#renjun timestamps
[2:13 p.m.]
renjun notices the way your head tucks onto your chest and the way your feet dangle as they intertwine with his in the hammock. you hated the fact that you can fall asleep so easily wherever you go, but it only makes you seem more endearing in renjun’s eyes. especially now, your soft snores reminding him that there’s no place he’d rather be except laying with you.
⚠️tw: tragic backstories and crippling angst lol, mentions of deceased parents, drowning mentions, implied suic*de, grief, renjun’s cute english (all mistakes in his dialogue are intentional. enjoy)
i had no idea this would get such enthusiastic reactions. thank you everyone who requested a continuation, hope this makes you feel something and answers some questions ♡
this is part three of merman!renjun, find parts oneandtwo here :))
1:44pm: “did it hurt?”
merman!renjun glanced up at runaway prince!jeno’s prompt, who stared expectantly at him through the bars of his cell.
“what?”
the prince gestured at renjun’s legs and spoke matter-of-factly. “your tail. it’s gone. did it hurt?”
“oh… yes.” he wiggled his toes. “it hurt.”
“a lot?”
renjun paused and hugged his knees a little closer into his chest. “yes.”
“and you… can’t transform back.” pirate!you lifted your chin to make eye contact with renjun, who pursed his lips and nodded in response.
“magic is no-come-back,” he said with a shrug.
“irreversible,” the prince offered.
“irressimble. no merperson ever come back from land.”
your heart and eyes sank to your lap. “right.”
poor haechan.
you found yourself getting to your feet. “i… i’m gonna leave you two to catch up.” dusting off your palms on your hips, you cleared your throat. “let me know if you, uh, need anything, alright?”
renjun nodded.
“right. um… your highness.” you offered a quick curtsey towards jeno, who scoffed lightly at the difference between your usual domineering behaviour and your attempt at character continuity.
as you made your way up the stairs, you remembered the time pirate!haechan had first opened up to you about his past. you had both been younger, yet already best of friends.
“cap'n the only family you got?” he tossed a grape into his mouth.
“we have an older sister. on land, though. runs an orphanage.”
he made a noise of interest. “parents?”
you shook your head as you reached for another grape. “shipwreck, funnily enough. you?”
“three siblings. all younger than me.”
you chortled at the thought. “you? the eldest?”
“i’m more responsible than you give me credit for,” he retorted, a dramatic hand placed on his chest in mock offence.
“yeah, right. i’ll give you credit when you don’t slack off.”
he laughed, and the two of you sat in silence for a moment.
you reached the top of the stairs, and took a moment to let yourself adjust to the sunlight. scanning the deck through squinted eyes, you spotted haechan at the bow of the ship, his back turned to you as he stared out at the ocean.
“your parents still around?” you had asked.
his brow had furrowed at the stars above and his chewing grew hesitant. you had started to apologise, realising you’d struck a nerve, but he shook his head and reassured you it wasn’t your fault.
“dad’s there, yeah. mum’s, uh… mum was a mermaid.”
a sound of surprise escaped your lips.
“—or so my father told us. she came to shore, grew legs and lived as a human. had my siblings and i… and loved my father. loved us.”
you chose to listen in silence and watch as he focused on peeling the skin off the grape he held in his hands.
“we were at the beach one day. i guess she missed her home, ‘cause she barely said anything and just stared out to sea.” he took a slow, shallow breath. “i asked her to come and… and play with us. and she… took my hands, told me she loved me… let me go, and—and just walked straight in. right through the waves. didn’t stop. never saw her again.”
you didn’t know what to say, so you went with the safe option. “i’m so sorry.”
“nah,” he said, trying to disguise his sniffling with a deep inhale, “all in the past. i used to be mad about it, but i’m over that now. she’s probably happier.”
you sighed at the sight of him. he was barely moving, but his loose shirt and hair whipped around in the wind. no, you aren’t.
leaning your elbows on the taffrail next to him, you watched the hull of the ship split the ocean surface, leaving waves in her wake and advancing still.
you weren’t taken aback when you turned towards haechan and was met with tears streaming steadily down his cheeks, their trail from his grief-stricken eyes shining in the sun.
he could barely maintain eye contact with you, his gaze drawn to the horizon again. a wet exhale left his lips before he pursed them tighter and gripped the railing until his knuckles turned white.
“the merman’s telling the truth, then?” he managed, his tone laced with anger. “you can’t transform back once you grow legs?”
“haechan, i—”
“you can’t transform back, then what happened to my mum, huh?” he demanded, perhaps towards you, perhaps not. “you’re telling me she walked in to die? to drown in her own home?”
“haechan.”
“you mean i let her go for what? for nothing?”
“hey—”
he sniffed and shook his head, “no. no, it can’t be true. maybe he just doesn’t know her. my house is on the other end of the earth, he probably never even heard of someone returning because he’s never met—”
“haechan.” you caught his shoulder and he gripped your hand, to throw it off or for support, you couldn’t tell—until his breath was sucked out of his lungs, his head hung and he gave in to the sobs that racked his body. his weight fell forward as his knees buckled, and you caught him with practised foresight.
the two of you sank to your knees, his face buried in your shoulder and balled fists clutching the fabric of your shirt. murmuring your words of comfort and drawing circles on his back, you let him grieve his mother a second and final time.
when he finally exhausted himself and you stopped having to remove your hand from his head to wave away anyone who approached you, renjun climbed onto the deck in search of you. he frowned in confusion when he recognised haechan and stayed wary as he drew nearer.
haechan noticed his presence and pulled himself out of your arms and onto his feet. clearing his throat, he raised his eyes to the merman’s.
“i shouldn’t have touched you,” he began awkwardly, “i was… stupid, and… it almost cost you your life. i’m sorry.”
renjun looked like he didn’t know what to respond with. “you are welcome,” he replied hesitantly.
taken aback at the unexpected answer, haechan cleared his throat again and walked past the boy.
renjun turned back towards you, tilting his head in puzzlement. “why is he sad?”
you sighed deeply before standing up too. “haechan’s mother was a mermaid.”
renjun’s lips parted in shock.
“she had legs, too, and lived on land. but she missed the sea, so she said goodbye and went back.” you gestured over his shoulder at haechan’s disappearing figure down the stairs, his gaze following your hand. “he never knew merpeople couldn’t transform back, so he thought she was still alive.”
the boy didn’t meet your eyes when he turned back around. a moment of silence smothered any further words you might have said.
“and he tried help me and push me back in water.”
“… yes. he thought… you would be happier in the water.”
another beat.
“he is not happy.”
“no, he isn’t.”
you paused to let him contemplate.
“but. she was happy.”
“hmm?”
“his mother. she was happy.”
then it was your turn to tilt your head to the side.
“mermaids choose legs,” he explained, “his mother choose land.”
“merpeople choose to transform permanently?”
he nodded eagerly, “choose to t…ransform pernamamently. i choose because you protect.”
“because i protected you?”
“yes. i am in danger and you protec-ted me. i choose tarnsform tail to legs.”
you mulled over this consideration. “i… i’ll let him know. thank you, renjun.”
“you are welcome,” he responded with certainty, offering you his first smile, albeit small.
you managed to smile back. “alright,” you declared, “how about some lunch? you hungry?”
i reckon there’s room for part four.. hm hm thoughts thoughts
taglist:@whattaweeb@radiorenjun
⚠️tw: swearing, violence, haechan’s a bit of an ass in this, but he has his reasons
this is part two of this au!
1:24pm: “will someone remind me why it is we’re taking him with us?” pirate!haechandemanded.
pirate!you shot him a look. “he stays.”
he scowled back at you. “look at him,” he said, nudging his chin in merman!renjun’s general direction, “he can barely walk.”
glancing over, you had to admit that haechan’s observations were right—having given up attempting to stand a while ago, renjun sat alone on the edge of the deck. he was staring down at the wood under his new feet with a slight frown, like he was wondering why the dark grains weren’t rolling over each other as waves would. the clothes given to him were too big for his frame, and his hands and feet were barely visible in the sea of sleeves.
“he doesn’t belong here. why he’s stupid enough to stay, i couldn’t say.” turning around, haechan started to scrub the railing with more aggression than ever.
“well, he obviously didn’t want to go back, so lay off it, will you?”
haechan scoffed like he had given up. “you know what? fine.” throwing the rag back into the bucket, he shrugged rather dramatically. “i’ll just accept that i can’t possibly fathom why a merman won’t go back into the ocean.” with that, he left, stomping away with as much dignity as he could muster despite leaving his chore half-finished.
sighing in frustration at both yourself and him, you picked up his bucket and continued his job.
you decided not to chase him up—you knew the grudge he held, and you weren’t about to sour his mood further just for the sake of it.
you also knew haechan wasn’t being ridiculous, nor was his reasoning questionable. you remembered the terror in renjun’s eyes when he turned back at you, the wordless pleas to save him, his desperate hands clutching at your shoulder. you only had the capacity to be confused after you led him back onboard.
tossing the rest of the water in the bucket over the railing, you carried it below deck, then remembered you had yet to offer renjun some food. visiting cook!kunandcook!chenle in the kitchen, you cleared your throat to announce your presence over the rapid chinese conversation the two were engaged in. they poured you a bowl of a simple soup, and you blew on it softly to cool it down on your way above deck—you were sure renjun wasn’t used to steaming hot meals.
shouts and sounds of a scuffle caught your attention midway up the flight of stairs, and you rushed out to see what the commotion was about.
alarm overrode your senses as you recognised renjun in the crowd gathered at the far end of the ship—pinned down onto the railing by none other than haechan, who was yelling in renjun’s face about something you couldn’t quite make out. even in the chaos, renjun spotted you in his peripheral vision, and opened his mouth to scream for you.
you dropped the bowl and broke into a sprint, your breath hitching as haechan reached down and hooked his arm under renjun’s knees. panicking, the boy kicked out, which only aided haechan in lifting him completely off the deck. you almost swore his hand was searching for something to hold onto as he plummeted.
it all happened so fast, and you were so far—one moment, he was scrabbling at haechan, the next, he was slipping off the railing… then he was airborne, but not for long.
“what are you doing?!” you screamed, almost shoving haechan to the side.
“putting the fish back where he belongs,” he replied breathlessly, barely looking at you. “why? you gonna tell me i shouldn’t have?”
you caught the railing in your hands, leaning over to search for renjun in the water. a cloud of bubbles had risen to mark where the merman had landed, and you held your own breath as you waited, not knowing what to expect. was he just going to swim away? would he wave goodbye?
when most of the bubbles cleared, you caught a glimpse of the white shirt he had been wearing.
even though the blue of the ocean blurred your view of him, the pit in your stomach grew as you realised the shirt wasn’t sinking, and neither was it still. in fact, the sleeves were still flailing around erratically, the unnatural movements slowed by the density of the water.
barely thinking, you kicked off your shoes and threw off your hat. you were about to shake off your jacket when a hand pulled your shoulder back and away from the edge. you let out a cry of shock, whipping your head around to see captain!taeyong, who shook his head at you sternly. you tried to shrug him off, but he only held on tighter.
“haechan,” he said, “fish-boy’s drowning. you go get him.”
the boy’s face turned incredulous. “why me?”
“you threw him over. you get him. go.”
you weren’t shocked when haechan audibly swore under his breath, but started kicking off his shoes anyway. he wasn’t one to cross the captain’s orders, and he wasn’t about to start.
still grumbling, he jumped onto the railing, calculating the distance from the ledge to the water below. he spat out to the side, swore, then pin-dropped perfectly.
you watched as haechan disappeared under the surface, and reemerged a few moments later with a panicking renjun in his arms, yelling at him to shut up and relax.
two of your crewmates had lowered the rowboat onto the water when haechan had jumped. he dragged renjun towards it, pulled himself up and helped renjun in before leaning back and waiting for the crew to haul the boat back up.
when they were both back on deck, renjun was still spluttering up water from his lungs. you crouched next to him and thumped your hand on his back rhythmically, encouraging him to cough it out. tears flowed down his cheeks as he struggled for breath—he had obviously never experienced coughing before.
“for the stars’ sake,” haechan challenged, “why is he still here, inconveniencing everyone? huh?” he leaned into renjun’s face threateningly, “you get caught accidentally, we let you go, and you ignore that? you could have just transformed back and swam away, but no. you just had to make me get my clothes wet, didn’t you? why? you determined to piss me off?”
still doubled over on his knees, renjun had managed to stop coughing. he didn’t move from his position, his chest still heaving as he panted. you noticed his fingertips pressing into the wooden planks under his palms, his nails turning white with the pressure. his shoulders quivered and jaw was clenched tight.
your lips parted in realisation.
“he can’t.”
haechan probably hadn’t heard you over the sound of his own blood roaring in his ears. “what?”
“hecan’t,” you repeated, looking up at him, “he can’t transform back.”
renjun’s silence only confirmed your theory.
haechan blinked. his hands slipped off his hips, and his jaw went slack.
you could only imagine how haechan must have been feeling. how his chest must have tightened with the confronting truth, how he must have forgotten the world around him.
that you could only guess—you knew what thought was whirling through his mind.
“come on,” you said gently, gripping renjun’s shoulders. “can you stand?”
he nodded shakily, and you thought you heard him choke back a sob.
leaving haechan to some space to himself, you led a trembling renjun below deck to get warm. you sat him down on a crate next to the brig, murmuring reassurances to him, and started searching for a spare blanket.
“what the—renjun?”
you had almost forgotten the brig wasn’t empty, so you weren’t alone below deck. you turned to see runaway prince!jeno, who was usually rarely awake, clutching at the bars of his prison.
you frowned in confusion as renjun cried out incoherently, launching himself off the crate to kneel in front of the prison. “je-no!” he exclaimed, sounding just as shocked as the prince through his accent.
“you two… know each other?”
jeno glanced at you, then back at the merman. “renjun freed me and saved my life.” the boy nodded profusely in support.
“uh… you’re still very much imprisoned, your highness.”
“no, no, no—” the prince started to correct you. “—in the merpeople’s palace.”
⚠️tw: weapon use, mentions of blood
1:07pm: “well, you’re not cod.”
it was not the silky smooth skin (scales?), nor the somewhat fascinating slits for gills flaring in the creature’s shock that first caught your attention. not even the wriggling tail, shimmering golds and greens and blues even in minimal sunlight with every movement.
it was the eyes. the wild young eyes that defied the status of prey and established itself as a living being, not just a body of meat and bones. there was a soul there, so hungry and alive, barely containing the storm behind them.
it was startling how such fire could come from a child of the sea.
thetis had blessed you today with your first close-up look at a real merman, suspended above you in a fishing net. still hissing and thrashing, it bared its teeth at you and the crew, fighting for freedom, but only managing to tangle itself further in the process.
“lucky catch?” first mate!johnny mused, shrugging his shoulder.
“didn’t think we’d see merpeople in these waters,” quartermaster!jaehyunmuttered.
cook!chenle was shaking his head. “we can’t eat that,” he said, arms crossed over his chest.
“no shit,” pirate!haechan replied, “we’ve all heard the stories — men’s blood freezing up in their veins.” he shuddered. “don’t know about y'all, but i’m not about to have my blood turned into slush.”
your crewmates’ words hung about you like the low-hanging clouds on a still day, and yet you couldn’t take your eyes off the creature, so very clearly out of its element.
to see such a beautiful, fatal beast struggling in such a way under your hand, exposed and vulnerable — so wonderfully voyeuristic and intimate, you couldn’t help but become intrigued by it. him.
his eyes had turned from furious to panicked as the net was lowered down onto the deck, grabbing at the ropes and swiping desperately as if his claws could cut through in such a time.
you still had yet to say a word, still stunned with awe as he spilled out onto the wooden deck along with the rest of the catch — but found yourself lunging forward as you saw your crew stepping forward to handle him however they planned.
hand at your sheathed cutlass, you stepped in front of the merman, turning to face your crew with a daring glare.
“you won’t touch him,” you warned, raising your chin to challenge anyone to question your authority.
jaehyun let out a sigh and motioned for the others to step back. they begrudgingly obeyed, just as the captain’s quarters opened and captain!taeyong, your brother, stepped out on deck.
“what’s going on there?”
“merman, sir,” cabin boy!jisung piped up, “pulled up the fishing net and there he was, sir.”
“merman, you say?” taeyong repeated, taking his time down the stairs. “you mean that boy?”
looking back at him, your jaw dropped as the boy’s tail seemed to melt away, fins into flesh and bending into knees — real knees, ankles and feet and all — right before your very eyes.
the boy’s face was twisted with nausea and pain, and you realised he must have been enduring the sensations of new limbs being created in real time, bones fusing and scales sinking into skin, then splitting into two separate legs. you winced as he visibly fought back a strained groan of agony.
you took a second to process the transformation before you as the crowd parted for your captain like the splitting sea as he approached. you clenched your jaw when he signalled you to step aside, but you did so cautiously nevertheless.
crouching in front of the naked half-boy, taeyong ignored his (weaker) warning hiss and held a short blade under his chin, tilting it upwards so as to get a better look at his gills as they vanished, fusing back into the skin of his neck. he took a long gasp of air, strained with the position he was held in.
“now, what’s a pretty thing like you doing in our fishing net?”
instead of replying, he snapped at his hand, jaws opening to reveal a normal, human set of teeth. instead of flinching, however, like most of the crew, your brother gave him a warning of his own, stabbing downwards at the half-boy’s no-longer-webbed hands. the blade caught the gap between his thumb and finger, which would have pinned him to the deck had he still been in his merman form.
your grip tightened on your cutlass’ handle as the creature yelped in shock. “taeyong, enough!” nudging him hard out of your way, you reach down and pull the knife out, throwing it aside. you turn on your brother, recovering from his fall. “get away from him,” you snapped, only to be met with laughter.
“what’s it to you, whether it dies or not?”
“you’ll leave him alone, and that’s that.” you tried to put as much finality as you could into your voice, half-worried it wouldn’t be enough — but to your surprise, taeyong snorted and gave you a nod.
“suit yourself,” he placed his hands on his hips, “what would you have us do with it, then? leave it in the sun to dry?”
the merman let out a low growl at that suggestion, but you ignored it.
“we let him go.”
pirate!jaemin threw off his shirt to drape over the shivering boy as he was hauled up onto shaky new feet, legs buckling and knees giving in with the first few steps he took.
as soon as he could take certain steps, taeyong ordered for the plank to be taken out, and they were quick to usher him onto it to drop back into the sea. he hadn’t helped at all, squirming profusely in protest all throughout.
the boy’s previous feral ferocity had long since gone, and his eyes now screamed of a strange panic and fear. glancing from the horizon to his feet and the waters below and back, he seemed to be hesitating. wasn’t the ocean his home?
you didn’t dare move a muscle in anticipation until he looked desperately over his shoulder, staring straight at you — begging for mercy from the only person who had granted it to him.
pure instinct launched you forward, stepping onto the plank and tiptoeing over to him, ignoring your crew’s exclamations behind you.
“it’s okay,” you called out, “you can come back.”
the boy clutched at the shirt, wrapping it tighter around himself as he trembled in cold, beautiful face twisted in anguish.
“come back with me,” you beckoned, reaching your open hand out. “i can protect you.”
you realised you didn’t even know for certain that he knew what you were saying, but your eyes seemed to say enough for him. he managed a shaky step towards you, then another, and another, until he was within reach for him to take your hand (albeit tentatively).
the plank was nowhere near wide enough for you to support him side by side, so you offered your arm and shoulder for him to grab onto and lean on as you led him back onto the ship. the crew allowed enough space for him to collapse to his knees almost as soon as he climbed back on deck, and you ordered for jisung to bring him a new outfit.
soon, the crowd dispersed, returning to their duties — you looked up from helping him put on a clean shirt to taeyong, grinning down at you.
“you’ll be responsible for it from now on,” he said.
“i know.”
“good,” he nodded slowly, seeming to be proud of himself.
you fastened the last button for him and examined his face as he stared down into his lap.
“do you have a name?”
the boy’s pale lips twitched, like he was trying to form words as you had done.
you repeated your question, softer and slower.
you didn’t know what voice you were expecting from him, but it was more melodic and fragile than you could have ever imagined.
“renjun,” he murmured, “my name is renjun.”
—
[7:14PM] a big smile was plastered on renjun’s face, jogging slightly so she could have a chance to catch him. and eventually, she did. the couple laughed out loud, his hands snaking around her waist as she wraps her arms around his neck.
“i love you, so much.” the brown haired boy spoke. eyes full of love while staring into her eyes. “i love you too, injun.” she responded, slowly starting to lean in so she could press her lips against his.
i smiled, feeling happy that he was able to move on. but deep inside, i could feel my heart slowly ache as i watched my lover with another girl. if only i survived, this would’ve been me instead of her.
although, it’s fine. as long as he’s happy with her. i no longer have to see the love of my life cry over my death over and over again. today marks as his 21st birthday. it also means that he’ll finally spend his birthday somewhere else other than my grave.
as they hold each other’s hand and began to walk away, i watched my other half become whole again with another.
a/n: aaaa im sorry for writing so much angst lately (〒﹏〒) i can’t help it heuheuehe but i promise to write fluff afterwards!! no!more!sad!stories! but anyways,, this was completely inspired by a tiktok vid i came across while i was scrolling :]
[ 12:32am ]
neighbor!renjun is sending signals to you from his window again, a beaming circle from his flashlight bypassing the fabric of your curtains.
at the sight of it, you scramble to your window and draw the curtains open. with his flashlight in his other hand, he’s holding up his large notebook with the words “I CAN’T SLEEP” scribbled onto it in big, black letters.
you smile, reach for your own notebook, write down “WHY NOT?” and hold it up for him to see. he takes a moment and squints his eyes to read your question. then, he’s writing again.
“BORED!” he holds up, with a proud smile on his face.
you scoff at the silly reason and put your notebook down. at this, renjun knows that you’re about to open up your window so you can talk to him, and mimics your action with his window.
“why couldn’t you just text me?” you call out to him. he shrugs. “doesn’t this feel so much cooler?”
well, you can’t really disagree with him.
as the midnight air wafts through your bedroom and you converse with the cute boy next door, you can’t help but have this tingly feeling inside your heart. it doesn’t help that renjun was looking especially good tonight, with his messy dark brown hair and black pajama shirt.
“well we have school in like 7 hours, so you should probably fix that!”
the boy shakes his head in disapproval. “OR… you can stay up with me and we will suffer tomorrow together.”
although you feign reluctance, both of you know that this was inevitable—you’re far too whipped for him to reject him of basically anything.
and just like that, you’re climbing into his window while he turns his nintendo switch on. you’re hit with the familiar smell of renjun, the fruity scent of his shampoo swirling all over your body.
“i’m gonna hate myself for this,” you grumble as you plop yourself next to him. truthfully, you already do. your head is spinning from his nice scent and this close proximity. if you’re trying to get over him, this was not doing you any favors.
from your peripherals you can see renjun smile to himself, making your heart ache. “nobody forced you to,” he teasingly argues.
“ok shut up,” you scowl as he hands you your remote. as complicated as it sounds, you know that he knows that you’re completely smitten by him. did you ever actually confess to him? of course not. has this ever been acknowledged between you two? not at all.
yet somehow, he just KNOWS and somehow you know that he knows. the both of you tiptoe around the subject, although sometimes he gets bold about it just to see you flustered.
with a light blush across your cheeks and a fluttering in your chest every few minutes, you play Mario Kart with the boy of your dreams until the sun rises. when it’s time for you to go back, he follows you on your way to his windowsill.
“let’s do this again?” he shyly suggests, and you ravel in how it’s now HIS turn to avoid eye contact and get all blushy.
“maybe,” you respond, which is enough for you to go back the next night, and the next.
