Work Text:
Somehow, the music in the background has fainted. The sweet melody of the viola disappearing all of a sudden. All he hears is a far-fetched voice—like a whisper in his ears. The texture of it being so unfamiliar yet alluring. In his twenty years of life, Mingyu has never heard so addictive a voice.
He looks around from where he is standing near the stern of the ship and finds nothing but huge waves coming across. The weather has worsened but the gushing wind is a relief after the scotching heat all morning. Mingyu finds utter peace in that.
The sound stops, eventually. He hears nothing but the sound of the rapid wind and almost goes back inside in despair until he hears the voice once again.
“Upon summer’s morning
I carefully did stray
Down by the walls of wapping
Where I met a sailor gay”
He turns around briskly and sees a silhouette, at some distance, of someone sitting on a huge rock. The view is not clear for the weather is against it in every way, light mist everywhere.
There is some light humming now. His heart constricts inside. He knows not if it is the fear of the unknown, the astonishment or admiration for such a voice. Before he can dwell further, he hears the person sing once again.
“Conversing with a young lass
Who seem’d to be in pain
Saying, William when you go I fear you’ll
Never return again”
His hands tremble for a reason unbeknownst to him. His eyes fill with tears and he has a sudden urge to be closer to the voice. Closer to the person.
The water is as cold as it can get. He gasps for air as soon as he comes out to the surface, flapping his numb arms and legs here and there to maintain some sort of equilibrium. As he struggles, he looks at the rock and makes out the silhouette of someone’s back. He tries his best to swim using his numb limbs and succeeds after several attempts. Such is his desperation to meet someone he knows nothing about. He would have laughed but not now, not when his sole purpose is to get a glimpse of the angel with the voice.
Mingyu manages to get near to the rock and he sees the bare back of the person sitting rather formally. Fortunately, there is another rock near to the one the angel sits upon. As if it was specifically designed for him. He shakes his head at that thought and quickly climbs the rock.
He sighs and pulls his legs to his chest.
He hasn’t the courage to speak but he realizes that the angel knows nothing about him being there, most probably. He has to talk.
He realizes how the angel is no longer singing but the humming is persistent. Before he could utter a word, the angel had already turned around and suddenly there are fireflies everywhere, making everything coherent. The words dry in Mingyu's mouth. His stomach forms knots and there is a deep flush on his face in an instant.
Oh, so beautiful.
The angel has features he has never seen. The face is gentle yet defined by the prominent cheekbones. The eyes shine with mischief and tranquility. The lips are thin and delicate looking. The hair--blonde and beautifully long. The strands on the brink of drying but still wet enough.
His chest is bare, devoid of clothing and—Mingyu gasps rather loudly.
Instead of legs, he sees a tail. A fish tail, to be exact, that is attached to the lower body. He widens his eyes and fails to shut his mouth at the absurdity of coming across a creature as this.
He hears a laugh.
The angel laughs out loud and oh how pretty, Mingyu thinks.
“Did I scare you, my sailor?”, he says in a honey-like voice and Mingyu almost melts. He is so busy admiring the beauty that he fails to answer and only comes back to his senses by the sound of a giggle.
“Who are you?”, Mingyu builds up the courage to ask.
“A Siren, my sailor.”
Mingyu remembers them being discussed by his fellow students when they were studying mythology during class in school. They had studied about how Sirens lure people and probably have them in their feasts. He had passed that discussion as gibberish. However, now he deeply regrets it.
“You sing well….”, Mingyu compliments even though he feels himself getting intimidated by the Siren.
“I have heard.”, the Siren says, smiling.
What a pretty smile, Mingyu thinks once again. How do I stay fearful?
The Siren does nothing for sometime and keeps on staring at Mingyu with inquisitive eyes and some fascination. Mingyu doesn’t mind, he realizes. He likes the attention for some reason. At one moment the Siren is on one rock and in another he is in front of Mingyu, making the latter go cross-eyed at the proximation.
“You have pretty eyes”, the Siren whispers whilst staring at them.
When Mingyu doesn’t respond, he brings his hand to Mingyu’s face and traces his cheek and jaw with the back of it.
“So pretty…”, he whispers again.
Mingyu gulps and closes his eyes, relishing the feeling of the cold hand on his heated face. The rapid beating of his heart is not from nervousness or fear, he knows.
“My heart is pierced by cupid
I disdain all glittering gold
There is nothing can console me
But my jolly sailor bold”
The voice is like an echo and a delicate whisper. The benignity, the serenity however evident.
Mingyu doesn’t open his eyes. He wants to bask in the euphoria that is the voice of his angel.
“My sailor, my Mingyu…”
Slowly, it is as if the touch wilts away and the voice fades into nothingness.
Mingyu eventually opens his eyes and looks everywhere only to find no one around. The ship stands at the same place like time didn’t change and it had all been a mere dream. His heart aches at even the prospect of that. He blinks away that thought and swims back to the ship.
That night he dreams of someone named Yoon Jeonghan, with the loveliest smile, who loves to sing.