the merman hums a single, cautious note: 'stay?' "I want you to stay," lwj says, holding him close. the spines along the merman's arms and torso dig into lwj's arms a little, but he doesn't care. "I want to catch fish for you and the babies. I want to watch sunsets with you."

the merman squirms, but lwj doesn't let go. "I want to hunt with you," he continues. "I want to live out my days with you and our family. However," he forces the words out, "if the sea calls to you, if you must leave, please—at least stay long enough to bid me farewell."

the merman doesn't answer; he only flicks his tail. "Say you will stay," lwj pleads, pulling back to look at him. "My ocean. My sea beast. If you cannot stay, then you must say so, or I will always search the waves for you." the merman looks back at him with his dark grey eyes.

without warning, he sings an sharp chord of notes: 'danger. strange human. alarm.' lwj's memories of finding haoqi's brother on his boat are still painfully fresh. he whips around, already leaping to his feet, eyes scanning for any possible intruders.

the only person he sees is lqr, standing at the cabin door. he's still wearing his waders and gloves. the lantern in his hand is throwing all sorts of unusual shadows across his face. lwj pauses. "That strange human?" he asks the merman. "I beg your pardon?" lqr snaps.

lwj turns back around to face the merman. "He is my uncle," he reassures him. "He is visiting." the merman howls a single, distressed note as his fins flare: 'the babies!' "The babies are alright," lwj says. "They are asleep in the bathtub."

"Wangji!" lqr marches over. "What do you think you're doing? It's almost nine!" "Uncle," lwj starts, "I'd like to introduce you to…" he looks at the merman. lqr also looks. he raises his lantern towards the merman, squinting. the merman hisses softly at the bright light.

it takes a moment. lqr moves the lantern down to look at the merman's tail. lwj isn't sure what he is looking for, but the moment lqr's gaze falls on the merman's caudal fins, he visibly bristles. "Wei Wuxian!" he snaps. "What in the world do you think you're doing?"

the merman freezes. he's so still that he could be mistaken for a statue. then: "What the—unhand me, you scoundrel!" lqr scolds as the merman grabs onto his waders and begins dragging him down towards him.

lwj is very much alarmed—and at a loss for words. "Wait, hold on…" once lqr has been forced into an awkward half-kneeling, half-sitting position, the merman scoots in very close and stares at him, their faces only inches apart.

after a while, the merman makes a happy, rumbling sound deep in his throat as he cuddles against lqr. lqr nearly falls backwards. "Wei Wuxian! Get off me this instant! Insolent, uncouth, disrespectful—" the merman doesn't seem to care. he kisses lqr's forehead.

lqr's face is so red that lwj worries about his blood pressure. "Wangji!" he yells. "Get this—creature—off of me this instant!" in lwj's opinion, there's no use in trying to call the merman anything other than his name now that it has been spoken. "Wei Wuxian, come here."

the merman stops and looks at lwj. without hesitation, he gets off of lqr and crawls back to lwj. 'name,' he sings, a harmonic progression of different chords and word-images. 'spoken. almost forgot. remembered, now.'

lwj thinks back on the photo lqr had showed him and the many names written in the margins, both courtesy and birth names. he tries to remember which one was connected with 'wei wuxian'. "You have another," he says to the merman. "A birth name… is it…" he thinks, "… Wei Ying?"

the merman pauses, then a flurry of joyous song bubbles from his throat. the sheer number of different notes and emotions temporarily renders lwj speechless. "Wei Ying," he says when he regains his voice. "Wei Ying." 'yes!' wwx sings with delight. 'me!'

lwj can't help it; he pulls wwx down into a kiss. wwx's song cuts off at a note conveying surprise before he realizes what is happening. then he is enthusiastically kissing back. "Wei Wuxian! Wangji!" lqr screeches, pulling them apart. "Get ahold of yourselves!"

lwj can't even find it in himself to be annoyed at lqr; how can he, when lqr is the reason he now has a name to call his merman? "My apologies, Uncle." "Good riddance," lqr scoffs, before turning to wwx. "Wei Wuxian. What exactly do you think you're doing with my nephew?"

wwx doesn't acknowledge lqr's question. instead, he's trying to cuddle lqr again. "What the—get off of me!" lqr pushes him away. "Honestly, boy, you were taught better than this. Don't pretend you don't understand me. Just what do you think you're doing with Wangji?"

instead of answering, wwx just nibbles on lqr's hand in a way that lwj recognizes as a show of affection. lqr pulls away with open disgust. "What's wrong with you?" he demands. "Reply when you're spoken to. Have you forgotten your manners?"

lwj watches wwx with a sinking feeling. "Uncle," he says, "I think… he has indeed forgotten. I don't think he understands us as well as we'd hoped." lqr's eyes briefly widen before he shakes his head. "Impossible. Wei Changze wanted his children to understand our language."

the sinking feeling turns into a pit in lwj's stomach. he doesn't say anything; he doesn't need to. his uncle is capable of drawing his own conclusions. "No, no." lqr shakes his head again. "Changze would—he would speak to them, all the time. Wei Wuxian should understand us."

wwx has at least picked up on the changed mood. he hums a short, concerned melody, laced with confusion and query. lqr goes silent. he looks out at the sea, towards the distant horizon. lwj also says nothing, but he rests a hand on wwx's shoulder as reassurance.

"I told him," lqr mutters, almost too quiet to hear. "I told him not to go, now look at them—gone. All of them are gone." he inclines his head towards wwx. "Except for you. It would be you, wouldn't it." wwx does a gill-flutter and nibbles on lwj's arm.

lwj doesn't like the thought of wwx being alone for all that time. "Surely family pods naturally separate at some point," he says. "Children naturally grow up and create their own families." lqr shakes his head. "Even then, the parents will typically visit from time to time."

lwj doesn't like that. he doesn't like that at all. he turns to wwx. "Wei Ying." wwx makes a happy trilling sound and looks at him. "Where are your parents?" lwj asks slowly, making sure to enunciate. "Your… a-die and a-niang?" the trilling sound dies in wwx's throat.

lqr closes his eyes and turns his head away without another word. lwj suddenly wishes he never asked—yet he can't help adding, "And your siblings?" wwx hums a short, sorrowful tune, just long enough to answer in the most melancholy way possible, as empty as open ocean: 'gone'.

lwj feels wwx's answer seep into his bones, the gaping void left behind by their disappearances. wwx doesn't know what happened to them; it was long ago. but he'd searched and called to them for years, with no answer. not even creatures of the sea are safe from the sea itself.

wwx had been so little, hardly bigger than a-yuan is now. at first, he had his siblings with him, but a group of orphaned mer babies attracts attention. in the end, it was wwx who was the fastest, the luckiest, and the most desperate.

"I'm so sorry, Wei Ying," lwj says. wwx responds with a short musical verse of confusion: lwj wasn't responsible for taking his family away, what was he sorry for? lwj doesn't respond. instead, he pulls wwx into a tight hug, ignoring his spines.

wwx warbles out a few notes, creating feelings and visions in lwj's mind: he's not sure he likes being physically restricted, but the last time they'd embraced like this, they'd mated, so wwx doesn't mind it that much. lwj feels his ears heat. "No more singing," he says.

wwx replies with a quieter, inquisitive hum: why no more singing? he is aware lwj didn't like his singing before, but he doesn't seem to mind now… unless the reason lwj would like him to stop singing is because he would like to mate again— lwj covers wwx's mouth with a hand.

lqr tries to subtly wipe at his eyes—which was quite unsuccessful, considering that he's wearing waterproof gloves. he takes a deep breath and turns back around. "Wei Wuxian," he says, "I cannot have Wangji following your father's path."

lwj tightens his hold on wwx—who, judging by the complete lack of a reaction, didn't quite understand what lqr meant. "Uncle." "No," lqr states in a tone that means he won't be questioned. "Either he and the children come back with us, or they leave you be. End of story."

lwj is at a loss. "But my livelihood is on the sea," he protests. "Uncle—" "Of course you can continue to fish as you please." lqr crosses his arms. "But I want your permanent residence to be at home. I won't have you living out here."

"They are *sea* creatures, Uncle!" lwj argues. "And I can't let you disappear into the sea like his parents did!" lqr gestures angrily to wwx. "What am I supposed to do if you don't return? If none of you return? I might not even know you're gone until months after the fact!"

@cerbykerby Come to gusu with me merxian

@cerbykerby I am so torn because I understand and agree to a degree with LQR but also, sir, you can’t dictate what your adult nephew does T^T

@cerbykerby All I hear is Mr Incredible’s “I can’t LOSE YOU AGAIN” when LQR did that…

@cerbykerby Every day when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is check if there has been an update on this fic. 🥺

@cerbykerby Just buy an island and teach the mers some form of communication 😝

@cerbykerby I mean. LQR has a good reason to be afraid. And somw part of me thinks he is kind by saying he won't reject WWX and the babies, he just wants his family close 🥺

@cerbykerby unless they're a lot richer than we know of and can buy a whole private island, they're gonna have to find some sort of compromise. Lwj can't live in a bathtub every night and wwx and babies deserve to be connected to the sea

@cerbykerby LQR loves his nephew he can’t lose him 😭😭😭

@cerbykerby I miss this fic so much, it literally kept me going during my chemo. I hope you are feeling better, and I hope that you will return to this thread 🥺🙏🏼💖

@cerbykerby He’s soft for all of them :”3 It’s good to see that his stubbornness comes from the worry of a real threat. WangJi won’t listen, probably, but at least he knows his uncle cares a lot 🥺

@cerbykerby Poor shufu. He's been heartbroken before and is so scared of it happening again, this time not with a dear friend but with the child he raised! :( Meanwhile, WWX is just thinking innocent thoughts about mating. :)

@cerbykerby Oh his worries he won't see them ever again......I'll let it pass this time 🤧🤧

@cerbykerby Oh I hope one day you come back to this I’ll be waitinggg :)) 😌😌

@cerbykerby Elissa u ok? Hope ur feeling better, I'll keep waiting patiently 4 u to come back ❤️

@cerbykerby always checking back in on this thread bc I rambled abt it for an hr to a friend and got her interested and she periodically now asks if there's been an update. therefore I have come back here again 😋

@cerbykerby Hello, is this thread over?

@cerbykerby In some ways I agree with lqr because he is concerned about his nephew, but on the other hand I agree with lwj, wei ying is a sea creature just like babies

@cerbykerby I’m also for chipping the merbabies if they cant have land legs 😭

@cerbykerby @cerbykerby the way you write is so incredible. The fact that I'm still SO hung up over this story 😭 always think about fishermanji and merxian, they became real people in my brain and I miss them lol 🥲 hope you get the inspo to return to this fic someday 🥲🙏🏼

@cerbykerby 😭WWX's poor siblings, being picked off after their parents are gone. And WWX had to witness that, being the only one left! 😨That's horrifying! No wonder WWX chose a boat to keep his babies safe, did his father keep them on a boat too when he was a baby? Thanks for the update!💐

@cerbykerby Uncle doesn't wanna lose anyone ever again ❤️

@cerbykerby Well, this was great while it lasted. Thanks for the great fic ☺️🫰🏼

@cerbykerby Sooo so, you see LQR, it's time for ya to open the deep deep deep pockets of money u probably have and buy them an island 👀 it's a win-win situation!!! U would know where ur nephew is at all times, and his family too!!! And merxian and the babies can still have freedom!!

@cerbykerby Lwj, you're already an adult with a family. You don't need to obey your uncle. 🥹

@cerbykerby I’m so so sorry to be annoying but can you please officially confirm whether this is discontinued or if you hope to come back to it at some point? I know life happens and interests change. I just want to know if I should like, give up hope 😅

@cerbykerby Not LQR thinking he will Lwj like he lost Wcz

@cerbykerby Sooooooo what happens next? LQR over here about to make me cry

@cerbykerby I understand LQR's concern. I hope they can find a solution to keep merxian and the babies together. 🙏🙏🙏

@cerbykerby Uh.... lqr that makes no sense. He can continue to fish (and thus be at sea and in danger) but not be... at sea!?

@cerbykerby Uncle, he can't *live* in a bathtub.

@cerbykerby LQR is panicking. He knows he could loose LWJ the same way that he did Wei Ying’s parents, so he’s not thinking straight. ☹️

@cerbykerby I come back to this, and everytime I still think "Cell phones exist, uncle" and they could totally just live on the beach together or something.

@cerbykerby A private island!

@cerbykerby Hi Elissa!!! I need to say that I really love this fic!!!💜💜💜 And I manage to read only until here. As it has another parts where the thread was broken, I come to ask If you stops here or If the thread is broken here

@cerbykerby Lwj:

@cerbykerby no more updates?