Chapter Text
Waves crashed on the shore. The air was cool even as the sun was still on the horizon, perfect temperature after a burning hot day.
Namjoon cooed at a tiny grab and kneeled on the sand to let it crawl onto his hand. Its shell was a pretty shade of pale pink. The grab stayed still so Namjoon sat down and pet it gently with the tip of his finger. After a minute or so, the grab started to crawl towards the edge of his palm. Namjoon set his hand on the warm and rough sand and watched as the grab zig-zagged away.
Namjoon stood up. The sun had started to set, now blinking far away behind the trees.
A shiver ran down his spine. The rays of the sun weren’t as warm as they had been a few minutes earlier. The seawater shone in a pretty hue of light orange and deep blue, beautifully illuminating the colors of the sky.
He was alone on the beach now, so he took advantage of it and let himself enjoy it to the fullest. He took in a lungful of air, enjoying the sweet saltiness of the sea. His fingers karted through the sand as the waves foamed.
It wasn’t often that he got time to abandon his responsibilities and just breathe without a worry in the world. He imagines the drill holes that his terrible office job has made into his being since he stepped into the working world filling with fresh air and the sweet scent of the sea. No more squeaky clean suits, greedy and mean bosses, and definitely no more continuous boring meetings regarding money.
He took a breath once more, closing his eyes and making a pretty picture in his head. His greatest wish. Fingers deep in rich dark dirt, looking after a variety of beautiful plants that he himself had grown and studied. Their vivid green leaves with intriguing patterns that only nature could create. The warm humidity in his small greenhouse. Traveling around the country and advising people on how to take care of their own plants.
He sighed and opened his eyes. Waves crashed on the shore, again and again in a soft push and pull of gravity. Someday he’d quit and turn his life sunny side up. He had been saving to do that. It wouldn’t take long anymore, a year at maximum.
A terrifying screech pierced through the air.
Namjoon froze. That couldn’t have been a human. No way.
The shore was empty. No animals in sight. Which way did the sound come from? He wasn’t sure.
What if it was just a sea animal screaming somewhere in the waves?
Then the sound called again, this time going on longer and longer. It was unbearable. Images of tortured and hurt animals filled his mind and he couldn’t fathom any more of it.
At the very least, he could somewhat determine where the sound came from and began running towards it.
After a while, a giant fish appeared to be struggling in a fishing net on the edge of the water. Its tail tried to rise in the air, only to be forced to thump back by the net. Namjoon ran closer and quickly realized that the creature was nothing like an ordinary fish.
He stopped in his tracks and stared at the creature in shock.
Above the deep turquoise tail were a human torso with arms and a very much human face on a long-haired head. A mermaid.
Or a merman, if he wanted to be literal.
It kept trying to twist and turn out of the net, only to tangle itself more. It let out a panicked screech again, the sound so inhumanly loud and pained that Namjoon’s eardrums were about to break. The screech stopped. The merman gave a violent twist of its whole body and stopped to catch its breath. The net dug up more into its skin and fins, pulling them off and making angry red and bleeding marks.
Panic surged up Namjoon’s lungs. He walked closer, slowly, trying to look as unthreatening as possible.
He stilled again at two meters away. The merman seemed to miraculously not have noticed him yet. He took in a deep breath.
“Hey.” The creature froze in its place, staring at him with huge, round, and gleaming eyes. A moment passed. Neither of them moved until the merman started twisting violently.
“No no no no. Shhh, it’s okay. I want to help you.” Namjoon talked as gently as he could in his shocked state of mind. He bent his knees, slowly approaching the merman until it was right under his fingertips. Its scales and skin tore under the net. “Shhh, it’s okay, it’s okay. Shhh.” He kneeled on the sand. The merman stilled. Its breathing was labored and eyes bulging out but it kept a tight watch on him.
Namjoon smiled. “That’s right. It’s okay. I’m gonna help you.” He looked around. The net would have had to be cut somewhere but he didn’t have scissors or a knife at hand. His apartment was too far away, as well.
He swore under his breath. He had to call someone. After thinking for a minute or two, he settled on one of his closest friends, Taehyung. He was crazy enough to not be shocked by finding a mythological, anatomically impossible, creature on a beach. His open-mindedness was one of his most precious traits, after all. Namjoon looked at its injuries. Those just might be a bit of a shock.
Taehyung picked up the call in seconds and promised to come without being given any explanation whatsoever. Namjoon sighed and looked at the merman again. “Aight, better start working then.”
He freed some of the merman’s fins and tail, trying to avoid tightening the net in other places. Working on them was hard. The merman’s breathing was still labored and the net was so tangled in some places that it was hard to see which thread went where.
Eventually, the merman’s fins weren’t bent anymore, it could move its head and breathe a little better.
Namjoon sat up to rub off the sand that had stuck on his damp clothes and looked up just in time to see Taehyung wandering around on the beach. He was probably looking for him.
Namjoon waved and caught Taehyung’s attention. Taehyung began to jog towards them.
Namjoon set his hand on the merman’s arm. “My friend is coming to help us out, little one.” The merman had calmed down and was now watching him with curiosity. Its eyes were round and expressive which easily melted Namjoon’s heart. They lit up with gold every time sunlight hit them.
A thud startled both of them. “Oh my...” Taehyung stared at them a few meters away with a giant gym bag at his feet. Why on Earth would he need a gym bag that big? He doesn’t even go to a gym.
“So this is why you called? Dude, I was ready to free some kind of a criminal out of their cuffs.”
“Why would I want to free a criminal?”
Taehyung shrugs and walks closer. “I don’t know. Maybe this person helped you find your wallet or save a puppy’s life. Also, people get jailed for wacky reasons. I wouldn’t be surprised if you had friends from there.” Namjoon pouted. He couldn’t disagree with Taehyung.
Taehyung took a better look at the tangle of a mermaid. A wince took over his face when he got to the deep scratches on its tail and torso. It was a sad sight but Namjoon couldn’t help but hold back laughing at how the mermaid’s golden eyes were glued at Taehyung’s newly dyed purple hair. It was so cute.
“We gotta start cutting this up. It has started to dry.”
“It?” Taehyung scowled at him. “Koala Joon, you name your house plants and call them by human pronouns. He’s a he.
“Uhh… Yeah, you’ve got a point.” He turned to the gym back. “Anyway, what’s in there? It sounded heavy.”
“As I said earlier, didn’t know what you needed so I took everything I had.” Taehyung grabbed the bag and pulled out really sturdy chain cutters which made the merman cry out. Namjoon reassured him quickly and Taehyung passed Namjoon a big bottle of water. “Don’t use everything now.” Namjoon nodded and poured some of the water on the merman’s tail and skin. The merman sighed and let out sated clicking sounds. Both Taehyung and Namjoon smiled.
Taehyung kneeled next to them. He gave Namjoon a pair of fabric scissors and began cutting the net with an old but deadly sharp sawtooth knife. The mermaid stayed still the whole time, not moving an inch. He was probably too afraid of the knife.
“Why do I get fabric scissors?” Namjoon whined.
“You’d hurt yourself with anything less safe,” Taehyung said boldly. Namjoon looked at the scissors, feeling a little bummed out. Again, Taehyung was right and Namjoon couldn’t complain about it.
They worked for more than half an hour. Cutting the net was hard since it had clung so tight around the merman. They had had to pour water on him twice more, which of course felt good for a sea creature. Every little happy click the merman let out made Namjoon and Taehyung’s work a little less taxing.
After the last thread of net was taken off the merman’s tail, Namjoon and Taehyung were soaked in sweat and panted as if they’d just finished a marathon. The merman smiled widely, humming out of happiness as his sharp teeth piqued from behind his lips.
Taehyung laughed. He pets the merman’s head. “Happily free.” Taehyung glanced towards the water. “Now we need to get you back in there.”
The merman’s smile disappeared immediately as if he’d understood what Taehyung had said. He looked into the deep blue of the sea and as ridiculous as it was, hissed at it. Loudly.
Taehyung and Namjoon scrambled to back off. A hissing merman was both a terrifying sight and a terrifying sound. Apparently, merpeople’s faces were much more expressive compared to humans’. Namjoon wouldn’t be fond of those teeth in his flesh.
Taehyung and Namjoon watched in confusion as the merman rose on its hands and pulled himself further away from the edge of the water.
Taehyung’s eyebrows knit together. “I don’t know about you, but to me, it looks like he doesn’t want back.”
“Could it be the salt in the water? I mean, he’s got bleeding bruises, and cuts and is missing some of his scales. I can imagine the sting.” Taehyung grimaces.
The merman had stopped to lie on the sand, his whole body straightened. He had closed his eyes and was now breathing deep on the cooling sand.
“Beautiful,” Taehyung whispered.
Namjoon hummed. “He looks so comfortable.”
They spent a short while there, just watching the merman nap on the shore after sunset.
A sad and lonely thought interrupted their peace.
“He’s going to dry to death here,” Namjoon muttered. Taehyung’s jaw clenched.
“You mean if another human doesn’t kill him first?”
“Yeah, that too.”
They thought about it in silence for a second. There really weren’t a lot of options out there, and all of them were awful. Calling higher-ups would end in a disaster, on the beach he would die one way or another, and carrying him back into the sea would cause inhumane pain.
“Do you-” Taehyung started. Namjoon looked at his friend, who was staring at his feet. “Do you still have a bathtub?”
For the first time ever, Namjoon was grateful for Taehyun’s tendency to collect and save everything that could possibly have any use in the future. Otherwise, pushing over the backseats and tying a tarpaulin at the back of a car to make a small pool to transport a merman would have been impossible.
Saying that the merman wasn’t confused by the situation would’ve been a massive lie but for their luck, he stayed calm. Instead, he looked around the car, his head moving from one way to another while his big golden eyes shined. Once in a while, he splashed the water and let out a sound strangely reminiscent of giggling.
They made sure the merman was moisturized and helped him pull himself out of the car. Namjoon encouraged him to wrap his arm over his shoulder and neck. The merman squeaked in excitement and wrapped both of his arms around Namjoon, which luckily only made Namjoon’s job easier.
Taehyung took hold of the merman’s tail which clearly wasn’t pleasant for the creature. He hissed and shoved his teeth in an angry grimace. Fortunately, he didn’t try to shake Taehyung off.
Just when they were about to step inside, someone called Namjoon’s name from above.
“Hey! Is that a mermaid you’re carrying?”
They froze.
Shit. What were they supposed to do now? Both looked at each other for help. Namjoon shrugged.
Taehyung manifested a smile out of nowhere and looked up. A middle-aged woman waved out of an opened window. “Yeah, it’s a costume for a pool party our friends organized. He’s stuck so we gotta carry him.”
“Oh, that’s so cool. Do you need any help there?” Taehyung almost lost his grip on the merman’s tail.
“No!” Namjoon winced. Too quick. Taehyung composed himself and laughed awkwardly. “Ah... No, thank you. We can manage.”
The neighbor gave them a thumbs up. “Of course, of course. Who am I to question two strong young men? Have a nice evening.”
Namjoon chuckled “Thank you. You too, ahjumma.”
The woman closed her window. Namjoon let out a breath of relief. Taehyung smiled nervously. Finally, they locked eyes and burst out laughing. The merman between them looked at them with sparkly eyes. He was excited, despite not being able to understand what exactly was going on.
“Let’s get him inside before anyone else comes,” Taehyung’s wide rectangular smile made his words a little harder to catch. Namjoon couldn’t blame him.
After a bit of scrambling and struggling, they finally managed to lay the merman in the tub and get the water going. Namjoon took the showerhead, helping the merman wash the blood, damaged fins, and scales, and dried up sand off and down the drain.
Taehyung plugged the tub and let the water fill it. The merman immediately dunked his head under the tap, clicking loudly.
It was a delightful sight to watch, both humans stuck in their awe, following as a merman washed and played in the water. The bathtub was obviously too small for him since his long legs took a lot of space. But at least Namjoon didn’t have the smallest tub out there.
The tub was filled so Taehyung shut the tap and they sat against the wall.
"Pretty good acting,” Namjoon said quietly.
“Huh?”
Namjoon let his eyes stray from the merman for a minute. “You acted well, back there.”
“Oh, thanks!” Taehyung quirked his eyebrow, his smile never having left his face.
“How did you figure out the party thing? Let me tell you, that was some quick thinking. I was completely blank.”
Taehyung chuckled. “It was the only thing possibly involving mermaids that I could think of.”
They enjoyed the quiet and dream-like sight before their eyes. The merman was currently carding his long, sharp nails through his hair. It didn’t take long until he looked at them with curious yet tired eyes. He leaned his head against the cool tile of the wall and sighed. Namjoon cooed internally.
“We need to name him. Feels stupid not having a name to call him by,” Taehyung said. Namjoon hummed and thought about it for a second.
“What about Elia?”
“From that book of yours?”
Namjoon nods. Taehyung takes a long and precise look at the merman, considering it. “It’s a pretty name but I don’t think it suits him.”
Namjoon hums. “You know what? Gukkie would be a cute name.”
Taehyung smiles even wider at that. “Nickname Gukkie, full name Jeongguk.”
“That’s perfect.”
“Uhh, Joon?” Taehyung frowned.
“Hmm?”
“Do you have any idea of what merpeople eat?”
Namjoon stayed quiet. “Shit…” Taehyung glanced at him, looking just as unsure as Namjoon felt.
“Joon, how are we going to take care of a merman. I mean… We didn’t know he could even exist a little over an hour ago.”
Cogwheels spun in Namjoon’s mind. Taehyung was right. The tub was too small for such a creature and they had no idea what he needed to be healthy and happy. What were the ways to tell what an animal eats?
“Wait. He has blunt teeth but the closer they are to the outer edges the sharper they are. What if merpeople are omnivores like humans?”
Taehyung’s eyes widened. “Do you have any fish in your fridge? Also, we need to be super careful about this so we don’t accidentally poison him.”
Namjoon fetched some raw fish he had for making sushi and a cooked salmon. Jeongguk had clearly smelled what Namjoon was carrying. His eyes were already on him when Namjoon stepped into the bathroom. He keened quietly, reluctantly, and unsurely stretched out his hand even though he must have been starving already.
“It’s for you. Only for you.” Namjoon smiled and quickly handed the fish to him. He was waiting for a wholesome feast, only to stare in shock as Jeongguk made his first thing to press his nail into the cooked fish’s eye and pop it out. Namjoon glanced at his friend, not really knowing what to think. Taehyung’s jaw had dropped, too.
Jeongguk ate the second eye before snapping the head of the fish off and happily munching it whole.
“Well, not as cute as we thought. But he’s certainly happy with what he got.” Taehyung chuckled right before Jeongguk peeled the skin off the fish, ate the skin, and then began slowly eating the meat. “He seems to have a specific order for that.”
“It has to be,” Namjoon said under his breath.
“Which fish was that?” Taehyung asked.
“Salmon.”
“Ooh. Do you think he goes by which part is the tastiest? Because you know, salmon skin is super greasy, so maybe it’s better than the meat and the eyes are the best?”
Namjoon raised his eyebrows. “That would make sense.”
Jeongguk devoured the sushi fish much more quickly. He splashed some water onto his face and tail, carefully cleaning his scales before settling against the tiling again and staring at them. Now he looked like he was ready to tip over into the dream world.
There was no wonder why, as the sun had set a couple of hours ago. Namjoon’s limbs and head felt heavy. Taehyung had started to lean towards him like he always did when he was on the brink of falling asleep.
Jeongguk kept staring at them. It would have been unnerving if he didn’t look as comfy and sleepy as he did.
Namjoon nudged Taehyung’s head so that his neck wouldn’t have been in a bad position. His friend’s eyes were closed. “Taetae?”
“Hmm?”
“Would you stay here for the night? And tomorrow?”
“For Jeongguk?”
“Yeah. And me… For a little bit. But mostly Jeongguk.” Taehyung chuckled, giving him a lazy smile.