been wanting to make the mercenary yjh x mermaid kdj for a while now so here goes. bit lazy so i'll just give the outline.

so basically mermaids exists but they've hidden away bcs humans kidnap them a lot whether it's bcs of their beautiful looks or enchanting voice.

one day yjh found a wounded mermaid kdj in a cave under a cliff (idk why he's there in the first place let's just say it's a hidden path or smth idk) and took kdj to one of his hideout that's near there.

yjh's not really interested in trafficking or whatever so he had no intention of selling kdj. he decided helping kdj would be his good karma of the year or something. once he got to the hideout he dumped kdj in the tub and went to get the medicine box.

when he returned to the bathroom he saw kdj already awake and looking at him distrustfully.

here's the thing tho. since mermaids live isolated from humans, they use a different language. so neither of them understood each other when they tried to talk.

in the end, through the power of body gestures, kdj at least understood that yjh meant no harm and wanted to dress his wounds. so he let the human do it while staring curiously since this was the first time he'd seen human medication.

his wounds were pretty bad, so it's gonna take a while for him to heal. which means yjh's hideout got a semi-permanent resident in the form of a beautiful mermaid.

they got in a routine. yjh coming making food and changing his bandages, kdj sitting there looking pretty.

being stuck in a tub was making kdj hella bored but there's nothing he could do since he can't even walk.

then one day yjh brough home a book he got (stole) somewhere about learning human language for mermaids or whatever.

(convenient, i know. he got it from a shady merchant who accepted goods from pirates or some shit idfk)

so with nothing better to do, kdj started learning human language. the first sentence he said to yjh was "i am kim dokja." to which yjh replied "i am yoo joonghyuk."

kdj's smile at their very first conversation made yjh's heart skip a beat.

yjh couldn't stay and help practice all the time tho (he still goes on missions and stuff. gotta feed the hungry half-fish somehow) so he got kdj a bunch of novels to help him.

kdj ended up being really addicted to reading books.

anyway, the two got a bit closer as time passed, and even when kdj was getting better neither of them really brought up the topic of returning kdj back to the sea.

yjh didn't want to bring the topic up. if kdj asked him then he'd readily help bring kdj back, but a part of him didn't want the mermaid to leave. he wanted to keep kdj by his side. and maybe, judging by how kdj never mentioned going back to him, the other might feel the same.

kdj got better with human language, he even managed to teach yjh a bunch of mermaid words. they also got closer with each other as time passed. so close, in fact, kdj wasn't shy to sing in for yjh. not many humans had the honor of having a mermaid sing willingly for them.

everything was going really well.

a bit too well.

one day yjh returned to his hideout to find the place ransacked and kdj missing. the tub kdj used to stay in had blood mixed in the water.

OH I ACCIDENTALLY HIT TWEET SDFJSDFJLSDKFKLSJFSDSKD i'll finish later.... gonna go snooze.