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Since Yoongi was a young boy, he has been told stories of the creatures from the sea. His mother would tuck him into bed and dramatically unfold the heroic deeds the brave men from their village who slayed the mermaids. Every morning before his father left for work fishing out on the sea, he would warn Yoongi that when it was his turn to work the sea to be careful of the enchanting voices that drove men to their death.
Yoongi was only five when he saw for the first time a man’s body pulled from the strong currents.
It was Yoongi’s first ever memory.
His mother was holding him by the hand, gripping it tight. His mother was praying to the gods above that it was not his father. Yoongi began crying when he saw the tears falling down his mother’s face, unaware of what was happening but did not want to see her cry.
When the men pulled the body out of the water his mother crumbled to her knees, she clutched her son tight and sobbed harder than before. She thanked the gods that it was not the familiar face she has loved for so long.
Yoongi cried in happiness with his mother, not hearing the horrid wails from his classmate and her mother as they wept over their deceased father.
Not long after his father came searching for them, explaining to his mother that it was another attack. He took them back to their small cottage and refused to let them out for the rest of the night. His father sat him down, holding him on his lap by the fireside. He told Yoongi in a stern voice the dangerous of mermaids and the long and dangerous relation his village as had with the creatures. He warned Yoongi that he was to never fall victim to the voices of the mermaids. His father told his son that it was his generation that would wipe out the creatures for good and save their village from the curse that has been reigning over their village for centuries.
Yoongi stared up at his father in wonder. His father was a giant to Yoongi’s small and fragile toddler body. Since he was young he aspired to be just like his father and he took his father’s word to heart. Because he in took everything about the mysterious creatures of the sea.
Yet, he couldn’t help but wonder why it was his generation’s job to wipe out the mermaids. More importantly, why did they need to wipe them out?
Yoongi wanted to learn everything there was to know about these mermaids. As he grew the collection of books about these creatures grew in his personal library. He asked question after question in to the fishermen of his town who swore by the gods that they witnessed these creatures and survived to tell the tale.
Yoongi knows every tale of death that has happened in his village. He knows how dangerous mermaids are, how their singing voices puts an enchantment over their victim and causes them to enter the sea to find the source of the beautiful singing, and ultimately drown to death.
Yoongi knows the dangerous, yet every night he falls asleep to dreaming about what these creatures might look like in person. He wonders what the scale would feel under his human fingertips. And he wonders if they are the actual source of all these deaths in his village.
As he grows up he continued to listen to the ranting and raving of his fellow villagers, nodding his head along to what they had to say. He knew that if someone found out his secret obsession he would be deemed insane. The villagers looked down upon anyone who thought to give these creatures a chance after they drained them of so much blood from them.
When he reached the age of twelve and was approaching the age of beginning his apprenticeship with the same fisherman who taught his father, a young boy he grew up was disowned from his family after they found out he wanted to begin a search for these creatures.
His village by the sea does not condemn suicide by mermaid.
The day of Yoongi’s thirteenth birthday and his first day out on the sea he could feel his nerves tingling under his skin. He leaned over the side of the fishing boat as Mr. Shin rowed out to sea. Every glimmer of scale and every shimmer of movement caught his eye.
He smiled awkwardly and nodded when Mr. Shin told him that he was so glad that he was excited to begin his job and how most kids his age no longer appreciates the fishing experience.
And every day since then when he rides out to sea with Mr. Shin he forever kept an eye out for a fish that he is not familiar with.
But for seven years he has seen nothing. There has not even been a recent drowning and no fishermen has claimed to see one. It went from a death every month to a death every other year. The younger kids of his village no longer believed that mermaids were real but that just an ancient creature that their ancient village has created.
But Yoongi never stops searching, he never stops looking.
There are times when he thinks that Mr. Shin suspects something over him. He often worries that he will tell his father his secret. When he turns twenty he moves out of his childhood cottage and moves one closer to the sea. One that has been vacant since he could remember, no one in the village wanted to be that close to the sea. Afraid of living so close to the sea, afraid to be in the vulnerability of the comfort of the home within hearing distance of the sea. He had kissed his mother on the cheek and promised her that he will be perfectly fine and that a mermaid will not drag him into the ocean in the middle of the night while he is sleeping.
His small one-bedroom cottage is covered in different painting and interpretations of mermaids. And the floors are littered with books, both local and foreign.
When he laid in bed at night listening to the crashing of the waves he often heard a low murmuring coming from the sea and wondered if it was the creatures he has so longed to see.
It was one autumn morning while he was readying the boat for another long day out at sea that he heard his fellow fishermen whispering among each other. Yoongi tried to pay no heed to the mens’ words. Mr. Shin had fallen ill the prior week and had not been able to supervise Yoongi, he told his student to take this time to practice with no help to rely on his previous knowledge and restudy what he has been taught. He was trying to ready his boat, loading the nets and lines, as fast as possible as to not fall behind and lose any profit he could have gained.
“Did you hear the news, Mr. Park?”
“I did, is it true?”
“If Mr. Lee says he did than he did, he has no reason to lie. He’s an honorable man.”
“In this village’s history, never has a mermaid been caught before.”
Yoongi stopped checking the nets for any rips or tears. His body frozen in shock. He couldn’t have heard right. It was impossible. The village has been ultimately vacant of any sightings of mermaids, the last death has occurred nearly a year ago. Even the oldest and most senile of the fishermen no longer could spin lies of seeing the mermaids out on their fishing boats.
“Mr. Lee said he must have injured it pretty badly. The thing put up quite a fight and won in the end. He was telling us about it at the pub last night when he came back.”
Yoongi felt his heart racing, he could hear the blood pumping in his ears. It can’t be.
He tossed the nets aside and shoved the boat off land and into the calm waves. He climbed aboard and used every muscle in his body to propel the boat forward. He was the first of the men out in sea, not a single other crew was ready yet. They had just begun preparing before the sun began to rise and Yoongi could still count some stars and see the shadow of the moon as the sun rose.
He could faintly see his breath in front of him, but he couldn’t concentrate on one area. His head snapped in both directions scanning and searching.
It couldn’t be.
All his life has led up to this moment. And Yoongi couldn’t breathe. He felt like he was still dreaming and any moment he would wake to find himself surrounded by years and years of hard and intense research that will end up worthless in the end. Becoming his father in another ten years, warning his children to be careful of the creatures of the sea that haunt the village. Every evening he would come home to an anxious wife, wondering if her husband was the next to fall victim.
Yoongi couldn’t keep the thoughts out of his head when… It couldn’t be.
A ray of blues and greens and purples. Yoongi has never in all his life and career in a fishing village as ever seen a fish that vibrant around these waters.
He sat in his boat panting for breath. Fixated on that spot.
What felt like minutes passed by, he saw another small flicker of the tale and Yoongi knew. Yoongi knew that it could be. In the poorly lit morning sky he could just make an outline of a torso attached to a large fin floating atop of the sea. Yoongi felt like he had to pinch himself to wake from this dream.
He slowly inched the boat toward the mermaid, afraid he will scare him off. When he got within a few feet of the creature he saw him twitch in recognition. Yoongi stopped again and by the gods he has never seen such beautiful blue eyes. None of the drawings or any description in any of his books could accurately portray how utterly ethereal and enchanting this mermaid was.
The mermaid tried swimming away but instantly clutch his side. And Yoongi could see the red seeping into the water turning the dark blue into a musty brown color. Yoongi was appalled with the sight, all his anger pent up toward the man he knew so well. The man who would join his family for dinner and the man who harmed such a beautiful creature as this.
“It’s okay, I won’t hurt you, I promise,” Yoongi tried to whisper in a soothing voice, “I want to help, will you let me?”
Yoongi couldn’t tell if the mermaid understood him or not. But he knew that the mermaid would not last long, every inch of his torso seemed to be cut and stabbed. Yoongi wouldn’t to cry.
“I’m sorry about what that man did to you,” Yoongi reached out his hand slowly, “please let me heal you.”
The mermaid stared at the hand and back at Yoongi. Yoongi knew that the mermaid would not trust another human after what had happened to him. But he couldn’t stop trying, he couldn’t let this creature swim away to die.
“Please, you’re injured,” Yoongi pleaded, “I just want to help.”
He looked away, afraid to see the creature swim off. But then, he felt small drops of water drip onto his hand.
He looked back and saw the mermaid placing his hand just over Yoongi’s, possibly still afraid to touch him. But willing to take up his offer to help.
“Can you understand me?” Yoongi asked, staring in amassment at the blueish green scaled coating his arms, mixing into his human skin.
The mermaid nodded.
“You can’t swim, you’re too injured,” Yoongi explained, “are you able to last out of water for a short while?”
The mermaid nodded.
“I’m going to help you into my boat, I’m going to take you to this cove near where I live,” Yoongi scooted closer, “I promise no one will find you there.”
The mermaid nodded.
The creature lifted it’s arms up to Yoongi, granting him permission to help into his boat. Yoongi moved aside any poles he had left on the floor of the boat. He wrapped one around his shoulders and lowered the other into the water to wrap around his tale.
In all the fish he has dealt with over his years one has never felt like this. The scaled itched at his skin but they weren’t slimy with salt water like most fish. There was a softness to them that reminded him of a wet soft cloth towel.
He carefully picked the mermaid up, trying his best to not touch any injuries and profusely apologize when he heard the mermaid hiss and moan in pain. Despite the tail being at least five feet long and the mermaid being toned with muscle, he weighed nothing. He was as light out of water as he is in. Yoongi laid him down and sat back down to row.
“Let’s get you to safety.”
As Yoongi rowed them towards the cove off the coast of his village’s beaches, he can’t take his eyes off the mermaid. The mermaid’s tale glistened in the sun, the drops of water looking like glitter. It was a mixture of dark blue, green, and purple. It was the most beautiful thing Yoongi has ever witnessed. The tale stopped just below his navel, but his ribs and forearms were lightly coated with the same-colored scales. A light patch decorated the sides of the creature’s neck as well.
But the image was ruined by the sight of blood. Yoongi could not tell when one injury ended and the other began. Yoongi has never been this furious before.
He could not understand how such a person could deem it acceptable to harm such a beautiful creature as this one.
“Please, keep your eyes open,” Yoongi calmingly said, “we’re almost there.”
The mermaid’s eyes slowly blinked, his breathing had gotten raspy and short.
Yoongi rowed as fast as possible.
He had taken the longer route to the far-off cove, afraid he might meet a fellow fisherman. He did not want anyone finding out about the mermaid. The villagers would kill him.
He peered over his shoulder, he could see the entrance of the cove, his house was just beyond it. He rowed the boat into the cove and docked it at a small sanded beach. He jumped out into the water and lifted the mermaid, carefully avoiding his injuries again.
When he lowered the mermaid into the water his breathing stabilized a bit. The mermaid was no longer gasping for breath, but it was still low and soft. Yoongi could tell that the mermaid was pierced where it’s human lungs are.
“Stay here,” Yoongi pleaded, “I’m going to go back to my house and get some medical supplies. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
Yoongi followed the trail he had laid out months prior. When he had just moved out on his own he took to taking long walks by himself after work. He would spend hours walking along the cliffs and beaches of his village, getting as close to the water as he could. He often would bring ink and paper, drawing his own version of what the mermaids he has fascinated over for so long would appear like.
One late afternoon he had stumbled upon a small entrance that stooped downward. It was close by to his home, yet he had never paid much attention to it. He entered it and walked down a mile or so to a large entrance to the back of the cove. He had swum out beyond it to find its exact location.
Since then after work he often unloaded his catch for the day back at the docks, took his pay, and road his boat out to the cove. It had become his worlds away, his haven, away from the town he both loved and hated. He would escape to it when a villager made too many remarks about the horrid creatures that were intent on murdering them all.
Yoongi had never believed any of it. He didn’t believe these beautiful creatures can do such murderous acts. He had noticed a pattern of the victims, they all took to the booze.
And since meeting one, only so short ago, he knew it was not possible for these creatures. The one he is intent on saving appears as harmless as a child. The mermaid is covered in blood and cuts, yet Mr. Lee came back with only a few sprinkles of water on him.
If mermaids are blood thirsty killers, then why did this one not kill Mr. Lee when he began attacking him?
A million thoughts and questions were running through his mind as he searched through his cottage. He collected any bandages and healing potions he could find. He left his house a mess, carrying the items tightly in his arms as he hurried back to the cove, scanning over his shoulder at any moment paranoid that someone was watching him.
He slid down the sandy entrance and landed on the sandy beaches of the cove. He heard the mermaid’s loud rasping breathing. His upper half was clinging to the sand while his lower half was in the water, already turning murky from the blood.
Yoongi sat in front of him, “is it true that the upper half only needs human remedies to heal? That your lower half will magically heal on its own?”
The mermaid weakly nodded.
“Okay, okay,” Yoongi was already out of breath, “that’s good. Can you lay on your back? Your front seems to be worse.”
The creature struggled to roll onto his back even with Yoongi’s help. Yoongi automatically took to caring to him. He rubbed the ointment he brought, it was supposed to clean the cuts and kill off any bacteria that may have entered it. He softly messaged the cuts the way the village’s healer taught him to do after he had cut a deep round into his calf during an incident involving hooks and spears.
He whispered soothing words to the mermaid who hissed whenever Yoongi applied the lotion to a different wound. When he finished coating each wound with a white coat he took out a small vile of liquid, also provided by the village’s healer. When done applying the ointment he was directed to put two or three drops of this liquid onto the wound to help the cut close faster.
The cooling liquid must have felt good on the mermaid’s heated skin, he visibly relaxed when Yoongi applied it. After, Yoongi wrapped the mermaid in bandages to keep the wounds clean. Yoongi thanked the gods that he lived in a fishing village and their medical supplies such as bandages were water resistant.
Yoongi took another hour or so to make sure every bandage was sealed tightly and there wasn’t any small cut that he had missed. The mermaid was worn out and tired by the end of it. He was laying on his stomach, his check resting against the sand his eyes barely able to stay open.
“Is there anything you need? What do you eat?” Yoongi asked, “fish?”
The mermaid nodded.
“Okay, that’s good, I can get fish,” Yoongi packed up his supplied, “I’ll be right back.”
Yoongi ran back to his cottage to drop his supplies and take the back a few caught catfish he had yet to cook for himself.
“Hey Yoongi, what are you doing?” he heard his best friend’s voice behind him.
Yoongi turned around, “Namjoon, what are you doing here?”
Namjoon sat down on the edge of Yoongi’s bed, “I wanted to check up on you, the others said they haven’t seen you all day.”
Yoongi laughed weakly, “oh yeah, sorry I just wasn’t feeling that well today and decided to take a day off work and just relax out on the sea.”
Namjoon raised a brow, “you wanted to take a day off from being out on the sea, to be out on the sea?”
“yeah, well you know I like it out there,” Yoongi leaned against his counter.
Namjoon has been his childhood friend. His only childhood friend who stayed with him to adulthood. Namjoon didn’t mind Yoongi’s constant questions about the mermaids, Namjoon thought Yoongi always just wanted to be cautious for them for when he began working out on the sea. He was the mayor’s son and is studying under his father to take over when his father passes.
Yoongi has always been comfortable opening up to Namjoon, things he could never tell his own parents. Namjoon is the only one in the whole village who knows Yoongi’s sexuality, and most likely the only one who doesn’t mind.
Yet, Yoongi could never admit that all those questions he asked about the creatures of the sea weren’t for him to be prepared but because they were for his own knowledge. He couldn’t tell Namjoon that he spent his whole life studying these creatures.
And more importantly, he could never tell him about the mermaid he is currently taking care of. Namjoon wouldn’t understand, he would tell his father about it.
“I was worried,” Namjoon said, “Mr. Lee told us that he had an encounter with one last night, said he gave it a pretty good beating.”
If Namjoon the condition this mermaid was in, it was a lot more than just a good beating.
“I heard,” Yoongi crossed his arms, “I didn’t go out far, and besides Mr. Lee is getting a bit old, don’t you think?”
Namjoon laughed, “I know he is, but even so, we have to take it into consideration that he did.
“I know,” Yoongi replied.
Namjoon stood, “okay, well I guess I better go. I’ll see you around Yoongi?”
Yoongi nodded, “of course.”
Namjoon grabbed him into a hug, “yeah well with the way you work and sleep I never do.”
Yoongi squeezed him back and patted him on his shoulder, “I’ll stop by more often.”
Namjoon left with a “take care of yourself” thrown over his shoulder. When Yoongi could see him heading back into town, he tossed the fish into a bag and headed back out. He hurried back to the cove, worried about leaving the creature there for so long. But when he returned the creature was in the same position, Yoongi didn’t worry when he saw its chest lightly moving.
Yoongi shook its shoulder, “I brought food, you need to eat. Do you like catfish?”
The mermaid slowly lifted itself up onto its elbows and nodded. He rubbed sleep away from its eyes. And Yoongi thought it was endearing, his eyes focusing on the small pout on the creature’s lips. Yoongi pulled the tuna out of his bag and left it in front of the creature.
The mermaid picked up the first catfish and bit into it. Ripping off large chunks of meat and bone, just then did Yoongi notice that the mermaid had small but sharp pointed teeth, like those of a shark. Yoongi sat back watching in wonderment as the mermaid ate all four large catfishes.
“Are you still hungry?”
The mermaid glanced up at him and shyly nodded.
Yoongi smiled, “I have more back home.
By the end of the night the mermaid had gone through seven catfishes and a large eel. But Yoongi gained satisfaction in seeing him eat, the same way he felt when he took Namjoon out to a small local restaurant and brought him meat, that wasn’t fish.
Yoongi leaned against the black stone wall that was glistened in beads of salt water, “do you mind if I ask what your name is?”
The mermaid was playing with a fish bone, drawing pictures and symbols into the sand that Yoongi didn’t recognize. He tapped the bone against a rock, his lips gutted out. He looked up at Yoongi and then back down and then back up and nodded. He began drawing in the sand again and Yoongi was beginning he didn’t understand or hear him.
But after a few short moments the creature nodded in the direction of where he just drew. Yoongi stood up and walked over and read the name ‘Jungkook’ upside down, “Jungkook is that your name?”
The mermaid nodded.
“My name is Yoongi,” Yoongi sat down cross-legged on the edge of the water, “I live in the village by the sea.”
The mermaid, Jungkook, leaned his head against his arm, gazing up at Yoongi.
“You know,” Yoongi began, “I’ve always wanted to see a mermaid, it sounds weird, doesn’t it? But my village tells tales of your species and I’ve always wanted to learn more.”
Jungkook started drawing in the sand again.
“My village doesn’t really like mermaids, they actually live in fear of you,” Yoongi didn’t notice Jungkook’s hand pause in the sand before resuming again, “but I was always fascinated by your species. I always wanted to learn more, even though it’s taboo in my village. No one knows that I do, I would be in trouble if they found out.”
Yoongi pulled his knees up to his chest and leaned his cheek against them, peering down at the creature before him, “I’m not really sure why I’m telling you this. Maybe I want you to know that I won’t lie about saying I won’t hurt you.”
Jungkook nodded.
“Also,” Yoongi licked his lips, “I didn’t save you to study you or anything. I did help you because I saw how injured you were. I want to help.”
Jungkook’s lips twitched up into a small smile and a tooth poked out from in-between his lips.
Yoongi stood, “I should let you get some sleep, I’ll be back tomorrow with more food. I’ll leave the boat here as a promise that I’ll come back.”
As Yoongi walked away he glanced back and thought he saw a look of sadness come over Jungkook. Or maybe that was just in his mind.
From then on Yoongi spends every waking moment that he can with Jungkook. He still continues to work but hides a pile of fish under a cover while dropping off his load for the day, so he could have food to feed Jungkook. When he collects his pay he spends his evening and most of the night in the cove, watching and protecting over Jungkook. He cleans his wounds and make sure none of them seem to be getting infected.
This routine continues for two months straight.
And for two months straight Yoongi becomes a ghost to the town.
His parents try and visit him but is never there when they arrive. His mother has waited for him, knowing that he should be arriving soon. His father searches through the taverns. With no sight of their son, they turn to Namjoon for help. Knowing that their son’s closest friend will be the only one who can reach out and bring back their son from whatever world he might be in.
And so Namjoon sat waiting for his friend every day after work for a week before he caught sighting of his friend.
“Where have you been, Yoongi?” Namjoon’s voiced is raised and stressed. He’s obsessively licking his lips and crossing his arms and un-crossing them. An anxious habit of his.
“I’ve just been busy,” Yoongi goes into his house, leaving Namjoon out on the porch.
“With what? I haven’t seen you in two months,” Namjoon shouts, “you’re parents finally contacted me and told me to help you. They are worried sick. They thought something had happened to you, if it wasn’t for Youngjae who said he saw you the other morning.”
“I’ve just needed time for myself,” Yoongi explained, “you, of all people, know how I can get.”
Namjoon nodded, “I know, but never this bad before.”
“Seriously, Joon,” Yoongi sighed, rubbing his eyes with the palm of his hands, “I’m fine, and I actually mean it this time.”
Namjoon eyes the bag Yoongi has been absently packing, “where are you going?”
“Just to my boat,” Yoongi lies, “I need to make some repairs on it, the thing is getting old.”
“Please, Yoongi,” Namjoon pleaded, “don’t hide yourself away. Last time we almost lost you, we don’t want that again.”
“I won’t, it’s not like that,” Yoongi slings the bag over his shoulder, “I’m… I’m happy, I actually am, Joon.”
Yoongi could tell he still looked hesitant, but his friend nodded and let him leave.
Yoongi left with a quick and tight hug towards his best friend. And he made his trek back to the cove, glancing over his shoulder and seeing Namjoon walk off to the village.
When he returns to Jungkook, he had drawn more creatures in the sand for Yoongi. It had become another part of their time. Yoongi has noticed that Jungkook loves to draw, creating creatures he has never seen before into the wet sand for Yoongi when he returns.
Yoongi would sooth Jungkook’s hair down and tell him how much he loved the drawing and Jungkook would smile shyly and duck underwater.
Yoongi sat on the muddy sand next to Jungkook and the drawing. This time he had drawn two other mermaids. Jungkook doesn’t often draw his own species, preferring to reveal to Yoongi deep sea creatures that humans have yet to discover.
And Yoongi loves every single picture.
Jungkook laid on his stomach, the cuts and wounds slowly healing. Just last week he was able to lie on his stomach again as the irritation had gone down and it no longer bothered him if he put weight onto it. His head was resting on Yoongi’s lap, a new thing that had shocked Yoongi when it first happened.
It was a month previous, Yoongi was cleaning wounds on his shoulders. His knees were pressed against him as he applied the lotion. Yoongi could tell Jungkook was tired, his head drooping to his neck before snapping back up. When Yoongi gave him the all clear, Jungkook just flopped backwards. Laying his head on Yoongi’s thighs. Yoongi did not know what to make of this, his hand frozen in midair.
Jungkook was happy, he slept with a soft smile and his tale flopped in the water. Yoongi was afraid to move, afraid to wake him. After twenty or so minutes he grew used to the unfamiliar weight and unconsciously began running his hands through Jungkook’s hair.
Jungkook loved it and Yoongi has taken to combing and running his fingers through Jungkook’s hair any chance he could.
Now as the sun began to set, Yoongi played with Jungkook’s dark black locks watching as he created small waves with tale, mixing the bright pinks and oranges of the sunset reflecting on the water.
Yoongi truly is happy. For such a long time now he felt like a piece of him was missing. He was always searching for something that he believed would never come to light, he was searching for a nirvana. He went through moods of depression and anxiety over his work and studies, never truly believing that his dream of discovering these creatures would come true.
And when he found Jungkook, beaten and bloody, he knew it was his fate to heal him. Yoongi never thought, even now, that he would grow a close and intimate bond with Jungkook. Yoongi thought he would heal Jungkook and send him on his way, never to be seen again.
But the way Jungkook trusts him makes Yoongi’s heart flutter. He’s told Jungkook time and time again that he did not rescue him merely for his own research, but because he truly believes that mermaids are not creatures with an intention to kill. When he said those words to Jungkook, gods, the way his eyes lit up.
It was the first time Jungkook smiled at Yoongi, showing full teeth. Unafraid that Yoongi would be scared off by the pointed teeth.
And Yoongi thought he was utterly and holy beautiful in every way.
Jungkook understands that Yoongi is curious about him, the way Yoongi can tell Jungkook is curious about him. Jungkook often will guide Yoongi’s hand to his tail, allowing him to caress and feel the scales under his fingertips. Yoongi has watched the way the green and the blue and the purple in Jungkook’s tail shimmer and glean in the sunlight and sparkle and dance in the moonlight.
When Jungkook lies in his lap, Yoongi would sometimes absent mindedly message the few scatterings of scales on Jungkook’s forearms and rips. Jungkook would lean into his touch, often times Yoongi swore that he heard Jungkook murmur words under his breath in a language he did not know when he did this.
But he still could not tell you what Jungkook’s voice sounded like. Only what his moans of pain did, which he had not heard in some weeks. Jungkook would subtly get his point across by using actions, pointing or swinging his arms in such a way that Yoongi could understand what he wanted.
If Yoongi still did not understand, Jungkook resorted to writing it out in the sand. When Yoongi asked why he did not speak, Jungkook looked away and shrugged his shoulders.
Yoongi was too nervous to ask if the tales of mermaids drowning victims with their voices were true. Yet Yoongi would not mind if he were to spend the rest of eternity below the seas forever with Jungkook.
Parts of him does not wish for Jungkook to fully recover, not willing to say goodbye to him. Knowing that it would be risky for Jungkook to visit him too often. And Yoongi knows that within the next month Jungkook would at least be healed enough to leave and find his people.
Yoongi was taken away from his thoughts when Jungkook tugged on his sleeve, “sorry, you must be hungry.”
Jungkook smiled and nodded.
Yoongi reached for his bag and slid it towards him, inside he had stocked it with fresh fish he had caught that day and, “fuck, I forgot to bring the shrimps for you.”
Jungkook’s smile faded, a small pout formed.
Yoongi nudged Jungkook to sit up, “I’ll go get it now.”
Jungkook rolled onto his stomach and leaned his chin on the palm of his hand. He waved cutely to Yoongi as he watched him disappear into the small opening, peering around the curves and edges as much as he can.
He was desperate to see where Yoongi went every evening. He was desperate to see the world outside the cove, desperate to see a world so foreign to him.
Yoongi ducked his head under the small opening and walked out, heading towards his cottage just up the road, when… was that fire?
Yoongi watched, stunned, at the mob of people heading his way. He noticed every face in the crowd, there was Mr. Lee from the fishing yard and Mrs. Kim from the bakery. The women carried torches and the men carried different forms of weapons, he notices a lot of fishing spears. At the front, Yoongi gasped out loud, at the front was Namjoon.
His best friend. Namjoon was leading the mob.
His parents were right behind him. Marching with faces of determination.
He knew there was only one thing that could rally the entire village into a mob. A mermaid.
They couldn’t, how could they know. Yoongi was always so careful. He constantly looked over his shoulder, making sure no one saw him or followed him. Namjoon was the last one at his house, but he saw Namjoon walk back to the village, he swore he saw him.
He didn’t hear anyone come into the cove, neither did Jungkook.
Jungkook. He had to warn him.
Yoongi quickly turned on his feel and all but fell into the trail leading downwards into the cove. Jungkook was lying in the same position waiting for Yoongi to come back. His face lit up with a smile, eagerly waiting for the shellfish Yoongi promised to buy him. Yoongi had saved up money to buy the luxury item of his town. It was often hard to catch shellfish in the seas surrounding his village.
Jungkook had been so excited for it. Yet he knew something was off by the look on Yoongi’s face. He could see the tears in his eyes threatening to fall.
“Jungkook,” Yoongi sank to his knees, cupping the mermaid’s face, “there’s an angry mob coming this way. Nam- someone from my village found out about you. I don’t know what to do.”
Sobs wracked Yoongi’s small frame. Jungkook stared up at him.
“I’m so sorry, Kook,” Yoongi whispered, “you need to swim away, you need to leave.”
Jungkook shook his head, clinging to Yoongi’s arms.
“You need to leave, before they come, please, Jungkook,” Yoongi pleaded.
He could hear footsteps coming down the path. He pushed Jungkook away, “go please, before they come.”
Jungkook clung harder to Yoongi, his nails digging into his shirt and skin. Jungkook shook his head, his lips trembling. He locked his arms behind Yoongi’s neck, refusing to leave him. Yoongi sagged against him, wrapping his arms around his waist, hiding his face in the crook of his neck, “I don’t want them to hurt you.”
“Yoongi!” it was his mother. It was the tone she always used when he was just a boy and he wondered too close to the sea.
Yoongi shielded Jungkook with his boy, covering him as much as possible. He felt his father’s rough and calloused hands trying to yank him away. Jungkook clung tighter to him. Yoongi remembered kicking and fighting as his father pulled him away. He wouldn’t take his eyes off Jungkook.
Jungkook was scared. He cowered into himself, looking at the massive mob coming to attack him.
Yoongi could hear Namjoon’s soft voice in his ear, telling him that he was sorry, that he only did this to help him.
Yoongi didn’t, he didn’t want to, hear any of this. He didn’t want to hear his best friend declare that this was for the betterment of him. Because it wasn’t, seeing Jungkook so frightened and scared like this. It evoked a feeling in him he couldn’t express.
Jungkook was still to injured to swim very far. Yoongi knew that he wouldn’t be able to last on his own just yet. But there was nothing Yoongi could do. He fought hard against his father holding him back, cradling him to his chest like he was a boy in need of protecting.
They don’t understand.
He screamed and cried as the men marched forward, the women chanting out hateful and spiteful words at Jungkook. They were all blaming him for every single death in the village. But Jungkook wouldn’t hurt anyone, Yoongi doesn’t think any mermaid would.
“Go! Jungkook, go! Get out of here,” Yoongi screeched, his vision blurred with anger and fear and tears, “leave him alone! Please! He didn’t do anything!”
Jungkook swam a few feet back, his eyes never leaving Yoongi’s. And Yoongi doesn’t know why he won’t leave. His father wrapped his arms around Yoongi’s chest, he couldn’t breathe. The arms he once clung to, the arms he pictured protecting and providing for his family were now the ones holding him back from what he loved.
Yoongi couldn’t breathe. And Yoongi loved Jungkook.
The men were cautiously wadding in the water, their spears pointed at Jungkook.
“Jungkook, please!” Yoongi sobbed, “You need to leave! I’ll be fine, go!”
He could see the hesitation in Jungkook’s eyes. But he nodded. It was time for Jungkook to leave, Yoongi knew this day would come but never did he think it would be because of this. Jungkook slowly backed away, trying his hardest to keep a sight on Yoongi.
“Go! Jungkook, go!” Yoongi screamed. And Jungkook went. The men swam after him, “Don’t chase him! Leave him be! Please, I love him!”
Every night after Yoongi sat by the cliffs looking at, searching, the sea. He hasn’t been to the cove since, he couldn’t. He went once, the very next day. There was a partial bit of Jungkook’s last drawing still carved into the sand. He left the cove right after his eyes wet and his chest in pain. He hasn’t spoken to his parents or Namjoon since. He’s shunned himself from the village before they could.
He doesn’t work. He doesn’t eat much either. He barely drinks water. He sleeps most of the time. He dreams of Jungkook most nights, his tail and how it shimmered and glowed and how the colors were his favorite, his drawings and the tales he spoke through them, and mostly his smile. Gods, his smile, it was breathtaking. He felt the happiest when Jungkook smiled and revealed his teeth. He knew then that Jungkook was truly comfortable with him.
On the nights Yoongi doesn’t dream of Jungkook he dreams of nothing.
Yoongi refuses to go out on the sea. Too afraid he may find something he no longer wants to discover. He knows Jungkook could not have swam far. He knows Jungkook could not outswim a boat. Yoongi doesn’t know if any men were waiting outside the cove in case Jungkook escaped. It’s one reason he refuses to enter town.
His mother only visited once. He heard her small feeble voice through his bared door. She knocked and begged Yoongi to let her in. After a few moments she left. Yoongi couldn’t care less to check. Later that night he stumbled over a small package left at his doorstep. He spotted his mother’s sloppy handwriting. He kicked the package aside and left to go sit at the cliffs.
Namjoon was the next person to come visit him. But Namjoon didn’t knock and try to get Yoongi to let him in. No, Namjoon always knew Yoongi better than anyone. When Namjoon visited he barged in and forced Yoongi from his bed and made his something to eat.
They sat across from each other at Yoongi’s small sitting table. Namjoon had made soup as it appeared to be a cold day. Winter is near. Namjoon ate, Yoongi didn’t. He knew Namjoon was only trying to break the tension between them by acting like nothing had happened. But something did.
Namjoon dropped his spoon in his bowl, sighed, and leaned back, “Yoongi, Yoongs, it’s been two months.”
Yoongi hasn’t been keeping track of time, he stopped caring a week or so afterwards.
“You need to work,” Namjoon started, “you need to do something. Your parents are worried sick, again. They don’t fully understand what happened between you and the mermaid, but they, they just want their son back.”
Namjoon sighed again. He often did that when he was having trouble getting his point across, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I rallied the village like I did. But, Yoongi, I didn’t know what it was. I didn’t know you had formed a connection with it like that.”
“Jungkook,” Yoongi whispered, “his name is Jungkook.”
He heard Namjoon swallow thickly, he did that when he was beginning to cry, “I swear Yoongi, if I had known, I wouldn’t have. But I saw you walk into the cove and the mermaid was just there. I didn’t know that you knew it, that you knew him. I’ve always known you were interested in them.”
Yoongi looked up.
“You’re my best friend,” Namjoon smiled weakly, “I know everything. And I hate seeing you like this. And I hate seeing you like this because of me. Yoongi, I swear, I am so terribly sorry.”
“Why?” Yoongi choked the word out.
“I panicked,” Namjoon explained, “no one has really seen a mermaid. I’ve only heard the horror stories about them, and I didn’t want my best friend to be the next one.”
Yoongi nodded. He understood. If it was anyone else he would call bullshit on their lies. But he knows Namjoon, he knows Namjoon as well as Namjoon knows him. Yoongi knows Namjoon wouldn’t be able to go on if another person he loved was taken from him. Yoongi knows that he is all Namjoon has left.
“You love him?” Namjoon asked.
Yoongi nodded, “yeah, I do. I really love him, Joon.”
Namjoon sobbed, “I’m so sorry, Yoongi.”
Yoongi let Namjoon hug him and cling to him. Because Yoongi needed him too, he clung to his best friend just as tight. It was the first time he’s had physical contact with anyone since Jungkook. He needed the familiarity of his best friend’s arms around him, comforting him and soothing him.
“Will he come back?” Namjoon asked into Yoongi’s shoulder.
“I don’t think so,” Yoongi replied. There was a dry taste in his mouth. His eyes were soaking up all the water in his body.
“Why?”
Yoongi couldn’t say the words out loud. But he didn’t have to. Namjoon could hear the unspoken words and hugged his friend tighter.
“You have to go back to work,” Namjoon stepped back, his hands gripping Yoongi’s arms, “you can’t live like this. Please for me.”
So many people were begging him for things. Yet when he was the one begging they ignored.
“I will.” Yoongi complied.
The next day he was back on his boat. Namjoon had returned to the cove to recover it for him. He heard the whispers of his fellow fishermen and so much of it seemed like déjà vu. And like last time he ignored them. Namjoon had told him that no one wanted to cast him out, many believed that Yoongi was under the mermaid’s spell.
Yoongi wanted to scream and curse at the people for their stupidity.
He was back to his old routine yet it feels so different. He no longer was the man he once was. Never before has Yoongi loved someone. And right now, he often wonders if it was better to loved and lost rather than to have loved at all.
The seas were calm under the late autumn sky. He had casted out his nets and set up his poles. He once felt a calmness wash over him when he worked but now he curses how unbothered the sea is by his intrusion. And he wonders how the sea gods could allow such a beautiful creature like Jungkook to swim off and …
He laid out on the floor of his boat. Staring up into the endless sky. There were no clouds out but just a simple breeze. He closed his eyes and basked in the warm sun. Around him he heard distant splash of the water and knew he should be checking his lines and nets. But he didn’t, he couldn’t, get up.
The splashing grew closer. It must be a school of fish swimming by. But, was that a drop of water on his face?
Yoongi opened his eyes, shielding them from the sun with his hand. But there was no sun in his face. Only… it couldn’t be.
The smile he has been dreaming of for two months.
“Jungkook,” Yoongi lightly touched the side of Jungkook’s face. Jungkook smiled brighter, his nose scrunching, and his teeth showing. His dreams had forgotten how beautiful he is up close.
Yoongi sat up and Jungkook lowered into the water.
“Jungkook,” Yoongi cupped his face.
Jungkook nodded.
Yoongi leaned in.
Kissing Jungkook was like a reawakening. Yoongi kissed and kissed and kissed. He was so in love and he couldn’t stop.
“How? I was so sure,” Yoongi was breathless. He leaned his forehead against Jungkook’s. His hands never leaving the other’s cheeks. Jungkook brushed his nose against Yoongi’s and looked over his shoulder.
Just far off Yoongi could see two other figures swimming in the sea. The two mermaids Jungkook drew him. Jungkook was able to make it back home. And Yoongi is so grateful.
The one mermaid with a green tint to his hair and a boxy smile waved cheerfully to Yoongi when he caught his eye. The other mermaid was handsome, Yoongi could tell he was older than the two. He smiled softly and bowed his head to Yoongi.
Yoongi couldn’t stop smiling. Even when Jungkook dragged him lower, practically dragging him off the boat to kiss him again. Yoongi couldn’t stop smiling. His senses were heightened. He took in every breath and gasp Jungkook took as Yoongi kissed him deeper. The small pinch of Jungkook’s teeth against his lips. The scales on Jungkook’s arms and chest and tail rubbing against him. Jungkook smelled like the sea and he smelled like home.
Yoongi couldn’t breathe. And he was in love with Jungkook.
“I’ve missed you so much,” Yoongi kissed the words into Jungkook’s mouth, “please never leave me again.”
Jungkook smiled, “I’ve waited every day since then, waiting for you to return to the sea. To return to me.”
His voice was beautiful. It was the voice Yoongi heard every night as the waves crashed against the shore. It was the voice of the breeze that blew off the ocean. It was the only voice Yoongi wanted to hear from then on.
And in that moment Yoongi understood why those men drowned.