I'M SO LATE BUT I'M HERE. I LOVE THIS PROMPT SM I JUST COULDN'T PUT THINGS INTO WORDS OK HERE I GO

siren tyun is soso sheltered bc his parents have been wronged by humans one too many times. they were never the classic "evil" sirens who lured in sailors w their angelic voices until they had to be, bc if they didn't do that the sailors would try time and time again to hunt and capture their baby siren as a trophy because of his pretty pretty scales and near flawless tail. anyone with a lick of knowledge about sirens could tell he would grow into a downright beauty, with a tail that not only sailors but other sirens would kill for. taehyun would have to be raised in complete isolation bc of how terrified his parents are about literally anyone finding him, bc as he grows older they can see that the gleaming of his scales only gets prettier. they hide him deep in a cave somewhere, carving out a hiding place just for him and giving him strict instructions to never leave without them. and he listens so well, bc he's never been given a reason not to! and he knows his parents have his best interests at heart, that's why he doesn't question why they leave whenever the water has too many ripples or when a loud sound blows above them, a different pitch each time but still so recognizable. they always come back with goodies for him though, little trinkets and snacks that he's never tried before, telling him that they're from trades they did with the other sirens and marine life. tyun's parents go out of their way to not tell him what a human is, bc he's so curious about everything that they don't even want to risk him wanting to catch a visual of "a siren with /legs/?" tyun doesn't even know what land is, he thinks it's just the ocean and that's all there is!! it takes his parents disappearing suddenly one day, not coming back for three, four, almost five days before he finally decides he simply must break their rule and venture further than allowed. he hears the horn and thinks "oh, my parents must be going there too!" and swims towards it, enthralled by this giant wooden structure floating ABOVE him, looking like a replica of some of the things his parents have given him in bottles. and poor poor tyunnie doesn't know what a human is, doesn't know that his parents are probably corpses or locked treasures aboard a boat just like this one by now, doesn't know that the faces looking down at him aren't more of his own kind but people that are going to throw a net over his head and just watch him thrash and try to escape as they reel him up.

he's so lucky the sailors are txt, because anyone else would've taken one look at his GORGEOUS tail and sold him off to the highest bidder. he's so lucky these sailors are humane and don't know about sirens and their worth, especially with scales that are pretty as his, that they're simply curious about this half-man, half-fish that they found lurking in the water below them. taehyun is equally curious about them as they are about him ofc, but he has never once been out of water (and he didn't even know there /was/ an out of water), and he damn near faints out of shock. and txt take care of him so well even though they have no idea what's happening, like they're initially concerned bc oh no he has gills can he not breathe out of water? but no he's breathing perfectly fine!! and they don't know what to do so they just put him in a barrel of water and take turns sitting there and watching him until he wakes up. jun is so shocked when he finally comes to, like he just stares at him with his mouth open before asking if he needs anything and offering him water and food. the rest of txt come flooding in and start showering him in compliments, some he's heard before like his parents constantly talking ab his pretty tail and hair and eyes, but some are about his figure and how /all/ his features are just so pretty. kai and beomgyu are especially infatuated with him, constantly discussing how it's possible for one man--half-man--to be so pretty. soobin, the only person with any kind of knowledge on marine life, spends his words pondering how taehyun's scales can change colors how they do, bc it's not like they're iridescent or anything. tyun is blushing from all the attention, barely recognizing some of the words they throw at him, only semi-consciously nodding along to their rapid-fire queries before he gets comfortable enough to start shooting out his own. and oh does he have so many--he's never even heard of legs before, really, or at least not in the way he's seeing them now. he can only picture crabs and lobster when he thinks of walking...and he doesn't even believe their claims that there are things out of water that aren't on this little boat, that are grounded where they are and can't ever move. he keeps them up all night talking about things that are so simple to them, houses and farms and oh my gosh, there's /land/ animals? and txt just fall in love with him more and more, watching how his eyes shimmer and taking in his pretty smile. what really does it for them though, is when he talks about how his parents said that /all/ sirens can sing, and that's what makes them so different from some of the other interesting creatures down below like him. but he's only allowed to sing for people like him or people he really cares about, and they all start pouting, "don't you care about us taehyunnie," "we've taken such good care of u, no?" "please sing for us, won't you please?" and how is he supposed to say no to that!! so he does, and he glues his eyes shut, face heating with how embarrassing it is to have a group stare at him while he sings a little tune, something his parents taught him when he was young. there's no reaction when he stops, and he opens his eyes tentatively to find all of them just staring at him with their jaws dropped, eyes practically forming into hearts. and taehyun will never know the true power of his voice, bc he'll be whisked away to their homeland, where he eventually discovers that he can have legs too, when left out of water for long enough. and taehyun will never know the real whereabouts of his parents nor what crueler humans do to sirens like him, because even when he asks, txt refuses to answer. it's the one thing they wont tell him, not even when he says he'll sing. but oh well, he can't be too upset, even if his parents were everything he'd ever known for so much of his life, because these humans treat him quite well--especially when he sings for them.