San winced when he was slowly lowered to sit on the edge of the bathtub. He knew all the moving around was probably the worst thing he could have done, but he didn't want to be stuck on the beach anymore.

Even so, it felt like he was probably just bruised. At least, that's all he hoped it was.

Yeosang knelt down in front of him and helped him take his shirt off, which resulted in him having to work the sleeve down and off San's left arm because he couldn't lift it.

"You must have hit something when you fell overboard." His friend muttered. "Can you move it to the side at all?"

San hissed and rotated his arm a little. It almost felt like he didn't have any muscle power... This was worse than he thought.

And that was backed up by the gasp that came from Yeosang and Jongho, who had just stepped into the bathroom with a first aid kit.

"San..." Yeosang whispered.

Biting his lip, San looked down at his left side and saw that it was colored several shades of purple, red, and black. "Fuck."

"What do we do?" Yeosang turned to Jongho, his hand now covering his mouth.

"Nothing, I'm fine." San waved his good hand back and forth. He didn't want to go to any hospital, mostly because he didn't have health insurance. "Just wrap it for now and we will see how it does in a couple of days.

"Bu—"

"Yeosang, you know I can't right now. So I'm just going to have to deal with it. If it gets any worse then I'll let you take me, but I can't afford it..." San looked down at the ground. He could feel my embarrassment rising with the stares coming from Yeosang and his friend.

"Ok, I'm going to help you lift your arm then." Yeosang said gently.

He and Jongho worked together to wrap San's waist in a bandage to put pressure on whatever damage had been done. The back of his mind told him there could be internal bleeding, but he was hoping it was just a bruised or cracked rib.

"San?" A small voice came from the entrance to the bathroom and his head snapped up to see Wooyoung peaking around the corner. He looked a little overwhelmed, but also concerned as he looked into the room.

"Hey." San said, pausing as he took in the stranger who had saved him. It was his first time he had really been able to take in the boy, and he was left feeling speechless.

Wooyoung was... stunning. He had soft, lavender hair that fell across his forehead. Round, curious, honey colored eyes peeked out from below his hair and there was a small mark below left eye.

"Are you ok?" Wooyoung asked, poking his head out a little more.

"I am thanks to you." He offered a small smile and allowed Yeosang to help him stand.

"You're hurt..." Wooyoung stepped away from the door to get out of the way but then followed them down he hall.

"Who is he?" Jongho asked, looking over his shoulder. His eyes drifted over Wooyoung and San felt himself bristling a little.

Several voices came from the main section of the house. "They are worried." Yeosang muttered. "This was not how today was supposed to go..."

Jongho branched off to go to the others while San hung his head. "I'm sorry, Sangie."

"I'm not blaming you, at all, but I am prepared to sue whoever was driving that damn boat."

San wouldn't put it past him either.

When they reached their shared room, Yeosang slowly lowered San onto his bed and propped him up with several pillow, then pulled the blankets up. Once he was sure San was comfortable he left to get some water and pain killers, leaving San and Wooyoung alone together.

"You don't have to stay, if you have some place you need to be." San said while picking at the blanket covering his legs.

"I don't. I want to make sure you'll be ok." Wooyoung said.

San peeked at him and noticed that he was shifting back and forth nervously. He still only had a pair of pants on that looked a little baggy for his thin frame. "You can borrow a shirt from the closet." He offered.

Wooyoung glanced at him with wide eyes and opened his mouth a little. He almost looked confused.

"It's just right there." San said, pointing with his good hand. He watched as the boy turned slowly and walked over to the closet door.

It was almost like all of Wooyoung's movements were slow and calculated. He turned the handle and pulled it open. San watched his head rock back and forth while he hesitated.

"It doesn't matter which one, you can use any of them." San said, then bit back a laugh when Wooyoung jumped.

"O-Ok. Thanks." The boy pulled out one of the shirts and seemed to study how it was hanging on the hanger for a moment. It was odd, almost like Wooyoung had no idea what he was doing.

San was about to ask him about it, but Yeosang came back in and hanged him three large pills. "Here, Chan had some pain killers. I managed to convince him to stay away, although he is trying to get ahold of the company to see if there's anything they are going to do about this. He's furious, and quite frankly, so am I." Yeosang crossed his arms and watched as San swallowed the pills. "They had better do something or I'm going to lose it."

"Easy Killer. I'm sure they will do something." San shook his head and closed his eyes while leaning back into his pillows. Just sitting here, the pain wasn't as bad. Or maybe it was the pain killers kicking in already.

Yeosang started to mutter something else about how angry he was at the company before huffing and said he was going to go see about getting everyone some food.

When he was gone, San peeked through his eyelashes and couldn't help but smile when he realized Wooyoung had put his shirt on inside out. It was cute. "Where are you from?" San asked.

"Um, around here." Wooyoung said, coming over to sit on the side of the bed. "What about you? Do you live here too?"

"No, I just came here with Yeosang and a bunch of his friends for the summer. It's just my luck I'd get hurt on the first day." San rolled his eyes. "I didn't even want to come in the first place."

Wooyoung's forehead furrowed and he looked down at his fingers. Then his eyes drifted a little further down to his toes, which he started to wiggle back and forth.

San had no idea what to make of him. He seemed to get distracted by things easily and everything fascinated him.

Then his head snapped up and he looked at the window. "Oh, oh no. I—" Wooyoung stood up and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I— I need to go."

"Wait, why so suddenly?" San moved to sit up and then winced when his side screamed in pain. For whatever reason, he didn't want to see Wooyoung go...

Wooyoung looked like he felt the same way and hesitated, but then he started scratching his arms. "I-I'm sorry. I can't stay." Red lines appeared where his fingers dug into his skin. "I c-can't..."

"Wooyoung, stop, you're hurting yourself." San tried to move again, but this time he let out a small whimper.

Wooyoung stopped and hurried forward. "Don't move." He whispered. Then he bit his lip and looked over his shoulder. Slowly, he lowered his hand so that it was placed right on top of San's wound. There was no pressure that came from the touch, but it was almost like Wooyoung was trying to protect it. "Rest, please." He gave a pained smile.

"Will you come back?" San asked grabbing the other's arm with is good hand.

Wooyoung paused and looked like he was really contemplating his answer, but then she gave another shy and nodded. "I will try."

Before San could asked what he meant by that, Wooyoung was running out of the room. He thought he heard Yeosang calling after him, but he suddenly felt so tired.

San couldn't even stay away long enough to eat the dinner Yeosang brought back him as his pillows welcomed him into their comforting embrace.

.

.

.

.

Wooyoung felt like he was falling apart. His entire body itched and even as he ran, he could help but drag his nails across his arms and chest.

He had taken it as his sign that he needed to get back in the water. The others in the house called out for him to stop, but Wooyoung just slipped by all of them and ran down onto the beach.

His head was clear enough that he knew to run a ways along the sand until he was sure he was out of sight. He managed to find a small cove tucked away and hidden inside some boulders.

As soon as he ducked behind one of them, Wooyoung pulled the shirt San had given him over his head and tucked it away on one of the higher rocks so that it hopefully wouldn't get wet. Then he ran into the water and cried out when his skin started to hiss.

He could feel the magic leaving him. Steam billowed around him, growing thicker the deeper he walked into the water.

If he could even call it walking.

Soon Wooyoung was dragging himself through the water by his arms and kicking his vanishing legs. He made a mental not that his transformation period was going to render him useless.

But soon, he was rocketing forward through the water with his purple tail.

It was strange. Being back in this form gave him a sense of security. He was home in the water. And yet, once he was deep enough, Wooyoung swam back to the surface.

He used his tail to gently sift the water so that he could keep his head above the waves and look at the house he knew San was sleeping in right now.

There was something about the human that captivated Wooyoung and he was going to do everything he could to comeback tomorrow. Especially because he knew San would be ok.

Wooyoung had used some of his magic to heal San's injury. He hadn't been able to leave his hand there long enough to completely heal him, but it was enough to that San wouldn't have to go to whatever the hospital thing was that he wanted to avoid.

With one final look, Wooyoung flipped around and dove beneath the surface again. His tail slapped against the surface, creating a powerful wave, before pushing him forward.

Wooyoung dreaded going home, but he knew he needed to. Mingi was going to be furious that he had disappeared all day, so he wasn't looking forward to that.

Maybe he could slip in without anyone noticing and go to where they kept all their records. Wooyoung knew he needed to find everything he could on the transformation.

Honestly, he hadn't been expecting it to work. He knew that a lot of went into their magic was just imagining things and willing it to happen since their entire body was coursing with magic. There were limits, but only if the use of magic would be too much for their body to handle.

Maybe he could even find some kind of record on humans to try and learn a little more. He felt like a complete fool when San was trying to tell him where to find a shirt and he was surprised San hadn't said anything.

Wooyoung knew he needed to try and act a little cooler if he was going to fit in as a human. He would do everything it took because he was determined to San again.

Nothing was going to keep him away.

Except maybe the blue-tailed merman waiting for him outside the entrance with his arms crossed over his chest...