.

Chan goes to lean against the walls of the pool, keeping an eye out on the younglings. He might as well take a break.

The younglings ask Minho every possible question ever. And Minho does his best to answer all of it in the most child-palatable manner. Chan tries not to stare too much as Minho literally sparkles with some questions he was getting, feet kicking occasionally in the water. His ears are rosy from the attention he’s getting, lights mainly concentrating there, but he talks to the younglings with enthusiasm and never regards their endless curiosity with arrogance or answers them condescendingly.

‘Do you have a pet?’ Haseul finally asks a normal question that doesn’t have Minho struggling wildly for an answer.

‘Yes,’ Minho says happily, little happy sparks of lights flying out of him, ‘A cat, and his name is Soonie.’

‘Is he a good boy?’ Yeri asks him seriously.

‘A very good boy- in fact, I’d say he’s the best boy.’

‘What does he look like? Can we see?’ Jisoo inquires.

‘My phone is not with me. But he’s orange and white. His fur is very soft and always clean. And the space between his ears on top of his head smells like biscuits.’

Chan nearly reacts with the younglings to that. It’s the cutest thing he’s ever heard and Minho is so obviously proud of his cat that it makes Chan proud of Soonie too even though he’s never met the feline.

‘I want a cat too,’ Yeri sighs sadly, ‘But mum says I’m too small for a cat now.’

‘So maybe when you’re bigger? I found Soonie when I was 16,’ Minho replies.

‘That’s so far away, I’m 8,’ Yeri frowns.

‘It’s far for me too, I’m 11,’ Haseul sighs.

‘Guys I hate to break this up but you still have to finish your lessons today,’ Chan tells them quickly when he checks the time- they should at least do their cool-down round up stretches, ‘Your Minho-hyung also needs a break okay?’

The younglings all nod, clearly understanding that this was the end of their little fun time even though they look a little put-off. As Chan shepherds them back to the center of the pool Yeri wades over to him and tugs on his arm a little.

She often did this when she had to go to the bathroom and she was shy to ask him out loud so she would whisper to instead so Chan crouches down a little to hear her better.

‘He’s very pretty,’ Yeri tells him, cheeks turning rosy as she very non-discreetly points at Minho. In fact Chan’s kinda sure Minho can hear her. ‘So shiny.’

‘Yeah,’ Chan can only agree. Yeri could see Minho’s Magick quite well it would seem. ‘Uh- he is-.’

‘-is that why you married him?’ Yeri asks with great interest.

‘No no,’ Chan needs to hurry Yeri along away from where Minho could very easily hear their conversation.

‘Because he loves animals?’ Yeri continues to ask.

‘Yes,’ Chan grabs onto that like a lifeline, ‘He’s very kind and very nice, that’s why.’

‘I want to be an animal doctor too,’ Yeri tells him seriously.

‘That’ll suit you,’ Chan says as reassuringly as possible, knowing his own ears were red and doing his best not to look over at where Minho was.

‘Did you wear a wedding dress?’ Yeri asks him seriously.

‘You wore a dress?’ Haseul asks with interest.

‘No,’ Chan really hopes he doesn’t turn bright red.

‘Saem would wear his seal-skin right?’ Gahyun says, clearly having been to a Selkie wedding before at some point because yes, Selkies did wear their seal-skins during wedding ceremonies.

‘Do you have photos?’ Yeri asks, eyes wide with interest as though fully imagining Chan and Minho’s wedding, with Chan in a dress for some reason.

‘It was very private- no photos,’ Chan explains.

‘Why are adults so boring,’ Gahyun asks Haseul quietly with despair, personally offended that Chan has no “wedding” photos to show.

‘Why doesn’t he come join us like the other seonsaengnim?’ Haseul asks curiously.

‘Uh- he doesn’t swim.’

All the younglings gasp at him in shock.

‘Do people who have cats not know how to swim because cats also don’t like to swim?’

Chan needs a moment to process this logic.

‘Ah, Minho just doesn’t know how to swim because he never properly learnt,’ Chan replies, hoping that’s an acceptable answer, ‘It’s not because he has a cat.’

‘He’s a cat?’ Gahyun asks like it was perfectly normal to assume that about someone.

‘No,’ Chan replies patiently but then something about that statement tickles him a little as he glances over at where Minho was sitting with Jisoo, sort of stiffly enjoying the water, hands on his knees, not fully relaxed but not entirely uncomfortable. ‘All right everyone, less questions, and more paddling – lets grab our boards!’

Chan does his best to get them back on their routine, occasionally looking over to check on Jisoo and Minho.

Every time he looks over they’re always animatedly talking and discussing things. A few times he sees Jisoo using Speak along with his words and Minho doing his best to catch on, full attention on the boy and listening intently.

Thankfully Chan is able to get down the lessons for the day and as they wrap up with some gentle stretching in the water he hears Jisoo’s mother calling for the boy from the doorway.

He looks over to where Jisoo and Minho were, smiling to himself as the youngling beams at the sight of his mother. He shoots up and Minho quickly holds his arms out to catch him if he slips but Jisoo quickly jogs over towards his mother.

Jisoo’s mother, Hyerim, points to him and Jisoo turns around to address him as though remembering. Jisoo hurriedly rushes back towards the edges of the pool towards Minho.

‘Channie-saem!’ he calls out, ‘I’m leaving now!’

‘Okay,’ Chan smiles and bows towards Hyerim who directs the attention of her youngest son to Chan, pointing towards him. Jisoo’s baby brother, Siwoo, turns away shyly, hiding his smile into her shoulder. Chan grins and waves anyway.

Jisoo then turns to Minho and says something, using Speak as well.

It was nice to meet you! the boy says brightly.

It was nice to meet you too Jisoo, Minho signs back with a smile before saying something else, soft gentle lights weaving around him and dancing over the water.

Thank you!

Minho smiles as he watches after Jisoo, looking pleased with himself for using Speak, shoulders curling up a bit, hands stretched out in fists over his knees like he was stretching a little. And maybe Gahyun had a point because Chan is reminded again of cats.

He waves once more to Jisoo, little sparks fly out of him, briefly bouncing off of the surface of the water.

His Magick really was pretty.

Minho then looks back around and before Chan can school his expression of features or react to being caught staring Minho looks away, Magick clustering around his ears and back down his neck, a little flustered before he gets out of the water and heads towards the bench where he’d been sitting previously.

Chan gets to concluding the lesson for the day and the youngling’s parents come over to the doorway to collect them. As usual none of them ever use the ladder and instead easily and quickly push themselves out and run over to their parents. Chan knows there’s no point calling after them but he does it anyway because he had a legal obligation to do so.

Minho laughs at his predicament and Chan can only shake his head in shared amusement.

‘I’ll be right back,’ Chan tells Minho, pointing to the doorway where the parents and younglings were gathered.

‘No problem hyung.’ Minho smiles.

Chan chats as usual with the parents for a bit, explains their lesson for the day and then after bidding them goodbye heads back to where Minho was waiting for him.

‘So uh, any luck with the documents?’ Chan asks Minho as he pulls out his towel.

‘I don’t know about luck,’ Minho says, ‘But I do think Mr. Yoo might have a personal agenda against us both.’

‘Mr. Yoo our divorce counsellor?’ Chan grumbles as he looks for the smaller towel he always brought with him. ‘Why, he would never!’

‘Well, I have bad news for you then.’ Minho says dryly.

Chan sighs before handing Minho the smaller towel in case he wanted to dry his legs.

‘Ah, I’m okay hyung, legs have dried,’ Minho replies, kicking his feet as though to show him.

‘I’ll just finish sorting out the pool barrier and do a round and come outside so we can go through them?’ Chan suggests. 

Minho nods and Chan moves quickly to sort things out and make sure it was cleared up. He doesn’t think this specific pool would be used again tonight, there were no scheduled practice swims for any of the school athletes.

He hurries and dries off as well, silently cursing his wetsuit. Even on the best days it took a while to remove his wetsuit and it feels even more tedious today.

Once he’s completely dried and hopefully presentable to a degree Chan makes his way back out to the lobby.

Yuna would have already left and only the people using the gym and maybe Coach Minho were in, and of course the evening security guard.

‘How long does it stay open?’ Minho asks when he walks over, gesturing to the brightly lit gym space.

‘Depends,’ Chan replies, ‘During training season, up to midnight sometimes.’

‘Have you stayed back to train too, three-times-first-placing swim champion?’ Minho teases.

Chan splutters a bit, feeling his face go warm.

‘I used to, for competitions and stuff- not anymore though now,’ he says hastily and thumbs behind him to the gym, ‘Those are just mostly gym-rats.’

‘And you’re not one?’ Minho grins.

‘I-…sometimes?’ Chan fidgets a little, face definitely a rosy colour. He needed to get back to why Minho was here in the first place. ‘Okay so uh, what are these and is Mr. Yoo really planning on ruining our lives?’

‘Not entirely,’ Minho snorts as he pats the files. ‘These are normal stuff Sunmi-shii had said she’d send to us to keep as copies.’

‘Ah, yeah-.’

‘-and these are- well,’ Minho frowns, ‘Well, one of them is basically a legal document that distributes our assets.’

They were what?!

‘So I’m just letting you know right now that I want your scooter.’ Minho tells him with an extremely serious look on his face.

Chan wheezes at Minho’s declaration before looking back at the files in disbelief.

‘Wait, for real?’

‘Not the scooter part but the asset part yes,’ Minho says before he pats another file, ‘Seems we also need to show our like, bank statements.’

Wow.

Wow.

This was insane.

‘This is insane,’ Chan echoes his thoughts.

‘I was all for just signing everything but I’m invested now,’ Minho tells him, ‘I took pictures of everything to send Seungmin of course – why else is he taking a law degree if not to help out his most beloved hyung.’

‘Why indeed.’ He chuckles before adding teasingly, ‘I want custody of Soonie if you’re trying to take my scooter.’

‘Over my dead body,’ Minho says at once, lights flashing threatening around his eyes but it’s not serious. ‘No actually, over your dead body. This divorce will turn into a murder investigation.’

Chan nearly falls back with the force of his laughter. He’s never been threatened with murder and found it somehow charming and delightful.

Marriage really did change you as a person it would seem.

Once Chan recovers from his laughter they sort through the documents together, reading rather stiff lingo and Minho has to explain certain words that goes over Chan’s head, a few of them giving Minho trouble too as they look up the meaning and context online.

Eventually his voice starts to give out and he resorts back to typing on his phone.

They pour over the documents for more than over an hour and Chan winces, not having noticed the time.

Thank you for doing this with me Chan tells him as they decide this was all they could do for today – at least they finished up the things that would require each other’s information, im sorry this has extended on for so long

‘It’s okay hyung,’ Minho tells him before looking around, ‘It’s kinda cool being here at this time – feels like those things people call liminal spaces.’

Yeah people say that – it can get spooky sometimes Chan admits though he’s never felt that way. If anything Chan loves it when it’s empty because it was so peaceful.

‘But not haunted?’

I hope not, I want to keep working here Chan chuckles before he adds: I’ll drop you off, it’s late and you’ve worked the whole day. Then he quickly adds: besides, I should use it before you take the scooter in the divorce.

Minho gives him that mock threatening squint of his eyes and Chan pretends to be scared as he types out: Don’t skin me!

‘I’m going to come up with a new threat – just you wait.’ Minho says, crossing his arms as though scheming it already.

I look forward to it Chan grins. And he’s not lying about it either.

He gets his things and making sure that everything was secured and clocking out for the day they head for the parking lot. Minho carefully clips on the helmet and wobbles his head about as though to check if it was on securely before nodding to himself, hands in fists, hyping himself up it would seem.

It’s an even shorter drive to Minho’s place this time around and Minho is definitely more comfortable on the scooter too. When Chan checks the mirrors he’ll occasionally catch a partial glimpse of Minho’s reflection, eyes wide and blinking slowly and looking around like he’s never seen this perspective of the streets before. He was so quietly expressive, regarding things in his own pace, often times looking carefully at brightly lit displays, very much intrigued.

Again, Chan is reminded of cats.

Out of nowhere, Chan is hit with an epiphany.

He pulls up to the main driveway leading to Minho’s apartment complex and comes to a stop.

‘Thank you hyung,’ Minho tells him gratefully as he takes off his helmet and hands it back to him, ‘Please drive back safely.’

Minho is about to use Speak to sign goodnight to him but Chan, still processing his epiphany and wondering if Minho will like it stops him.

Goodnight, Minho he signs to him.

Minho pauses, hands still up, blinking slowly again.

‘Was-…was that my name?’ Minho asks, looking at him with wide eyes.

Chan smiles and nods.

There’s an eruption of soft light around Minho- not the quick faint little stars, this was like actual light around his being.

‘Again?’

Chan does it again, slowly and carefully, wondering if Minho will pick up on the words he spliced together.

‘-that definitely has husband in there,’ Minho exclaims, bouncing on the balls of his feet a bit in realization.

Chan grins and shrugs teasingly before he mouths: homework.

Minho’s jaw drops, looking at him incredulously.

‘You’re joking,’ Minho exclaims, ‘You’re making me do homework on my own name?!’

Chan nods.

Are you insane Minho signs perfectly, pausing and then adding bestie?

Chan had already started his scooter back up and he nearly falls off from the force of his laughter at Minho’s hilariously incredulous tone carried on even in Speak.

‘Fine,’ Minho grumbles but he’s struggling not to smile, the light still clinging to him at every random instance, see you hyung.

See you Minho, he says before he carefully signs it was nice talking to you.

The lights center and gleam most brightly around Minho’s cheeks again as he waves him off.

Oh it was definitely very fitting.

Was it maybe somewhat a rather personal angle when he came up with Minho’s name in Speak? Probably, but it was just so fitting, so perfect – and it suited Minho. It would be a disservice really, if he chose something else.

He just hopes Minho will like it too.

*

Chapter Text

Minho makes a resolution to never let anyone have access to his future apartment’s door locks including Jisung because that meant Jeongin would have access too. But this was especially aimed at Seungmin because the younger casually walks into his and Jisung’s apartment, puts his bag down and wears Minho’s slippers (despite his slippers being small for Seungmin) and makes his way to the fridge, barely acknowledging him or Jisung as they were finalizing the last of their collective items around the apartment.

Jisung insisted on helping Minho with his things, saying it was only fair and the two had spent the whole weekend cleaning and sweating and slaving over countless cat-toys, too much randomly lodged balls of fur in every random corner, stuck under furniture, and under the rug of their tiny dining table. He had already taken some boxes of mostly winter clothing back to his parents as he definitely wouldn’t be needing those any time soon.

‘Good afternoon to you too?’ Jisung huffs.

‘I have interesting information,’ Seungmin declares, pulling out a juice box from the fridge.

‘I don’t like how this is aimed at me,’ Minho grumbles under his breath before sitting up straight, ‘What is it?’

‘About your husband.’

‘What about Chan-hyung,’ Minho frowns at once.

‘Oh it’s hyung now is it?’ Seungmin grins, throwing himself down on the couch, not even pretending to offer to help of anything. Admittedly at this point they didn’t need any help.

‘I have found out some things,’ Seungmin explains, ‘Your husband has unfortunately gotten himself an annoying enemy.’

‘Enemy?’ Jisung echoes, ‘What is this, an over-the-top thriller drama?’

‘No, it’s stupid,’ Seungmin chuckles, ‘One of my friends is friends with your husband.’

Minho is not surprised. He’s pretty sure at some point everyone he knows knew someone Chan knew. He wasn’t even going to question it anymore.

‘Who?’ Jisung asks curiously.

‘So you see,’ Seungmin continues, ignoring Jisung’s question and picking up a cat-toy on one side and shaking it to entice Soonie who had been watching him and Jisung from his cat-tree on the side.

Minho is very proud of Soonie for not showing Seungmin an ounce of interest.

Good.

Truly his son.

Seungmin had said it was because Soonie discriminated against him for being Adlet but Minho has met plenty of Adlet with pet cats so it most certainly wasn’t the case.

‘When your husband first joined university on a scholarship, he qualified to be part of the swim-team,’ Seungmin explains.

Minho is aware. Chan won three times in a row.

‘He beat out not just other athletes from other universities, but also beat out his fellow swim-team members for the university sporting tournaments,’ Seungmin explains.

Minho knew this too, thanks to Dr. Kim.

‘One of the people in the same swim-team took this in a truly terrible way,’ Seungmin continues to explain.

‘Oh, a sore loser kind of person?’ Jisung asks.

‘Extremely- unfortunately, this guy, Go Youngmin, is well, he’s a rich kid,’ Seungmin shrugs.

Jisung frowns at that, turning to look back at Seungmin and then at him.

‘The Go Family are new-money new-power kind of family,’ Seungmin explains, ‘He’s kinda delusional according to my source.’

‘Your source?’ Jisung echoes, ‘Are you talking about Julia-?’

‘-my source,’ Seungmin continues, ‘Says that according to her informant, Youngmin-shii has had it out for your husband for years now. He’s a bully essentially.’

‘Bullying?! In university?!’ Jisung exclaims, aghast, ‘What the fuck?’

‘He’s the reason behind everything that’s happened. Your husband’s seal-skin was stolen in a premeditated attempt to essentially starve him from his source of Magick. From what I’ve gathered your husband smartly filed for a restraining order with the help of his friend, Seo Changbin who by the way, comes from The Seo family. So I trust he’ll be able to overrule any attempts made by the Go family against him,’ Seungmin adds thoughtfully.

‘Every time I hear more about this situation I am introduced to new levels of shock,’ Jisung exclaims, ‘Why just a restraining order and not like, you know, a whole criminal charge because he could be in prison for this!’

Minho’s never asked Chan directly about it; he always had a feeling Chan was not comfortable discussing it and well, it wasn’t really Minho’s business either. He was curious of course.

Minho’s had a relatively “normal” upbringing and childhood and he’s grateful for that – no drama from anyone or random family relatives (like Jisung, who had an extremely odd and downright toxic aunt from his mother’s side who randomly time to time, made herself everyone’s problem every couple of years, or even Jeongin who had a cousin who, if Minho isn’t mistaken, was literally on the run from the police because he was running some sort of pyramid scheme based off of selling “Light Fae enchantments” to boost libido), had never been bullied or actually even seen it around himself while growing up and even in school. The only maybe wild story he was somewhat related to was his homeroom teacher’s scandal for having an affair with one of the HR staff in his middle school years. All of his classmates were similarly positioned, at least economically speaking, they didn’t have “rich kids” in his school but then he supposes richer kids would probably go to a private school or something.

They absolutely had kids having spats and even fights but never bullying, at least not in Minho’s class and not to his knowledge.

‘Once again, the Go family,’ Seungmin explains, ‘I looked into them – annoyingly connected with like, people in politics and stuff. A criminal charge can be easily changed up even after a sentence is issued – a restraining order is actually quite smart.’

Jisung looks really upset with this, fiddling with the acorn in on his chain around his neck, no doubt imagining what it would be like to lose it. Obviously for Dryads they could simply collect another acorn from their ancestral tree to replace what was lost but losing one was a horrible experience, especially if it was with you since birth which was Jisung’s case.

‘You don’t look surprised,’ Jisung points out.

‘Because I heard about it from Dr. Kim,’ Minho replies.

‘Dr. Kim?!’ Jisung asks incredulously.

‘He’s friends with Chan-hyung’s senior coach,’ Minho explains.

‘I want to be surprised but honestly I can’t find it in me to be surprised,’ Jisung says with a shake of his head. ‘All of this added with his drug abuse and stuff? How did he even manage to get away with all of this?’

‘Well, I’ll tell you exactly how,’ Seungmin grins, looking pleased at the information he’s learnt most likely from his good friend Choi Jisu otherwise more commonly known as Julia. ‘Seems they’re buddy-buddy with some of the people in the university board and more important in the scholarship department-.’

Both Minho and Jisung’s eyebrows shoot up to their hairline at that.

‘-so you can imagine that the family made a lot of donations to the university.’

‘Oh my god what is this drama?’ Jisung gapes. ‘What the fuck-!?’

‘-which was why so much of his behavior towards Chan-shii was ignored,’ Seungmin explains, ‘Apparently he even tried to physically sabotage your husband a few times but due to the nature of Chan-shii’s scholarship, the connection between the Go family and the people in the scholarship board and stuff, well, you can put that together.’

‘I know he’s done, but I’m so glad Chan-shii has graduated,’ Jisung exhales with relief. ‘At least he’s not shackled down by his scholarship that way anymore – fuck, that’s so cruel.’

It truly was. A flare of anger flashes through him and Minho takes a quiet deep breath to settle down a bit.

‘Your husband doesn’t have family by the way, as in he’s like, disowned or something like that,’ Seungmin continues, ‘Seo Changbin is basically like his family here.’

Minho is taken aback by that.

It made sense as to why Chan was always hesitant and avoided further discussing anything regarding his family, especially his parents as he had no problem mentioning his siblings occasionally.

‘My source was telling me that the people close to him have all been really worried about him recently – he’s the type who says he’s fine when he’s not,’ Seungmin adds and then looks at him pointedly, ‘Just for your information.’

Minho chucks the newspaper ball he was using as padding for the cutlery he was packing straight at Seungmin’s head.

‘Wow, a Selkie that’s like, disconnected from a pod?’ Jisung frowns, looking a little saddened, ‘I hope it was in his terms.’

‘I think it is,’ Minho tells them as he thinks back to everything Chan has said and most important not said, ‘I know he essentially came here permanently when he was 18 but he was already doing school here since he was about 16- I guess that’s how he met Changbin.’

‘Did your husband tell you why?’ Seungmin asks.

‘No,’ Minho replies and adds firmly, ‘And there’s no need to either, it’s none of my business.’

‘But hey, at least no pesky in-laws, right?’ Jisung grins at him.

‘I’d make a joke about your husband having to deal with in-laws but your parents are some of the nicest people I’ve met,’ Seungmin grumbles like this was a deeply personal issue to him.

‘That’s exactly how I’m so nice,’ Minho tells him haughtily.

‘Well anyway, after the incident with Go Youngmin, seems security has improved a whole lot more for the Sports Science Faculty,’ Seungmin explains, ‘The security guards have been alerted and informed about Go Youngmin and he’s not allowed within university grounds too.’

‘That’s great but do they forget how massive the university is,’ Jisung frowns.

Minho has to wonder about how much Chan really keeps under wraps – because Minho would be screaming the whole time if he were in Chan’s shoes. All of this plus a divorce. How did you even feel settled? Minho would be looking over his shoulder the whole time.

‘I suppose the effort matters,’ Seungmin shrugs, ‘Also legally the university has to do that – Chan-shii is one of the only Selkie students in a couple of years for the university; they need to ensure that they’re taking care of not just international students but also the Seely races.’

Jisung rolls his eyes at that, no doubt thinking about the abrupt changes made in the curriculum and modules of many of the degrees that was definitely aimed straight at the Seely students more than anyone else.

‘My source was also telling me something else, but as it’s not related to Go Youngmin or Seo Changbin, it’s not important,’ Seungmin says with a grin, leaning back and playing with Soonie’s toy.

‘Dude, why even mention it,’ Jisung guffaws, whacking Seungmin’s knees with a bit of styrofoam that breaks off, the broken bit flying off and Soonie immediately jumping off after it.

‘Soonie no-!’ Jisung gasps, throwing himself over the floor to grab the styrofoam before Soonie can get his claws, or worse, his teeth into it.

With no dangerous materials lying around and Soonie safely deposited in his cat-tree they finish the final bit of packing without Seungmin’s help.

‘I’ve asked some of my friends if they know any places that are available for rent or will soon be,’ Seungmin tells Minho, ‘I think at this point maybe word of mouth might get you a place faster, and probably a better deal too.’

‘I hope so too, mum’s asking around but I just want it close to the clinic,’ Minho sighs, ‘I want to keep working here and I mean, I don’t mind a commute but ugh.’

Seungmin sighs in agreement with that.

It wasn’t always the easiest thing to find a workplace you could fit in and click with so well and Minho is not about to squander that. Of course it would be ideal to live at a short enough distance to the clinic but he doesn’t mind having to take extra steps to be able to continue working here. He could stay with his parents, save up some more, and maybe get a slightly pricier place from the money he saved. Besides, once he starts getting a full salary rather than an internship fee, Minho knows he’ll be able to make better plans as well.

But for now his priorities were his internship, finishing his Basic Japanese class and being forever done with the university, and of course his divorce.

When Minho gets to the clinic the next day he arrives just a minute after Dowoon the lab tech gets there and also right in time to start processing in a couple who looked truly distressed, one of them carrying a cardboard box of very small puppies, and the other carefully holding onto a dog in a towel.

Dr. Kwon always accepted and took in emergency care for all creatures at any time and also offered temporary shelter for emergency cases. It was actually how Minho found the clinic with Jisung’s help over a year ago when he had tracked down an injured senior cat in the university grounds. He had no idea that the a vet clinic was so close to the university as the university always advised them to seek internship in larger clinics or hospitals.

But ever since Minho found SC Clinic he just knew he had to come here and work here.

They had connections with a lot of local shelters in and around the city and even a few further out as well. Both Dr. Kwon and Dr. Kim were active members in varying organizations that offered shelter and treatment for stray or abandoned dogs- they both had pets of their own, with Dr. Kwon always adopting senior dogs and Dr. Kim taking in “problem” dogs.

So it’s not surprising that the clinic has a lot of visitors who come in with stray animals they find or wounded/injured animals they come across and this morning was no different.

Minho’s not sure if the mum and pups were dumped there by backyard breeders or if this was maybe a lost dog that ran away from home and ended up in this situation but they of course put out a social media post about the dog.

Somehow Minho finds himself as the caretaker of the pups, having some sort of natural ability according to Dr. Kim and Juhyun, to calm and quiet down all sorts of creatures, specifically the babies.

The puppies are in relatively okay health but were riddled with fleas and a few ticks. They take some blood samples from the puppies and Minho is given the very careful job of removing the fleas and ticks from the puppies. They’re not able to tell exactly how old the pups are and while a bath would be risky at their age, it was the surest and best way to remove all fleas from the poor things.

While Dr. Kwon, Younghyun, and Juhyun take the mother dog for emergency surgery for the very nasty and terrible infected wound she had around her tail and genitals, Minho and Dr. Kim take the pups to the back to have them cleaned up and basically run a quick inspection.

All five puppies, 2 girls and 3 boys, have are all right, with no wounds or injuries on them. Their ears are surprisingly clean and their tails and paws all intact and no signs of any sort of infection in their noses or mouths which was a relief.

Under Dr. Kim’s occasional instructions he moves quickly with their baths, humming a little and speaking nonsense to them soothingly as he places each clean pup onto the heated pad to prevent them from being too cold. He’s done drying them and wrapping them all up in one fluffy towel as they squirm and make small squeaky sounds and Dr. Kim watches and approves as Minho prepares their medication after weighing them each.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment as Dr. Kim doesn’t once step in to correct him (this would officially be Minho’s first time treating and assessing all of the puppies on his own) Minho goes about to give them their medication. Only one of them struggles and protests having to ingest the de-worming medication but other than that they’re all easy enough to handle.

Once all of the pups have their medication down, completely dried and clean, Minho hunkers down with them in one of the recovery rooms they had specifically for any creatures that were in need of some rehabilitation and rest post-surgery or even just to have some quiet isolation to calm down in. Dr. Kim goes and prepares some puppy formula as Minho makes sure that none of the pups were feeling cold.

After a while Juhyun brings the mother dog, completely knocked out from anesthesia and settles her into one of the kennels, hanging the IV attached to her as she had been very dehydrated and Minho suspects malnourished. 

A senior cat who had been brought in the other day for ear-infection was curled up in her open carrier, waiting to be picked up later that evening. She meows softly and as she wasn’t strictly restricted to her carrier comes to inspect what Minho was doing.

Minho is careful as he lets her sniff the pups but she doesn’t show anymore interest, instead scratching around her little cone-collar before curling up next to him.

Dr. Kim returns with the formula and some feeding syringes.

‘My favourite part,’ Dr. Kim sighs, being notoriously bad at feeding puppies and kittens. Thankfully Minho is able to get them going.

Dr. Kim is carefully performing a second inspection on one of the pups that Minho had felt a small lump on its neck when the door to the room opens and Younghyun pokes his head in.

‘Minho-yah, it seems you required some assistance so here is some assistance,’ Younghyun grins, opening the door wider to reveal Chan who pokes his head in a little as well, looking sheepish, phone already in hand.

‘Hyung,’ Minho blinks up at him, ‘Wait what-.’

Chan’s expression completely crumples at the sight of the puppies on Minho’s lap, immediately sinking down to his knees, seconds from crying probably.

‘Oh, Chan-shii,’ Dr. Kim waves at him with a free hand, ‘Great, you can replace me, have you ever bottle-fed a puppy?’

Chan’s expression is all over the place.

‘Take over for me while I go get ready for our next appointment,’ Dr. Kim waves Chan in who gives them all slightly scared looks as though asking if it was all right for him to be in here. ‘No seriously come and take over I don’t want to smell like puppies for our next cat patient.’

Chan makes his way inside, trying to shrink himself a little and sort of half crawls half crouches next to Minho.

Dr. Kim places the puppy he was inspecting back on the cushion with her siblings on Minho’s lap and adds to Chan to ‘Sit sit, it’s okay Bang Chan, maybe you’ll have better luck feeding them than me.’

‘Chan-hyung doesn’t smell like disinfectants and two aggressively male alpha dogs.’ Minho points out teasingly to Dr. Kim.

‘I resent that,’ Dr. Kim huffs before glancing over at the mum-dog in her kennel, sleeping off the anesthesia, ‘All right, you’ll be good with them for another hour?’

‘Yeah,’ Minho nods, ‘I got them Dr. Kim.’

‘Okay, well, I’ll get going and take my dog smells elsewhere,’ Dr. Kim pretends to complain as he leaves.

Chan carefully sits himself down on the mat and with wide endeared eyes looks over the squirming puppies.

‘Hyung, what are you doing here? Is everything okay?’ Minho asks at once as soon as Dr. Kim leaves, the door closing softly behind him.

Chan reassures him with a quick nod and takes out a couple of files from his bag.

‘Oh, more stuff to look through?’ Minho grumbles.

Chan gives him a look as he sighs, nodding and quickly typing on his phone.

Apparently according to Mr. Yoo we filled out something wrong in the financial statement – we need to get a different sort of statement from the bank

‘What?’ Minho frowns, ‘I literally asked my bank if these were the correct papers for the procedure and they said yes!’

Chan gestures at himself as though to say me too! with a disgruntled expression.

Minho glances at the time, sighing because he wouldn’t have time to go to the bank now as it was past 3:30 and it would take him more than 15 minutes to get to the closest branch from here.

They’ve both been sent to me so I thought I’d bring it over before I start work Chan explains.

‘Thank you hyung, and now you got roped into puppy duty too,’ Minho chuckles, ‘But it’s okay, I can manage on my own if you have to go.’

Chan gives him an incredulous look as he signs are you insane? to him that makes Minho wheeze.

‘You wanna hold them?’ Minho asks. If Chan took the pillow from him Minho would be able to more easily access and refill the formula.

Chan looks nervous, carefully signing me? I can? or at least Minho thinks that’s what he says.

‘Yeah, make yourself more comfortable hyung, you can take the pillow.’ Minho tells him, adjusting his arms a bit, making sure the pup he was feeding wasn’t too jostled.

Chan removes his sandals and sits cross-legged next to him and takes the pillow from Minho’s lap, moving too carefully and slowly, clearly very worried of potentially hurting the puppies.

‘Crowd them in a little into each other,’ Minho directs him as they start to make small squeaks and protesting sounds at being moved about. Chan looks like he’s seconds from his own breakdown but does what Minho asks, flinching a little as he touches the puppies before his expression crumples again.

‘They won’t break if you touch them hyung,’ Minho laughs, understanding Chan’s worries because that’s how he was too, ‘They’re sturdier than that.’

Chan makes a quick gesture, clearing asking Minho if he could take a photo and Minho nods.

‘That’s their mum over there,’ Minho nods towards the kennel, ‘She was found wandering a neighbourhood backyard near the recycling bins.’

He tells Chan about how she was found and the state of the puppies earlier and Chan does look like he might cry any second now.

‘So yeah, I’m apparently an animal baby magnet so here I am,’ Minho chuckles, ‘Glorified napping spot more like, that should have been my name instead of cat-husband.’

Chan flushes a little with colour before asking him.

It’s okay? You don’t mind it?

Minho snorts.

Chan got it a bit too right in all honesty.

‘It’s maybe too on the nose but honestly I can’t even argue you on it.’

Chan chuckles, looking sheepish.

‘I like it,’ Minho tells him just to make sure Chan knew and there was no miscommunication over it, ‘I mean, Salsa here would probably agree with you too.’

Chan’s expression turns from confusion to one of delight when he spots the cat curled up next to him.

Salsa? he mouths.

‘Listen, it’s an incredibly tame name compared to some of the things I’ve heard,’ Minho laughs.

Chan points to her cone and gives him a questioning look.

Minho checks on the pup still feeding earnestly from the bottle in his hand before explaining her condition to Chan.

‘I think she can smell Soonie on me so she’s comfortable with me,’ Minho explains.

There’s a look in Chan’s eyes at that; not like he didn’t believe Minho, but there was something as though to suggest he didn’t think that might be the only reason why Salsa, and actually most other cats, were very easy and relaxed around in general.

‘Okay, it’s time to switch puppies,’ Minho declares, glancing at the amount of formula left, ‘No no little guy, your tummy is literally round, I don’t want you throwing up.’

He puts the bottle down and with a few complimentary pets and making sure his muzzle was clean hands Chan the puppy.

Once again Chan is too careful, expression turning all mushy as he takes the pup.

Minho picks up the other one, grateful that they’re all a different pattern so he can tell them apart.

‘This might take some time feeding them all,’ Minho tells Chan.

Chan carefully takes his phone out and types out very seriously: oh no, I’m staying here, nothing can take me away from here right now.

Then he taps at his wrist bereft of a watch and holds up his hand, all five fingers up.

‘Till 5? Nice, free labour,’ Minho declares.

Chan wheezes and stops abruptly as the puppies clamber over each other, one rolling out of his lap and making him gasp out.

‘If you’re too careful they won’t feel secure,’ Minho tells Chan, ‘Again, don’t worry hyung, they won’t get hurt.’

Chan picks up the puppy that’s rolled away with more confidence this time and places him back in the pile.

The pup Minho was feeding struggles a little so he makes adjustments in how he holds him, tucking him in closer, grateful that he did place a towel over himself as some of the formula drops down and spills out of the bottle.

It’s very quiet for a while and when Minho looks up finds that Chan has two of the puppies held up to his face, eyes closed, truly just enjoying himself.

‘Free therapy,’ Minho smiles.

Chan opens his eyes, not moving the puppies away and nuzzling into their soft furry bodies some more, making them squeak out, little paws waving and pawing at his face.

Just then Salsa gets up, stretching and shaking herself a little before pushing herself with her forearms onto Minho’s thigh.

‘What’s up?’ Minho asks the cat.

The cat just blinks slowly up at him, looking around him, following some random motion and Minho wonders if maybe there’s a mosquito or something around even though they shouldn’t have any in here.

‘You want treats?’ Minho asks the cat, ‘Hm? Treat? Small treat?’

The cat purrs, pushing against him and plopping down into his lap.

‘He knows I have a Churu in my pocket,’ Minho informs Chan who grins fondly at both him and the cat, ‘I’ll give you your treat after I’m done with the puppies okay?’

Salsa just yawns and then stares over at Chan as though only just realizing he was there.

‘Blink slowly when you look at cats,’ Minho tells Chan, ‘They understand that you’re not a threat that way- okay not that slow.’

Chan wheezes, trying again.

Salsa just licks her mouth and yawns, a good sign, and Minho tells him so.

Chan looks very pleased with this information.

‘Wanna try feeding one of the pups?’ Minho asks, ‘Go ahead hyung, just hold them like this to support their body.’

A little nervously, Chan follows his instructions and carefully feeds the other puppy.

Minho grins to himself because Chan is smiling so hard Minho thinks his face might hurt later on.

I feel like I brought you something really boring and annoying and in return I’ve been given probably the best experience of my life Chan tells him the moment his hands are freed.

Minho wheezes and teasingly asks, ‘Not when you won three times-?’

Chan grumbles out a groan, leaning back onto the wall with an exaggerated huff. Minho cackles at him.

Chan gives him a side-eye and signs something at him.

‘Are you insulting me right now,’ Minho demands, narrowing his eyes, ‘While I’m occupied and can’t retaliate?’

Chan just shrugs and gives him a cheeky smile, dimple popping up.

‘I’ll skin you,’ Minho tells him and quickly adds, ‘If you take your hoodie out I swear-!’

Chan laughs hard, doing his best not to jostle the pups on his lap as he hiccups out little sounds. Minho remembers his laughter and can hear it in his head.

This was nice. Really nice.

What’s the weirdest creature you’ve had to work on? Chan asks interestedly once he’s done laughing, typing a bit slow because he’s cuddling a puppy close to his chest.

‘Hm,’ Minho pauses to think, ‘Well, I wouldn’t say it’s like, the weirdest possible one, but considering it happened when I was on my third day here, a bearded dragon lizard.’

Chan’s eyes go wide before he laughs.

Why was a lizard in here?

‘Infection on the scales,’ Minho replies, ‘It was fortunately an easy fix – a shot of antibiotics and some ointment. It’s not even the strangest creature we get in here though, most rescue cases or strays brought in here aren’t always the cute and fluffy variety like these puppies.’

Chan looks at him for a moment, expression a little hesitant and thoughtful before he starts typing quickly. Minho glances over occasionally and notes that Chan was backspacing his words quite a lot, as though rethinking what he wanted to say.

I heard from Younghyun-sunbaenim that you found this clinic and applied for internship here because you’ve brought in a lot of rescues yourself? Chan asks.

It’s a perfectly normal question so Minho has no idea why he seemed somehow nervous.

‘Yeah, apparently I have a penchant for rescuing animals and getting them to come with me,’ Minho chuckles.

Minho personally thinks that maybe it’s this specific reason why everyone in the clinic always assigned him to stay with the rescues as he genuinely was able to help the often times traumatized and scared creatures calm down and settle down enough for Minho to give them their first physical. Minho doesn’t know the reasoning behind it, if he had a specific countenance or “aura” that animals seemed to connect to, but he’s glad for it.

‘Why are you asking hyung?’ Minho asks before adjusting his hold on the bottle and the pup in his hands.

Chan pauses, looking like he was struggling a bit before he scratches at the side of his neck a little sheepishly.

‘What is it?’ Minho asks, now slightly confused.

Chan takes a breath, as though mentally preparing himself before he starts typing, angling his phone so that Minho could see as he types as he usually did when they were conversing.

So. Last year.

Minho waits for Chan to continue but he seems to freeze. He backspaces everything and Minho frowns a little.

I can’t believe I’m telling you this now of all days he sighs out.

‘Now I’m worried,’ Minho says slowly, ‘Do you have a vindictive ex who’ll come after me-?’

Chan shakes his head vehemently at that, hands coming up to form an X in front of himself before typing.

No no – nothing like that. It’s just somehow I’ve never had the opportunity to mention this to you because each time it’s felt so uh, not the right time.

‘…are you a weirdo vindictive ex then-?’ Minho asks jokingly.

Chan gives him a brief pleading look before typing again.

I’ve seen you before we started class together.

Minho reads the sentence twice and then looks up at Chan.

‘Okay? Like, in the university-?’

Chan nods, looking hesitant.

‘…why are you behaving like you’re confessing to a crime,’ Minho frowns.

Chan starts to fidget a bit more but stops when he remembers the puppies on his lap.

I was at the café, Chan begins to explain, I was having a really shitty day. Then I saw you rescuing a cat, it was white and a bit of grey I think. I think you might have been with Jisung.

‘Oh,’ Minho blinks at the words and then up at Chan, ‘Oh wow, yeah, there was a cat who had an injury- that was actually the day…-?’

Chan is typing quickly.

The first time you came to this clinic he completes his sentence, Younghyun-sunbaenim told me when we brought the waardar here.

‘Oh wow,’ Minho blinks, ‘Wow, that was ages ago, you remember that? You remember me from that?’

Chan nods.

Minho huffs out a sort of incredulous laugh.

Their paths did cross before, albeit from a distance with Chan witnessing the day he found this clinic with Jisung.

And then Chan continues to type on I saw you again after that, you were carrying like a sack of dirt.

Minho has to take a moment. When did he carry a sack of dirt?!

And then I saw you again at the convenience store near the eastern gate – it was winter, you were eating noodles.

‘What-.’

And acting like he was ripping off a bandage in one go Chan continues to type.

And again at the train station, you were with Jeongin. And then again after that during I think finals for the semester at the library, you were studying. And then finally in class.

Minho sort of stares blankly at the words, processing this in a sort of wordless state of surprise.

I’M NOT STALKING YOU! Chan writes hastily before groaning and leaning back, hands in head.

Minho wheezes at Chan’s outburst, now understanding why Chan was being so weird about all of this.

‘Was that your primary concern?’ Minho chuckles, ‘You thought I’d think you were stalking me?’

With a forlorn expression and apprehension Chan hurriedly types: we didn’t meet in ideal conditions, everything was up in the air and really weird and just, such an odd and unbelievable amount of coincidence that seemed a little too much – I didn’t know when it was appropriate to tell you that I’ve seen you before we had classes together.

That made sense – considering how Chan had been concerned that Minho would suspect him of somehow orchestrating all of this he can understand his hesitation to say anything.

Chan is still looking at him apprehensively, expecting a negative reaction from him or something.

‘Would it make you feel better if I took the scooter in our divorce as compensation for this or-?’ Minho asks, shaking the bottle of formula a little to get all of it down and finish feeding the pup.

Chan chuckles, looking a little less conflicted as Minho didn’t leap up to his feet and point and yell at him for being a stalker or something. Minho can understand why Chan wouldn’t immediately tell him the moment they met or even later, because they didn’t know each other, and like Chan said they really did meet under the oddest circumstances where confusion was at its peak and paranoia and suspicion would be easy conclusions to get to.

I wanted to come to talk to you, Chan tells him, sheepishly earnest, I kept thinking, this is odd that I keep meeting this one guy, this cat-rescuer, all over university. When I saw you in the library I thought I’d come and introduce myself to you but I think you were studying for finals and I didn’t want to take your time and be all “Hi I’ve been seeing you around, I thought I’d introduce myself”

That felt idk kinda weird and also like

Just would come off wrong I thought

‘What, like I’d think you were coming onto me?’ Minho chuckles as he puts the now empty bottle away and pats the puppy’s muzzle clean.

Chan winces, nodding a little.

‘Cat-rescuer?’ Minho chuckles as he pats the squirming puppy soothingly, ‘Is that what inspired cat-husband?’

Chan gives him an amused look before he types out, maybe?

Minho wheezes, ‘I guess thanks for telling me? Did I really make such an impression on you that day?’

Chan chuckles sheepishly and nods, typing: you were crawling on all fours.

‘Ah. I guess it’s not often you see a grown adult crawling on all fours in public,’ Minho sighs. He doesn’t remember what he did that specific day to rescue the cat but that didn’t seem out of place.

They both lock eyes at the same time before bursting out into laughter.

I’m sorry for not telling you before, I was really conflicted about when to tell you, or how to tell you Chan tells him earnestly.

‘It’s not that weird hyung,’ Minho tells him and adds with a shrug, ‘But I get it.’

Chan holds his phone up again, hesitating a moment as he looks at him with a somewhat pensive expression. He starts to type when the door opens to reveal Dr. Kwon.

‘Ah, Kibum was telling me you had back-up,’ she smiles at him before looking down at Chan, ‘Thank you for helping out Chan-shii.’

It’s no problem! Chan signs quickly and then says what Minho thinks is something about thanking her for allowing him to stay and something about the puppies.

‘According to Younghyun we have a few people who have messaged back regarding our stray,’ Dr. Kwon tells him, ‘We might be able to find the original owners after all.’

‘That’s great,’ Minho says as Chan sighs in relief.

‘Aw, they’re all so sleepy,’ Dr. Kwon coos as she kneels down on the mat as well and also greets Salsa softly.

I should get going Chan signs more like gestures before he takes up the pillow from his lap.

‘Ah, yeah okay hyung,’ Minho nods, replacing the puppy back into the pillow and taking it from Chan.

‘It’s my turn with the pups,’ Dr. Kwon grins, shifting on the mat to make herself more comfortable and taking the pillow from Minho, ‘Ah they smell so nice!’

Minho leaves the recovery room, following Chan out and to see him out.

Younghyun and Dr. Kim were in the consultation room with a patient and Juhyun was out front with Wonpil who was their lab technician. Juhyun was on the phone, quickly typing on the keyboard with her free hand. Both of them seem rather invested in this phone call and Minho wonders if it has to do with their rescue from today. They both smile quickly but warmly at Chan as he bows politely in greeting – everyone knew who he was, thanks to Dr. Kim no doubt, and Minho hopes he doesn’t turn too red. At least Younghyun wasn’t out here to give him random amused smiles.

That was very healing Chan tells him once they’re outside, such a nice bonding moment.

‘Because you’re a pup too?’ Minho grins teasingly.

Chan would be spluttering words right now Minho knows but instead he flushes with colour and looks away.

‘Thanks for bringing this hyung,’ Minho tells him, waving the file Chan had brought over for him and adds with a sigh, ‘Guess I’ve got to pay the bank a visit tomorrow before class.’

Chan sighs, pointing to himself as though to say me too.

‘And thanks for giving me a reason to divorce you,’ Minho adds, ‘I’ll be letting Mr. Yoo know that you stalk me.’

Chan’s eyes go wide and his hands flail and Minho cackles at him.

IT’S NOT FUNNY Chan points at his phone screen emphatically.

‘It’s a little funny,’ Minho grins, ‘You have to admit it’s a little funny.’

Chan throws his hands up before giving him a sort of resigned look.

Minho gives him his best innocent smile in return and Chan squints suspiciously at him.

Minho.

‘Hm?’ Minho tilts his head questioningly, faking cluelessness.

Chan types very quickly, cheeks and ears flushed pink, and angles his phone towards him.

I WAS TRULY DISTRESSED ABOUT THIS!

‘Hm, okay,’ Minho says, giving him a sympathetic nod.

Minho! Chan signs at him incredulously.

What? Minho signs back, fighting not to laugh.

Chan sighs, hands on hips as he looks down at the floor before signing the same thing from earlier at him.

‘Here I was, learning Speak so that I could partake in communication in the Court but now my husband is using it against me,’ Minho declares with a dramatic sigh.

Chan closes his eyes, lips pressed down hard, clearly fighting a smile before taking a step backwards.

Homework he signs and mouths at the same time.

‘Another?!’ Minho exclaims.

Chan nods firmly at him before signing the same word again, and then adds another one but this time with a sort of cheeky smile.

‘That’s not fair!’ Minho calls after him.

Chan just grins, waving and then signing see you tomorrow! before turning down the street.

‘Hyung!’ Minho grumbles, standing on the top of the stairs as Chan walks away.

Chan looks back, his expression amused and somewhat fond before he signs bye Minho.

Bye Chan-hyung Minho signs back, still making a grumbling expression.

Minho doesn’t need a repeat of last time so he firmly heads back inside.

‘Minho-yah,’ Juhyun says at once when he walks in, ‘I think we found the owners.’

‘That was fast?’ Minho says in disbelief, ‘What’s the story?’

‘She ran away from the park they were walking her in about 2 months ago,’ Juhyun explains, ‘All the way across the city actually, no idea how she ended up here. They sent photos of her including all of the fliers and posts they made to find her. Her name is Hobak.’

Minho can’t help but smile at that, relief flooding him. He can’t believe they got that lucky.

He makes his way inside the recovery room and Dr. Kwon is still inside, cuddling the puppies to herself as she looks at something in her phone with a squint.

‘I heard her name is Hobak?’ Minho says as he looks over at the still unconscious mum-dog.

‘She is,’ Dr. Kwon smiles, turning her phone over to him to show a cheery healthy version of Hobak on her screen before saying with a slightly teasing smile, ‘Ah, Minho-yah, gotta say, putting your husband straight to work. Good going.’

Minho wheezes, grabbing a packet of wipes and coming to take a seat on the mat as well to start cleaning up any possible mess from the milk bottles.

‘How’s things with the Court so far?’ Dr. Kwon asks.

‘Well, it seems we’ve done something incorrectly with the bank,’ Minho sighs out.

‘Bank?’ Dr. Kwon echoes, looking confused, ‘Why are we talking about banks?’

‘We need to submit financial statements,’ Minho explains as he grabs the files again and opens them up to show Dr. Kwon.

‘Okay,’ Dr. Kwon says slowly, ‘I mean, I guess that makes sense but this is an accidental marriage.’

‘That’s what we said,’ Minho groans, flipping through the DISAPPROVED stamped papers from Mr. Yoo, ‘But it’s all just following protocol.’

‘But like, that’s just the usual kind of financial statement, the one they asked for right?’ Dr. Kwon asks with a frown, leaning in a little, ‘I’m not trying to spy on your finances by the way.’

‘Dr. Kwon there’s not much to spy if I’m being honest,’ Minho snorts, ‘But yeah, I even talked to the bank teller, explaining what I needed and why I needed it, they were like yes this is the type.’

‘Do you know what other type you’ll need to submit then?’ Dr. Kwon asks, ‘Like a sample?’

‘No,’ Minho sighs, ‘This is from this one guy at the Court, I feel like he’s just making things complicated for us.’

‘I know what you mean,’ Dr. Kwon sighs, shaking her head before glancing at the time, ‘You’ll be going tomorrow then?’

‘Yeah, I’ll call the Court tomorrow too, see if I can get a better understanding of what I need to bring.’

‘That’s a good idea.’

It’s a good idea yes but Mr. Yoo is not available for a call even if Minho calls him 5 times. He’s thankfully able to get to Yubin who tells him that the basic financial statement from his bank should suffice and was in turn confused when he tells her that Mr. Yoo had disapproved of it.

‘I see,’ she says calmly, ‘Let me talk to Mr. Yoo and understand what he means and I’ll get back to you.’

Minho thanks her profusely and gets ready to leave, grabbing his umbrella under Jisung’s insistence on his way out.

He’s on the bus heading for the bank when his phone buzzes with a message notification from Yubin. She’s attached a scanned copy of a sample bank statement and Minho cannot find the difference between what he had provided versus this one until he gets to the last page and finds that the stamp from the bank on the last page was a different one.

Minho has half the mind to yell out loud but holds it down. Instead he messages Chan what he’s learnt (he’s pretty sure Yubin would have sent the same to Chan but just in case) and makes it to the bank and after a bit of searching on the welcome screen gets the queue number for the appropriate bank teller and goes to find a seat.

It shouldn’t be surprising but Chan is literally there.

They both see each other at the same time, both of them doing double-takes.

There’s a brief second where neither of them blinks, just staring at each other in utter and complete disbelief.

Then they both partially get up from their seat and then sit down, and at the same time look down and then back up at each other.

‘What the fuck,’ Minho says quietly to himself before he has to look away because he’s about to start laughing.

He chances a glance towards Chan who has also looked away, head in hands actually, before he also glances back at him through his fingers, eyes crinkled with incredulous mirth.

Minho stands up and makes his way towards where Chan was sitting.

‘I think we should lay out every detail about each other at this point and see what lines up,’ Minho says as he takes a seat next to his legal husband.

Minho Chan signs to him looking funnily resigned and adds what Minho believes is: this is weird.

‘Out of curiosity is your frequented dentist from TI Dental Clinic and Care-?’

Chan buries his face into his hands, shaking with quiet laughter. He shakes his head and pretends to wipe his sweat in relief in reply.

‘Okay uh, what about hospital. Do you go to the Central University Hospital or-?’

Chan shakes his head at that and okay at least that was another.

‘I think we shouldn’t even count like, popular places around the university area,’ Minho tells him seriously, ‘Movie theaters and malls and supermarkets- that’s just geographic, it can happen to like, everyone who went to this university.’

Chan nods vigourously to that.

Going to the same university was excusable – thousands of people were actively in this university. The same class could also be written away and the coincidental situations where Chan has seen Minho before around common and shared locations most university students could be found could also be excused. But things like having the same realtor agent, using the same bank and branch, Chan’s senior coach being friends with Minho’s supervisor and his senior also being Minho’s senior at the clinic. And of course Jeongin knowing Hyunjin, and Jisu being friends with one of Chan’s friends – there was a whole web around them that tied them into the center.

‘Okay, do you get your hair cut at GI Studio?’ Minho asks, throwing out everything he can think of.

Chan looks at him with wide eyes at that and Minho stares back before Chan nods, expression cringing because there goes another thing!

Chan takes his phone out and Minho thinks he’s about to type to him a possible connection they might have again but Chan then shows him his banking app, the registration date of his profile more specifically, as though to really show him that him being here (a bank that most of the university students probably used due to its closeness to the university and accommodations) was once again another thing they could add to their ongoing and probably everlasting list of things they had in common and not him stalking Minho.

‘Hyung,’ Minho snorts, ‘Literally more than half of the people who go to our university uses this bank.’

Chan sighs.

‘Do you want me to treat you like I think you’re stalking me and this is some elaborate plan on your end?’ Minho asks.

Chan shakes his head at once, eyes widening in panic.

‘Okay then great, stop overthinking it,’ Minho shrugs.

Chan sighs again, looking somewhat distraught.

Minho nudges his elbow a little, getting his legal to look up at him.

‘Considering we both the other person would think we were stalking them, let’s agree that two negatives cancel each other and we can just start from zero?’ Minho offers, holding his hand out.

Because he understands why Chan was freaking out and overthinking the whole thing; Minho thinks it would be hypocritical of him to scoff at Chan’s concerns considering he was making leaps and reaching incredible lengths in his own overthinking sessions.

Chan gives him a small smile, looking sheepish before sighing and nodding, taking his hand and shaking it.

‘What’s your queue number hyung?’ Minho asks. He has a feeling Chan was going to feel rather sheepish and awkward about all of this for a while.

Chan shows him his token (2 numbers ahead of him) before he starts to type.

I don’t even know if this is like a specific sort of stamp they offer in this branch? He says worriedly, I feel like they might redirect us to a bigger branch.

Minho grimaces at that. That would be so annoying.

Thankfully that’s not what happens. Chan goes before Minho and when he comes back he’s quick to inform Minho that the specific stamp they’re looking for could be provided by this branch but they’ll have to wait some hours as it came from a different bank official and that person was in a meeting until the afternoon.

‘So that means we’ll have to come back after class,’ Minho hums.

Chan nods before gesturing outside and signing the weather. The weather hadn’t changed much, but Minho won’t be surprised if it does start raining later on.

Minho pats his bag where he’s carrying the umbrella Jisung told him to take, definitely more suited for the summer rain.

‘What about you hyung?’

Raincoat, Chan smiles and then points at himself and makes a gesture, telling Minho he would drive them to class and then back to the bank after class.

‘Maybe I won’t take the scooter in our divorce.’

You’re very kind Chan writes, fighting a smile.

They leave after Minho is done, being told the exact same thing. They stop at the university cafeteria and get a quick lunch, or in Chan’s case his breakfast, and Minho tells his legal husband the update on Hobak and her puppies.

When they head towards the Linguistics Faculty building the sky rumbles and darkens some more, making them both wince a little. Thankfully it doesn’t rain while they’re in class, not really paying much attention to the lecture and instead very invested in playing a word game on Chan’s phone and coming up with every word that could be spelt out using the letter “FERAL”.

The weather is still fine once class ends and Minho hopes that if it was going to rain it would rain at night or at least once both he and Chan were safely back home.

After a moment of confusion regarding where they were supposed to pick up the paper (more specifically the stamp) from they get another queue but for a different counter and wait a while, sharing nervous looks as thunder rumbles overhead.

Thankfully they only wait around 10 minutes before they both receive their hopefully correct documents. Chan tells Minho they should store the documents and every thing else in the trunk of his scooter to protect it from the rain just in case.

Minho thinks they might just luck out with the weather as Chan drives him (a little faster than usual) back to his place when he feels a fat drop of rain hit him square on the chin.

Their timing is somewhat impeccable because the rain starts to pick up as Chan turns down the road leading to Minho’s apartment complex. Minho hunches in on himself as the rain starts to really pelt down, exclaiming in relief as they drive under the extended awning of the driveway leading into into the main entrance.

Chan pushes up his dripping visor, giving him a wide eyed look and glancing over him as though to make sure he was all right.

‘Woah,’ Minho winces as the rain starts to really come down, even the covered area starting to flow over with the sudden downpour.

Chan gets off the scooter as well and opens the trunk of the scooter to return his things to him. Then he takes out his raincoat, clearly intending on returning back through the rain.

‘Wait,’ Minho frowns, stopping Chan.

Chan gives him a questioning look.

‘Hyung,’ Minho points out to the pouring rain, ‘You cannot possibly think it’s safe to drive out right now.’

Chan holds up his raincoat with a sheepish smile.

Minho gives him his best unimpressed look before thumbing at the entryway, ‘Why don’t you come say hi to Soonie before you try and take him from me in the divorce?’

For some reason Chan seems nervous at the idea of meeting Soonie, rapidly asking him questions on what to do during the short elevator trip up to the fourth floor.

‘Soonie isn’t a super cuddly cat,’ Minho tells him, ‘You don’t have to worry about how to handle him because it’s very unlikely that he’ll even come out of his cat-tree.’

Chan seems very put out by this information.

‘I should also apologize because Jisung is basically nearly completely moved out, and I’m almost completely packed up, so the whole apartment is like, one really weird space,’ Minho tells him, realizing that someone other than his and Jisung’s closest friends would be coming to their apartment. They’ve not had anyone new come to their place in over a year Minho thinks, and now here was Minho, bring his husband about 2 weeks before he was moving out.

‘There is a couch you can sit on though, and a functioning bathroom,’ Minho informs a very amused Chan as they walk down the hallway towards his shared unit with Jisung.

That’s like Lix’s place right now then, Chan informs him.

‘He’s leaving this weekend right?’

Chan nods, pulling a sad expression and dramatically sighing.

‘A divorce, your friend leaving, what next, stalker accusation-?’

Chan swats at him, giving him a hilariously admonishing look before nervously glancing around as though someone would hear him.

Minho wheezes, jumping away a little before reaching their door.

‘I hope you’re decent,’ Minho calls as he unlocks and opens the door, ‘Come greet your brother-in-law.’

Jisung’s eyes nearly pop out of his head from where he was sitting on the couch. Minho steps a little to the side and raises a hand as though to say behold and Chan sort of nervously waves at Jisung.

‘Oh my god,’ Jisung exclaims, shooting up from the couch, ‘Brother-in-law hello-!’

He switches to Speak and Chan is laughing immediately.

‘Chan-hyung will be staying here until the rain lets up,’ Minho explains before turning to Chan, ‘We can also offer you the bare basics in terms of refreshments, such as water.’

‘Very good water!’ Jisung grins before pointing, ‘You can wear those slippers! Come in come in brother-in-law!’

Still laughing, Chan politely steps inside, looking around brightly.

‘You guys got your paper stuff from the bank?’ Jisung asks as he slides over to the kitchen counter to get a bottle for Chan.

‘Yes- an oddly specific stamp from like, some higher ranking bank person,’ Minho grumbles, dropping his bag down outside of his bedroom door and walking over to Soonie’s cat tree.

‘That’s so annoying,’ Jisung frowns, ‘Did they charge you guys or-?’

Chan shakes his head, signing something to Jisung who rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

‘Well at least,’ he says, ‘And then you guys can just post it right? Or you have to hand deliver it?’

Chan replies to Jisung and Minho reaches into Soonie’s favourite cubby and his cat purrs, poking his head out before Minho has to even coax him out.

‘And here’s my little guy,’ Minho says as he tucks Soonie close to himself, pressing his nose down in between his ears as usual in greeting.

Chan’s eyes widen before softening with fondness and signs something. Minho picks up the words bigger and soft in Speak.

‘I know!’ Jisung exclaims, ‘When I see other cats they’re like, tiny! Soonie really is a big boy!’

Minho puts his cat down to see what would happen just for fun. Usually Soonie took a moment to appraise people before turning away uninterested or he’ll come back to Minho (or Jisung) if he was feeling unsure.

Chan waves at the cat who just stares at Chan for a moment, really taking a moment to assess him it would seem. Then Chan extends his hand out, beckoning him over like you would with a dog.

Minho always finds it a bit funny when people who have no experience with cats try to reach out to them using dog-tactics.

‘Soonie is a bit shy with strangers-…’ Minho’s words trail off as Soonie makes his way to Chan who stays still, looking a little nervous, hand still extended out.

Soonie then, displaying behavior Minho has never seen him do in front of strangers, flops over onto his back, showing Chan his belly.

Jisung’s jaw drops the same time Minho’s does. Chan looks at him in surprise before crouching down to pet Soonie.

‘Soonie you’re making me look bad.’ Minho manages to say once he gets a grip.

Chan grins, petting Soonie too gently, clearly inexperienced with cats. Minho can’t help but smile though; Chan has such a bewildered but pleased expression, looking up at him in complete awe.

Minho glances over at Jisung, ready to exchange incredulous looks because Jisung has known Soonie for a long time but instead his friend gives him a somewhat peculiar look, eyes not quite focused on him but…around him?

Before he can ask he hears Chan gasp and it’s because Soonie gets up on all fours once more and then proceeds to rub himself up against Chan’s legs.

‘Okay wait, what the fuck,’ Jisung gets out, echoing Minho’s thoughts.

Chan sits on the floor, still a bit stunned, and carefully pats down Soonie’s curved back.

‘Did you like, I dunno, spray yourself with catnip or something-?’

Chan shakes his head, confusion and delight apparent on his face.

‘This is honestly a little embarrassing,’ Minho says, walking over and crouching down, ‘Soonie, what is this behavior?’

‘Is he greeting his step-dad?’ Jisung chuckles.

Chan flushes with colour and Minho feels his ears go red too before glaring over at Jisung who rather than having a teasing smirk was once again looking at him rather oddly.

‘Okay hyung, lets at least get you on the couch and not the floor,’ Minho says, taking his cat who was purring. He was purring!

Chan sheepishly gets up and takes a seat politely on the couch. Minho places Soonie down on the couch just to see what his cat would do and once again, to both his and Jisung’s surprise, the cat makes his way to Chan and flops down near him.

Chan makes fists with his hands and shakes them, trying his best to contain cuteness aggression, before carefully patting Soonie down.

‘It took me a year for him to warm up to me!’ Jisung whines in complaint, ‘This is unfair!’

Chan looks up apologetically at Jisung who throws himself on the opposite side of the couch with a groan.

‘Soonie, is this because you’re older and mature and cool?’ Jisung whines, reaching out to scratch Soonie’s side and then starts telling Chan about the time a couple of years ago when they first moved into this place together and Minho had to attend a family event and Jisung was watching over Soonie for the first time just by himself for 2 days straight and he thought he lost him but it turned out Soonie was just hiding under Minho’s pillow.

‘I was like, guess this is how I die,’ Jisung tells Chan dramatically.

Chan says something back to Jisung and Minho knows Chan just signed his name and he knows Jisung sees it, and he can pinpoint the precise second his best-friend clock it.

‘I only told him a couple of months after it happened,’ Jisung replies smoothly and Minho knows he’s going to have to explain what was up.

Chan wheezes.

‘By the way brother-in-law,’ Jisung says in a serious tone, ‘Do you want a peeler?’

Chan’s expression goes all over the place before he laughs, giving Jisung a questioning look.

‘We have somehow collected like, 5 peelers,’ Jisung explains, ‘Do you want one?’

I’ll have to pass, Chan signs.

Minho wonders if he’s picking up on Speak a lot faster than normal or if it was because Chan intentionally chose to use commonly taught phrases to make Minho feel included.

Minho excuses himself for a moment to change out into his home clothes and when he comes out Soonie is fully in Chan’s lap and his legal husband is absolutely beaming.

‘You might be able to take him in the divorce,’ Minho grumbles, ‘This means I will take your scooter.’

Chan just grins at him in utter delight before tentatively sniffing Soonie between his ears and quickly signing in enthusiasm.

‘Minho-hyung has poisoned you too I see, Soonie does not smell like biscuits – he’s just being mental and now you are too, respectfully of course, brother-in-law.’ Jisung adds.

No! Chan signs before looking over at him and probably emphatically saying and insisting Soonie smelt like biscuits. And he did!

‘No- if you’re the only one saying one thing and everyone else is saying the other thing, it means you’re wrong,’ Minho grins at his best-friend as he goes and grabs one of their table chairs.

‘I’m literally a Dryad,’ Jisung frowns and points at his nose, ‘This does not lie.’

‘You’re overruled 2 to 1, thanks hyung,’ Minho grins and reaches over to give Chan a fist bump that he returns.

Jisung does a double-take at their fist-bump before glancing up at him again with that same curious look. Chan doesn’t notice, his full attention on Soonie.

Chan asks him for more stories about Soonie and Minho is all too pleased to tell him everything about his furry baby, with Jisung interjecting every now and then.

A couple of hours later the rain finally lets up enough and Chan didn’t want to be late for work and also didn’t want to leave during peak office hours so Minho walks him down, thanking him for dropping him as Chan thanks him for giving him shelter, all in Speak of course.

Chan gives him an approving thumb’s up at his 90% accurate attempt and Minho internally cheers.

Drive safely Chan-hyung, he signs, a new one he picked up just last night in his efforts to find the word Chan had signed to him in the clinic. He still has no idea what it meant.

Very good, Chan signs back, see you in class.

When Minho heads up he’s fully expecting his best-friend to be waiting for him with an expectant expression and he’s completely right. Minho thinks Jisung is going to tease him about his name (Chan had signed his name a couple of times and being more fluent in Speak Jisung would have undoubtedly put two and two together – or in this, cat and husband together) or something but his best-friend is instead regarding him with keen interest.

‘What?’ Minho demands, slightly defensively.

‘You’re-…you’re very bright.’

‘I’m a literal ray of sunshine I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Minho deadpans.

‘Huh,’ Jisung just says, not at all fazed by Minho’s reply, ‘Interesting.’

‘…are you going to share or-?’ Minho is interrupted by Soonie meowing at him, flopping onto his side and bumping his leg. ‘Hello to you too traitor, had fun making me look like a liar?’

Soonie just rubs his face against his chest, purring quietly once Minho picks him up.

‘He really likes his step-dad,’ Jisung laughs, watching him with a combination of amusement and also curiousness that puts Minho slightly on a defensive edge as he takes a seat on the couch.

‘And I think I like my brother-in-law too,’ Jisung tells him with an amused grin and then pulls an exaggerated upset expression, ‘Do another wedding ceremony so I can be your best-man!’

Minho snorts, ‘Yeah, let me quickly go and tell the Seely Court we’re going to cancel the divorce just for one ceremony and then proceed with the divorce again.’

‘Okay but have you seen Selkie wedding ceremonies? They’re always so nice,’ Jisung tells him and Minho realizes that no, he has not seen one, or he doesn’t remember it.

‘Pretty or not only Soonie is going to be my best-man as he hasn’t robbed me of my literal underwear,’ Minho tells him pointedly because Jisung had returned more of Minho’s items back to him after sorting his winter clothes and it included 2 pairs of his underwear.

‘We both wear the same brand!’ Jisung exclaims. ‘It was an honest mistake!’

‘You should be able to tell the difference at once! I am bigger than you-!’ Minho exclaims back as Soonie wiggles out, no doubt uninterested in their spat.

‘-are you saying I have a small dick?!’ Jisung demands, pointing at him in an accusatory manner.

‘And if I am-?’ Minho replies with narrowed eyes before he yelps out as Jisung tackles him down on the couch.

‘Take it back!’ Jisung says in his nowhere near threatening tone as he pokes his sides to tickle him.

‘You think you can beat me huh?’ Minho grins, freeing one arm and immediately putting Jisung into a headlock, ‘Gotta put you in your place-!’

‘I’ll bite you-!’

‘-not if I bite you first-!’ Minho wheezes out because Jisung does bite him, feet kicking in the air. ‘Okay okay you have a great dick, happy?’

‘Damn right!’ Jisung says once he lets go before he suddenly turns silent, head down and makes a very choked up sound.

Every hair on Minho’s arms stand on end upon noticing the slight quiver of Jisung’s lower lip.

‘Jisungie-?!’ Minho gasps, sitting up to get a better look at his best-friend, ‘Did I hurt you-?!’

Jisung groans before flopping backwards on the couch.

‘No,’ he whines, ‘I’m just being stupid and emotional! I was clearing out some stuff and I found that ugly ass acorn clay sculpture you made me to put on my keychain right before we moved in and I was getting all choked up before you got here.’

‘Excuse me it took me half an hour to make that acorn,’ Minho grins, shifting a little to sit closer to his best-friend.

‘Feels weird,’ Jisung admits, ‘I always thought that you were going to be my forever roommate.’

‘Then you found the love of your life?’

‘Then I found the love of my life!’ Jisung wails, ‘Ugh, Yang Jeongin!’

Minho wheezes, wrapping an arm around Jisung who sinks into his side.

‘It’s so-…it’s so different you know?’ Jisung says as he leans his head down close to his, ‘I realized that we’re so different, but none of those differences scare me, they don’t make me hesitant, I don’t dread having to make changes or adjustments.’

A lot of the reason why Minho and Jisung were so close was the fact that they were remarkably similar in so many ways. They both needed their own space, both needed to do things in their own pace and how they wanted; that wasn’t to say they would do things only if it was according to how they wanted it, but there was no pressure to do anything more when it was just the two of them. It was such an incredible balance and one that they both cherished greatly.

When Jisung first started dating Jeongin, Minho had been worried because just from one look he could see just how different the two of them were.

But then he could see how Jeongin facilitated Jisung, how he treated him, how he loved him back in a way that was different from what Jisung thought he wanted, and rather in a way that showed him there was so much more to him than what Jisung realized, that there was so much more of him to love. Despite being younger than Jisung, Jeongin showed a sort of maturity and stability that sometimes took Minho by surprise.

When Jisung told Minho that he was serious about Jeongin and how it scared him a little Minho’s instinct was to tell Jisung to take a step back, to be careful, to not do anything that didn’t feel safe. But instead, based on what he saw in not just how Jeongin treated Jisung, but how Jisung was in Jeongin’s absence and the joy that seemed to permeate all of his being, he gently encouraged his best-friend.

‘It’s different, but I look forward to it,’ Jisung tells him quietly.

‘A new step,’ Minho hums, taking and squeezing Jisung’s hand gently.

‘Even if you’re married now will you still cook for me time to time.’

‘Yes,’ Minho snorts. He wasn’t going to lie and say no.

‘There’s that new horror series coming out from HBO, and I know Jeongin won’t watch it with me so I will be expecting you,’ Jisung tells him.

‘Tsk,’ Minho snorts, ‘Obviously.’

They stay quiet for a moment, look around the mostly empty apartment and thinking about all the years they spent here and how changed they were, and yet still somehow exactly the same as when they first met.

‘You have to buy me new underwear.’

‘Damn, fine.’

*

Chan nervously shifts from foot to foot as Felix arranges his plants on his windowsill.

‘Look, they’re just ferns, you’re not going to kill them,’ Felix tells him when he glances over his shoulder.

Chan gives him a wildly uncomfortable grimace.

‘I will literally send you messages on when to water them,’ Felix reassures him, ‘Hyunjin has the more complicated plants to take care of, trust me you cannot fuck up ferns and snake plants.’

You do know I do not have a good track record right? I’ve literally killed a cactus plant Chan reminds Felix.

‘Because you were doing too much,’ Felix argues, ‘I’m placing them here, you don’t have to touch them even once, just water them when I tell you to.’

You have too much faith in me.

‘Besides look at how nice your place looks! Even more put together!’ Felix exclaims and yes, Chan can agree on that, it’s why he even has that really nice fake fig-leaf tree in the corner – key word here being fake. Something about plants really pulling a whole place together even though you had the most mismatched bare minimum furniture.

I just don’t want to kill your plants Lix, Chan sighs.

‘And you won’t,’ Felix tells him, yet again with more confidence than what Chan was feeling. ‘Don’t worry about it. This is the exact same location where I put them upstairs, they’ll get the perfect amount of indirect light here, all you have to do is water them when I tell you to!’

It’s raining.

‘Yes,’ Felix nods patiently, ‘And regardless of the weather outside, it’ll be fine indoors in this location.’

Still wildly nervous about now having to take care of five potted plants Chan listens as Felix tells him about each plant. Maybe Chan should watch some videos of plant care basics for dummies or something. And it’s what he does when he gets to class. He’s there before Minho and he sits where they usually sit, wondering if Minho was late because of the weather.

It’s raining but it’s not too bad. Definitely better than the day before with the storm- apparently there had been some accidents as a result of the rain with the wind bringing down dried or loose hanging branches of trees on the street and hitting people or even damaging establishments. Thankfully the news doesn’t detail any serious injuries.

Speaking of injuries Minho walks up to their seats with a somewhat sheepish smile and raises his uninjured hand in greeting.

Chan completely freezes at the sight of the thick dressing around Minho’s left hand and wrist.

‘-okay it’s not as bad as it looks-.’ Minho says at once the moment he’s close enough.

What happened?! Chan demands as he gets up, oh god, what happened are you hurt elsewhere?! He stops when he realizes that Minho wouldn’t be able to follow his Speak so he quickly taps out of YouTube and opens his notes app.

‘Well,’ Minho says sheepishly, understanding the gist of his questions no doubt, ‘Got too confident with a nervous pregnant dog- she bit me and-.’

Chan guesses it’s not too shocking that vets would get bit- it probably happened a lot and considering the clinic Minho worked at took in rescues and strays before being sent to shelters or adoption centers, they probably came across a lot of traumatized animals that would lash out.

‘-it wouldn’t have been all that bad, but we had a visitor walk in just then, and their dog went berserk, and things just got messy and she was lashing out,’ Minho explains, trying to sound flippant about it as he takes a seat. ‘It’s not that bad, it’s mostly the location more than anything, which is why I’ve covered it in dressing.’

Chan has his notes app out and he has many questions but he doesn’t know which one to ask first.

‘It’s okay hyung,’ Minho tells him before wiggling his other hand, ‘Ambidextrous remember? Don’t worry about it.’

Of course I’m worried Chan tells Minho at once, ambidextrous or not, this must hurt.

‘I’m actually emotionally hurt rather than physically,’ Minho admits with a sigh, glancing down at his hand, lights sort of drooping with his expression letting Chan know Minho was genuinely more upset than physically hurt by this incident. ‘Also now I’ve just been assigned to desk duty and will probably spend 2 weeks or so watching Dowoon-hyung in the lab and writing his reports for him.’

Should you even be working at all?! Chan asks, like risk of infection and stuff? Shouldn’t you rest?!

Minho chuckles, little starts blossoming on his cheeks.

‘That’s why I’m on desk duty- also it’s not like I’ve been stabbed or something, I don’t need rest for something like this, the most annoying part about this injury is that showering is really annoying.’ Minho grumbles, looking displeased before glancing up at him and then hastily saying, ‘No really hyung, this is really not that bad – I don’t even have to cover it all that much and I only have 5 stitches – I won’t even have a cool scar from this.’

Chan can’t help but give Minho an incredulous look at that.

‘You have the map of Japan on your elbow – how cool would it be if I had like, I dunno, New Zealand on my wrist?’ Minho asks, blinking earnestly at him.

Chan can’t help but laugh, mostly out of incredulity and also because that was actually funny.

How long will you have to keep the stitches in? Chan asks once he forces himself to get a grip. Minho was fine, he wouldn’t be coming to class if he wasn’t able to- besides he has his usual amount of little stars around him.

‘Depends,’ Minho tells him, looking at his hand and wrist in a sort of disgruntled manner, ‘The ones on the edges in a couple of days, but the ones in the middle on the deepest wound about a week.’

You’re moving out soon Chan types worriedly.

‘I have friends with perfectly functional hands and two parents very enthusiastic to have their son back home,’ Minho snorts but he looks a little sheepish, like the idea of other people doing more work than him in his move was bothering him.

Did you come here by bus? he asks after he raises his hand to answer his roll call.

Minho laughs quietly, glancing over at the lecturer who was now starting to call for attendance.

‘Jisungie dropped me off, he’s waiting for me at the café actually,’ Minho explains, ‘We’re headed to IKEA after class.’

Okay that was good.

Chan has personally never been injured to the point of requiring stitches before – a sprained ankle yes, a pulled muscle (too many times), and mostly injuries that require physical therapy and rest. So stitches sort of freaks him out a little. Like what do you mean you’ve literally stitched your skin together?!

‘Do you wanna see it-?’

Minho! Chan splutters, carefully putting Minho’s arm down because his legal husband was reaching for his dressing as though ready to pull it off and show him.

Minho wheezes a little, putting his good hand down and away from his injured one before giving him a reassuring nod and saying, ‘No seriously, it’s genuinely okay hyung – there was no nerve damage, no major blood vessels were hit, and with proper treatment I’ll barely have a scar to show for it.’

Minho quickly raises his hand as his name is called before he adds with amusement, ‘You’re more worried than my parents.’

Chan pauses a moment, wondering if what he wanted to say was maybe too much considering, well, considering everything about them, between them.

Minho found the fact that Chan had seen him for months before not weird (as Felix had reassured him) and more so simply a matter of geographic coincidence which Chan does think is the root cause of all of this (unlike what Felix had said about fate).

He decides to take Minho’s advice of not overthinking this and carefully and sincerely types out: your hands are made for healing, so of course I’m worried.

Light dusts Minho’s cheeks, ears, and down his neck before a rosy hue spreads over them. He blinks rapidly, curling in on himself a little and smiling a little.

‘All right, phones away, let’s start,’ the lecturer calls as he opens the PowerPoint on the projector.

Cheeks still flushed Minho takes his books and notebook out, mostly performative on both of their part really.

They play word-finder for nearly the entire duration of the class though they do fill out the classwork sheet and pretend to focus for a while before racking their brains for other words that could be spelt out using “CLIMATE” as the base. At one point Minho takes his bottle of water out and pushes it towards him, resigned but amused smile on his lips. Chan dutifully opens the bottle for him with a tiny flourish and Minho shortly bows his head in response.

When class ends Chan tells Minho he wanted a smoothie (somewhat true, he’s always happy to have the blueberry smoothie from the café) and so accompanies him to the café, using his umbrella instead as it was larger and could cover both of them quite comfortably.

When they get to the café Jisung is cheerily chatting away to Ryujin much to Chan’s impending sense of doom of what was to come.

They knew each other?!

‘You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,’ is all Minho manages to say before both Ryujin and Jisung spot them.

‘Hyung!’ Jisung waves and then adds, ‘Brother-in-law!’

Ryujin breaks out into a cackle at that, eyes gleaming in a way that makes Chan know that Yuna was about to know what happened before he even gets to the facility.

‘Oppa,’ Ryujin grins, ‘Here for a smoothie?’

Chan sighs as he says yes.

‘Hyung, got you a healthy drink,’ Jisung grins, ‘I’m told it’s the healthiest thing here.’

‘Don’t worry it’s actually good,’ Ryujin tells Minho as she pulls out an already made drink from the side. It’s a peachy colour with small darker fruit bits inside. ‘The healthy aspect is a bonus.’

‘If I’m not immediately healthy can I sue the café?’ Minho chuckles, accepting the drink, ‘Thank you, this does look amazing.’

‘Well, you’d have to charge Jisung I suppose, he chose it,’ Ryujin chuckles.

Minho takes a sip of his drink and nods, little stars bursting around his head in approval. Jisung does a quick double-take at Minho, at his lights, eyes narrowing a little before they shift over to him-!

‘Not too sweet.’ Minho declares, giving Ryujin a strained thumb’s up with his bandaged hand.

‘Best compliment,’ Ryujin chuckles before saying to Chan, ‘I’ll start on your smoothie oppa.’

‘Oh yeah, Jeonginnie was telling me that you can get swimming lessons?’ Jisung asks with actual interest.

Yes! Chan nods you can, are you interested? Truthfully it’s mostly children who join, but it’s not a children’s program and adults are also welcome!

‘You want to learn how to swim?’ Minho asks Jisung, sounding very confused.

‘No- you should learn how to swim,’ Jisung tells Minho.

‘Why would I need to learn how to swim?’ Minho demands incredulously, ‘I’ve never once had a situation where I’ve had to swim.’

‘You need to learn so that you can save me if I drown,’ Jisung starts seriously but ends up laughing. Chan’s pretty sure he hears Ryujin laugh where she was putting the ingredients together for his smoothie.

‘Then we both die,’ Minho deadpans.

You can both get swimming lessons Chan tells Jisung hurriedly, no need to die – or you can get them instead and that way you can save Minho.

Jisung’s eyes key in on his hands as he signs Minho’s name before giving him a smile that reminds Chan of the way Felix smiled when he was feeling mischievous.

‘It’s my civic duty to tell you not to give him discount,’ Minho says at once.

‘I wasn’t going to ask that!’ Jisung says quickly before adding, ‘But would hyung get a husband discount?’

Chan wheezes as Minho aims a kick (he barely lifts his foot in Jisung’s direction) at Jisung’s knees and he jumps away with a bright laugh.

Out of my control I’m afraid Chan grins.

‘Wait,’ Minho frowns, looking at him, ‘I don’t get a discount?!’

Okay okay you can, Chan chuckles, for free.

Minho squints at his hands a little and it takes him a moment plus Jisung’s reaction to understand what he said before he nods in approval, smug smile on his face, lights gleaming on the outer corners of his eyes.

Jisung immediately keys in on that.

‘Gotta enjoy the husband perks before the divorce,’ Minho declares in a teasing tone before nodding at Ryujin and raising his cup, ‘Thank you again for this suggestion.’

‘Yeah of course!’ Ryujin beams, hand placed firmly over the blender as it processes Chan’s smoothie.

Have fun at IKEA Chan tells the two, please don’t strain yourself too much he adds, pointing to Minho’s hand.

‘Thanks hyung,’ Minho smiles, ‘See you next week.’

‘Bye brother-in-law!’ Jisung waves.

The two leave the café, drinks in hand and Chan goes to stand where Jisung had been standing to wait for his drink. Without really thinking about it, Chan looks back out of the glass doors of the café and unfortunately for him, it’s not Minho who looks back around – it’s Jisung.

Chan cannot believe it got worse.

He hastily smiles at Jisung and whips back around before getting a chance to see Jisung’s reaction.

How do you know Jisung? Chan asks Ryujin when she comes back to the counter with his drink.

‘He’s friends with Julia!’ Ryujin explains, ‘I had no idea Minho-shii was friends with him and Seungmin.’

Minho was right because you’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Chan didn’t personally know Seungmin, he’d only vaguely heard of him being friends with Julia and Yeji but had never seen or met him. And now he was yet another random connection, random thing linking him and Minho.

‘What are your husband perks?’ Ryujin asks teasingly.

Chan wheezes, swirling the contents of his cup before placing it down.

Free check up for any pet I might adopt?

‘Oh so you’re getting way better perks then,’ Ryujin chuckles before slapping her hand down on the counter and leaning over it, ‘By the way, how’s the restraining order coming along if you don’t mind me asking? You know they sent out emails to the café employees about Go Youngmin? To call university security if we see him.’

Chan had received that email too, as an employee working within the university. He didn’t realize it would be sent out to the café baristas. Did they send it to the convenience store workers within the university grounds too?

It seems like things will be finalized tomorrow, Chan tells Ryujin, well, hopefully. But my lawyer says he’s hopeful.

Lawyer Im had sent him an optimistic and hopeful message yesterday evening just as he was heading to work, letting him know that he’d have to come to the Court on Friday and that they might be able to actually finalize the restraining order this week.

‘If he’s just a little smart, he’ll know not to do anything stupid,’ Ryujin grumbles before sighing, ‘He literally has a criminal record but it’s not going to effect his life at all; Yuna told me about him years ago you know? Like when you guys started swimming together and stuff.’

I had no idea he had a reputation that severe, Chan frowns, Yuna was just a freshman when we started swimming for tournaments.

‘Oh not quite in terms of like, reputation, but purely out of vibes,’ Ryujin points out, ‘She always said his Magick felt off – Yeji-unnie said the same thing about him.’

Right, Chan actually would like to talk to Yeji and ask her about what she had to say about compatibility in Magick. He’s pretty sure he has her contact, maybe he’ll message her once the restraining order business was finalized.

The next day, dressed up smart and neat, seal-skin smooth and silky, and only just managing not to shake his leg the whole time, Chan takes a seat next to Lawyer Lim.

Sitting towards the back of the small hearing room, Changbin, Hyunjin, and Felix do their best to maintain a calm composure as well. Changbin’s father is there as well, completely shocking Chan when the older man smiles warmly at him, walking alongside his son and Hyunjin.

Go Youngmin doesn’t show up even if he was required to (no doubt he’d pay a hefty fine for that or face some sort of legal charge). Instead his lawyers are all present, the full force, and no family member shows up. Instead Dong Ryusok is there for his final sentencing regarding stealing Chan’s seal-skin.

The Judge allows the session to proceed and after both sides finish their final piece, not just regarding the restraining order but also the assault, and of course, stealing his seal-skin.

Dong Ryusok is unsurprisingly found guilty on all counts, and to Chan’s surprise is given 6 years in prison which was honestly more than he expected especially as he agreed to cooperate in exchange for a lighter charge.

Lawyer Im doesn’t show any reaction to this so Chan also stays as neutral as he can.

The Judge then proceeds to the restraining order.

16 months.

Once again, Chan is in shock. They had pushed for 18 months, Lawyer Im saying that it would be argued down on Go Youngmin’s side so Chan was expecting a year at best.

But it was 16 months.

Go Youngmin would now not be allowed to contact Chan in any way or form, be it calling him, messaging him, reaching out to him through any social media platform. His stay-away clause, as detailed by laws specifically protecting Selkies, would ban Youngmin from being 300 meters within Chan’s home and workplace. He wouldn’t have any one specific protection service but an emergency alarm system would be installed in Chan’s living address that will alert the police if Youngmin approaches his in his house. The university security service would also be further briefed with required updates to the overall security system in the Sports Science Faculty building.

It’s with a sort of numbness that Chan goes through the whole process, barely blinking, completely frozen in his seat.

It was done.

It was official.

The Judge releases them and Chan, still a bit stunned, turns around to his friends. Felix’s lights are sparking up a mini-storm, barely able to contain himself. Hyunjin has what Chan thinks is a bruising grip on Changbin’s arm while the latter looks like he was about to explode at any point.

Of course Chan exchanges the polite bows with the Go family lawyers who barely look at him or Lawyer Im and take their leave, looking neither particularly pleased or displeased. They don’t even seem relieved or anything of the sort; they just truly didn’t seem to really care about the outcome which was somewhat unsettling to Chan.

The moment they’re out of the hearing room and out of the Court building itself Felix lets out a pitchy but guttural excited roar, springing up in the air with glee. Changbin gets him in a tight hug, making him choke out with the force a little as Hyunjin slaps his back victoriously.

Changbin’s dad had left with Lawyer Im, heading for the parking downstairs so it’s just them now.

‘Oh my god, it’s done!’ Hyunjin exclaims, ‘Ugh I’m so fucking relieved-!’

‘I feel so much better about leaving,’ Felix wails, jumping up to tackle him into a hug, ‘Ugh, I’m so relieved-!’

‘Come on, we should eat something delicious,’ Changbin tells them, ‘Get some delicious meat, a ton of carbs, and later tonight after practice lets get drinks!’

Felix cheers, throwing his hands up.

‘No practice tomorrow I will be drinking!’ Hyunjin cheers before looking around him in comic wariness, ‘Oh right, feels weirdly illegal to say that while still in Court.’

Chan wheezes, relief making him tired.

Restraining himself a little as he eats with the others because he didn’t want to feel heavy during his coaching hours, Chan genuinely feels a massive weight drop off of his shoulders. In fact he feels so light, finally detaching a weight that was ever growing nearly ever since he started university that he feels like he might actually float up.

He updates the senior coaches of course, and Coach Minho claps, punching the air with gusto while Minhyuk takes a more serious approach and asks for more details regarding the restraining order and what it entailed for Go Youngmin and more importantly for Chan and his safety outside of places like his home and work.

His coaching session goes well too, with Jisoo being confident to join them for their sessions again this week and asking if Minho would show up or not.

It also becomes something of a farewell gathering for Felix as much as it is a congratulatory celebration for the success of the restraining order.

Chaeryeong, Yuna, Ryujin, Julia, and Yeji show up. Changbin and Felix’s friends Wooyoung and Yeonjun show up as well, making them a surprisingly large gathering occupying the long table at the barbeque place.

Chan is proven once more than second stomachs did exist especially when you were in a celebratory mood and all of your good friends were with you, cheerily sharing updates or stories.

They’re on a balcony area, nearly taking up the whole space in fact as they’ve joined together three tables. They randomly swap seats around and when Yuna gets up to go the washroom with Chaeryeong Yeji sits on her empty seat and elbows him.

‘Hey, heard from Hyunjin that you wanted to talk to me?’

Yes I do, Chan nods quickly after wiping his hands clean, let me know if it’s an odd question or something.

‘Yeah of course,’ Yeji nods.

So I assume you’ve heard that I accidently got married.

‘You did? I had no idea,’ Yeji grins teasingly.

Chan rolls his eyes but chuckles, I wanted to talk to you about Magick compatibility?

‘Oh yeah of course,’ Yeji sits up straighter, leaning in with interest, ‘What’s this in relation with?’

Chan gives Yeji a brief rundown on how he sees Minho’s Magick, how other people saw it/didn’t see it, and how Minho himself didn’t seem to realize anything about it.

Yeji nods slowly the whole time, slurping some soup slowly.

‘Hm, that’s interesting,’ she says slowly, nose and golden-yellow eyes watering a little because the soup is spicy. ‘And Changbin-oppa said he could only see small glimpses here and there?’

Chan nods.

‘But Yuna could see it how you saw it – the younglings too?’

Chan nods again, quickly handing her a glass of slightly watery soda.

‘Interesting,’ she says again before her eyes narrow and her gaze slides over to him, ‘Is it not just the Selkie marriage bond?’

That’s more in terms of a Magick bond between two Selkies Chan says but now he’s not too sure.

‘Well, sure- but Minho-shii is quarter Light Fae isn’t he? And he literally has visible Magick,’ Yeji points out after she swallows down some soda, ‘I’m sure you know that the bond you now share with Minho-shii isn’t just like, a legal thing, but it’s binding with Magick even if it’s with someone who isn’t Seely.’

Chan nods, he felt it when Minho returned his seal-skin to him, that link binding them together.