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The freshly blooming flowers danced around in the warm, spring morning light that shone through the many branches and bright green leaves decorating the trees, which were home to many woodland birds and rodents, as a young boy skipped about throughout the flora and dampened dirt forest trails without a care in the world, a bright smile decorating his face. He hummed a sweet tune aloud as he danced about until his bare feet met the warm grains of the sea’s sandy shore that lay freely in front of his small cottage home that sat in a cosy opening in the forest’s entry.
The warm, little cottage was built mere decades ago by a lovely young couple who claimed the wilderness was much more calming and its mysticality brought much more happiness than filthy, drunkard village life ever could; there was much more freedom with the wilderness. The two cleared out a small area of land and built up their perfect little cottage which they happily surrounded with many items they had collected over the years. They worked the land, soon creating the many paths strewn about, many lush, beautiful little garden spaces, and decorating their space with all nature had to offer; soon allowing the flora to decorate in its own way over the years. everything quickly became perfect as if it were a dream come true until it soon wasn’t.
Of the couple, the young man grew sick. It was a sudden illness, not seemingly contagious but perhaps chronic, which led the woman to tend to him, sitting and watching by his bedside day and night, tending to his needs and making various attempts at nursing him back to health. He passed thirty days later; passing peacefully in the arms of his true love, bringing a longing wave of grief and despair that filled the once warm, loving space of the cottage.
Her grieving lasted for years- her children growing up in despair at the loss of their father, and soon dying away from the many fatal illnesses that roamed the filth-filled streets of the many villages and kingdoms spread over the land- until a boy of pure life, tenderness, and joy entered her world, bringing light and comfort back to her heart and home. That boy was her young, orphaned grandson, Hongjoong, who was brought to her doorstep by his sickly, older siblings who were riddled with all sorts of filth and disease and could no longer care for him after their parents’ passing. She gratefully accepted Hongjoong with open arms and as the years passed, the strong bond between grandmother and grandson grew.
Everywhere she went, he followed. Everything she knew, he learned. Everything she missed, he filled in the cracks. To her, he was a golden child and she couldn’t have been more proud of her grandson as he grew older, soon taking pride in helping his grandmother out in any way he could in his innocence; an innocence anyone would beg to have back. A young naivety that only the pure of heart could possess, that seemingly only the mystical could reach. But mystic he was not, though he had a rather elven look to him as he grew older.
Hongjoong always lent a helping hand around the cottage; he would cook, clean, garden, repair and build things, and apart from all this he loved freedom and the thrill that adventure brought. He would always run out and around the forest trails, but his favourite place of all was the seashore.
The seashore was a short walk down from the cottage and could clearly be seen from indoors. It was a peaceful shore, with a long wooden dock and clear, sparkling water. It was a beautiful place to look at and an equally nice place to run and swim around in; its natural beauty was captivating and Hongjoong always hoped to keep it that way and it was here that he discovered a mystery.
“Nan,” Hongjoong shouted out into the small cottage as he skipped about to the kitchen door which led out back the home in the hopes his grandmother would hear, “I'm heading out!”
He paused for a moment to hear a response, which came in a small mumble of acknowledgement, before reaching for the doorknob and turning it, jumping out into the fresh outside world as he pushed the door open, closing it soon after to stop any insects from entering and eating up the fresh baked goods his grandmother had made up earlier in the day; plus he knew well of his grandmother’s hatred of insects in the house.
Taking in a deep breath of the warm, late summer’s air, Hongjoong grinned at himself before running off down the same forest path he took day after day on his adventures- the same path he had taken since his early childhood years. He adored this path; loved the melodic sounds of birds chirping in the trees and other animals chiming in from near and far, the flowers and other plants that bloomed ever so delightfully in the spring months all through until the autumn months, the soft, pillowy feeling of the moss on his feet as he skipped along the path, the warm breeze that always blew in just the right way, it was the one path he swore he would always return to day after day, year after year. He revelled in the pure joy he felt from the path, in particular, always feeling as if there were some sort of magical aura surrounding it, but magic, he knew there was none of and it was just his naive, creative, young mind convincing him otherwise though it was not only this drawing him towards this particular path.
Hongjoong skipped over the moss and stone covered path, hands brushing over various leaves and flowers that hung out and over towards him as he went on towards a new trail he had recently discovered which he called his “secret” path. Though the path itself was not all that secret, he still referred to it as such since he was the one to uncover and bring it back to life. It was a short, thin little path in a turnoff into the bushes which led out to a spot further up the shore of the beach. The path was slightly darker and yet more overgrown than the path Hongjoong so adored, but the cold, wet soil beneath his feet and warm air brought life to its overgrowth.
Humming along, Hongjoong continued skipping down the path through the forest, eventually turning down his darker, dampened new path which quickly turned to warm sun and bright skies as he came upon the opening. Pausing almost immediately in his tracks as his feet buried themselves in the soft sand, Hongjoong gazed up and down the sandy shore before skipping about down to the waterline. The water was cold, just as Hongjoong had expected it to be, yet he ventured into the water far enough for the incoming waves to wet his trousers just below the knees.
Without a care, Hongjoong stood out in the water just looking out into the vast openness of the ever-expanding ocean as it travelled over the horizon. He always had a love for the ocean; the open water, the salty sea breeze, the freedom. He adored it almost as if it were a calling, but he refrained from his dreams for the meantime, instead, helping his grandmother out around the cottage and exploring the forest and seashore as he pleased. Besides, he was still a child and had his whole life ahead of him yet where he could set off and explore more than on land. But none of these thoughts ever bothered Hongjoong. Instead, he would just walk out into the water as he was now and just breathe before turning back to the waterline and slowly making his way down the shore back in the direction of the cottage.
As Hongjoong walked, he occasionally would lean down to pick up a small pebble and attempt skipping it into the ocean waves, always watching and counting its hops until it grew tired and sank below the surface before continuing on his way. This time, Hongjoong looked down at his feet as he walked and did so for a fair distance before looking up and noticing something lying along the shoreline, off in the distance, causing him to stop in his tracks.
Hongjoong tilted his head like a curious puppy as he tried to form an image in his mind of what could’ve possibly washed up on the shore; it could be anything due to his age and imagination, but nothing stood out to him in particular. After a few more moments of standing about in an attempt to process what he was seeing, Hongjoong took off towards the object in a sprint.
Thoughts began to race through Hongjoong’s mind as he came closer to the object, soon able to see that it was human- with some other non-human parts to it? As he grew closer and closer, Hongjoong only seemed to grow more confused; he had never seen anything- or anyone- like this before. Finally coming right up beside the washed-up creature, Hongjoong eyed it from head to tail; whoever they were, they looked absolutely beautiful and about Hongjoong’s size. Finally gaining confidence, Hongjoong kneeled down beside the creature in the hopes of seeing its face and slowly brought his hand up to push the damp, sand-covered hair out of the creature’s face to reveal that of any regular human with the addition of a few shimmery blue scales sitting atop its cheekbones, just underneath its eyes.
Hongjoong took a moment to admire the creature before it slightly stirred as if it sensed Hongjoong’s wandering eyes. It was then that Hongjoong’s helping instincts kicked in; he took one last quick look at the creature before adjusting it in a way that he could support it in a sitting position as he pulled it a bit deeper into the water to wash some of the sand off it. Quickly and carefully, Hongjoong kept a close eye on the creature as he washed the sand away before using all the strength and adrenaline he had to pick up the creature and run it up and into the cottage.
“Nan!” Hongjoong cried into the small home as he burst through the front door and down the small, crowded hallway into the bathroom, “Nan, come quickly!”
Hongjoong was running on pure adrenaline now. He set the creature down in the bathtub, gently enough and in a position that earned no weak, pained reaction; sitting back enough it would easily be covered with water, its tail hanging out over the edge as it wouldn’t fit any other way. Quickly, Hongjoong turned on the water, adjusting the temperature for a moment as it began pouring from the faucet to ensure it wasn’t too warm for the creature to comfortably sit in before he finally took a deep breath and sat back on the floor of the bathroom, simply admiring the creature as the water slowly began to rise around it.
“Hongjoong, What is it that you needed so urgently you had to leave the door wide open? You know how I-” Hongjoong’s grandmother completely paused in the doorway as she realised what was laying in the tub in front of her.
Hongjoong turned to look up at his grandmother from his spot on the floor, confidently stating, “I was walking along the beach and saw something down by the water so I ran and when I got closer, I saw it was at least a little human so I wanted to help.”
There were a few moments of silence between the pair as Hongjoong watched his grandmother process the situation while examining the creature from her spot in the doorway, “Turn the water off, it’ll overflow,” his grandmother eventually sighed before turning to leave down the hall, “and come with me.”
Diligently, Hongjoong nodded and quickly rose to his feet to cut the water, taking one short look at the mesmerising creature next to him before shuffling out of the bathroom and down the hall, following his grandmother.
“Nan,” Hongjoong asked, as he followed his grandmother into the little nook she called her “den” which was filled with a shocking amount of books; filling shelves and covering nearly every bit of wall available in the small room, “Why are we in here? What about the-”
“Quiet, Hongjoong,” his grandmother shushed him as she pulled an old, yet well-kept, deep blue book from one of the many shelves before leaving the nook and heading to settle on the sofa in the living area, “now come sit and we’ll talk.”
Once again, Hongjoong just nodded and followed his grandmother, seating himself beside her as she opened up the book and flipped through multiple pages to find the one she was looking for.
“Listen carefully now,” his grandmother said, placing her finger on the page for the young boy to follow as she read the following;
Sirens
si⋅ren
Sirens are dangerous creatures, who lure nearby sailors with their enchanting music and singing voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. it is said that they can even charm the winds…
… Sirens were once believed to look like a combination of women and birds in various different forms. It wasn't until the seventh century that sirens were evidently shown to be women from their heads to their navels, and instead of legs they have fish-like tails. Despite these pure female accusations, it was discovered that sirens can be male or female, such as humans are, though it is the females who are most commonly found to be luring sailors…
“A siren ?” Hongjoong asked, looking up at his grandmother for any sense of clarity, “the creature is a siren?”
“Yes,” his grandmother confirmed, "He is a siren. Now that he’s here we have to be careful and you, my sweet boy, need to watch over and take care of him. His kind is rare and hunted quite often for high prizes by those city dwellers who want to avenge their dead husbands and sons. If he's in your care, Hongjoong, I hope you’ll keep him safe whether you decide to keep him here or release him once we figure out his condition when he awakes. In the meantime, I hope you’ll read this,” she closed the book after folding over the corner of the page starting the ‘mermadic’ section, “I want you to learn while you can before taking on this responsibility. otherwise, we’ll have to release him without a choice.”
Hongjoong just sat, focusing down at the book on his lap as his grandmother spoke. His youthful mind travelling elsewhere while he processed the fact that he had found a siren- a young one around his age, as well. It fascinated him.
“Now,” Hongjoong’s grandmother began, as she slowly rose to her feet, “Why don’t you go busy yourself, my dear, and i’ll cook us up some dinner.”
Hongjoong looked up at his grandmother for a moment before she left the room, leaving him on the sofa with the book. He sat there for quite some time, running his hand over the cover of the old book and allowing his mind to roam at the possibilities that could occur from the fact that he now had a siren in the house that his grandmother had put him in charge of. This was like an opportunity of a lifetime and Hongjoong swore he would do everything he could to ensure he would keep the siren safe. And sure, it seemed like a lot since hongjoong was still only a young child, but he was determined.
That determination brought Hongjoong to where he sat, days later, on the bathroom floor flipping through the many pages of the book as he read awaiting the awakening of the siren in the tub next to him. That's when he heard some movement from the tub; causing him to turn his head and finally meet eye-to-eye with the siren for the first time. Nothing but silence sat between the two as they just stared at each other for a few moments before the siren broke the gaze and looked around with bright, curious eyes.
He didn’t seem scared at all, instead, he seemed more curious than anything; eyes sparkling in the bit of sunlight that shone through the small bathroom window as he looked around making small clicking noises. Hongjoong just watched the young siren in awe, admiring his, now, much more lively features, at least until the calm clicking stopped and the siren once again looked at Hongjoong.
“Oh, uhh, hi,” Hongjoong stuttered, flustered by the siren’s gaze back on him. When he didn’t receive a response he took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking again, “Can you understand me?”
This time, the siren just tilted his head in confusion which gave Hongjoong an idea. Quickly, the boy scrambled to his feet and out the bathroom door, leaving the siren lost as he continued looking around while awaiting Hongjoong’s return which didn’t take too long. Within seconds, Hongjoong had returned with a small stack of papers and a pen of sorts. Taking a few seconds to look at the siren, Hongjoong then buried his face in the papers, seemingly drawing something. After a few more quick glances between the siren and the papers, Hongjoong finally held the papers up to the siren for him to look at; it was a drawing of himself with an arrow pointing to “Hongjoong” written on the page and below it was a drawing of the siren with an arrow pointing to nothing. The siren carefully examined the paper before muttering, “Joong” to himself as he did his best to say what he was reading. Hongjoong smiled at this and held out the pen for the siren to grab in the hopes he would write his own name for Hongjoong to read.
“Joong,” the siren quietly repeated, this time looking up at Hongjoong to connect the name to the person, before grabbing the pen from Hongjoong’s hand and scribbling on the paper and smiling brightly before handing Hongjoong the pen back, “Hwa.”
Hongjoong quickly turned the paper around, as he heard the siren make an attempt at saying his own name, to see “Seonghwa” neatly written by the picture Hongjoong had drawn, “Seonghwa ?” Hongjoong asked looking at the siren, “Your name is Seonghwa?”
Seonghwa quickly nodded at this before pointing to himself, “Hwa.”
Hongjoong smiled at this and slightly nodded before setting the used paper to the side and scribbling on a new sheet. This time, when Hongjoong held up the paper, it had another picture of Hongjoong with a “13” next to his picture and nothing next to the picture he had drawn of Seonghwa. again, Seonghwa looked at the picture carefully before holding up his hands in confusion; one hand with one finger raised and the other hand with three fingers raised. Hongjoong quickly shook his head at this and showed the number back on his own fingers; first showing ten fingers up and then leaving only three fingers up on one hand right after.
Seonghwa’s mouth formed a small ‘o’ shape for a moment before he made grabby hands to get the pen from Hongjoong. Seeing how eager he was to give an answer, Hongjoong quickly handed over the pen which was gone in an instant to Seonghwa who scribbled away at the paper before attempting to turn them back towards Hongjoong.
“Joong, Joong,” Seonghwa purred as Hongjoong looked down at the paper before looking back up at him as he was holding up his fingers the same way Hongjoong had earlier. Hongjoong smiled at this and soon put the used paper to the side along with the first one. Just as he was going to scribble something, Seonghwa snatched the paper from his hands along with the pen and began doodling something of his own to almost mirror what Hongjoong had been doing.
This communication went on for hours and soon hours turned to days, which turned to weeks, which turned to months, which then turned to years, and as the two grew older and closer together the greater their communication became. In a matter of years, Hongjoong had not only managed to teach Seonghwa many human things, but he also managed to teach the siren to speak a few words along with head shoes to signify “yes” and “no”. But not every year was as great as Hongjoong particularly hoped. Nearly two years after Hongjoong had rescued Seonghwa and brought him to the cottage, his grandmother had passed away due to old age leaving her fifteen-year-old grandson to fend for himself.
Though melancholic, the depression was lifted in a matter of weeks as Hongjoong found ways to distract his busy mind; cooking, cleaning, ‘talking’ with Seonghwa. In fact, it was Seonghwa who lifted the dark weight off Hongjoong’s shoulder- clearing his head by distracting him, in a sense. Now, after another couple of years, Seonghwa and Hongjoong had a set schedule surrounding their days which allowed, now, seventeen-year-old Seonghwa more freedom on the odd day, and today was one of those days.
“Joong,” Seonghwa happily sing-songed as Hongjoong strolled into the bathroom for the first time that morning with a piece of raw fish, in hand, for the siren he so dearly loved; smiling as Seonghwa’s face lit up before Hongjoong handed him his meal which he gobbled down as he usually did.
It had been years now since Hongjoong had first rescued Seonghwa and brought him to live in the bathtub of the cottage and, though shy to admit it, Hongjoong had developed feelings for the beautiful siren. Seonghwa has always been ethereal, but as he grew older his beauty only grew with him and the blue shade of his tail and scaled cheeks became a deeper colour, as well.There were many moments- more than Hongjoong would like to admit- what he had found himself staring at the siren, simply just admiring him from a close distance while the siren was distracted with a communication drawing or working on forming a sentence with the limited amount of words he had learned over the years; he just couldn’t look away.
“Joong, Joong,” Seonghwa suddenly spoke up, eyes sparkling as he looked up at Hongjoong, hands folding over the lip of the tub as if Seonghwa were sitting like a little begging puppy, “Beach?”
Hongjoong caught himself staring at Seonghwa again for a few short moments before responding, “Yes yes, Hwa, we’re going to the beach. Today’s a nice day too so the water should be beautiful.”
Seonghwa clicked his tongue in excitement as he made grabby hands towards Hongjoong who laughed before dipping down into the cold water of the tub and wrapping his arms around Seonghwa so he could carry him out and down to the ocean. Though it had gotten harder to accomplish over the years since Seonghwa grew to be slightly bigger than Hongjoong, the pair still managed thanks to Seonghwa being patient enough to sit still in Hongjoong’s arms as he made the trek down to the familiar warm sand of the beach.
As they ventured closer and closer to the water’s edge, Seonghwa grew more and more impatient; clicking his tongue rapidly in excitement for a few short minutes before leaping out of Hongjoong’s arms and into the sparking blue shallows of the ocean as Hongjoong walked up to his knees in the water to watch the siren swim and jump around to warm himself up to the saltwater again.
Hongjoong watched for a couple of minutes, smiling admirably at Seonghwa as he swam around in freedom, before turning to walk up and sit on the edge of the old dock, dipping his feet in the chilled ocean water. Every few minutes, Seonghwa came bursting through the surface of the water near Hongjoong, smiling brightly and giggling before going back down into the water again while Hongjoong just sat and watched Seonghwa enjoy himself. Seonghwa continued this behaviour for quite some time until he eventually caught hongjoong off guard and pulled him in, giggling as Hongjoong playfully splashed around with him for hours that passed by in mere minutes.
Eventually, Hongjoong found himself growing tiresome and decided to swim back to shore, Seonghwa following not far behind him.
“You can keep swimming, you know,” Hongjoong pointed out as he turned and sat on the sandy floor of the ocean, deep enough that the water only reached his stomach. Seonghwa simply shook his head at this and, instead, sat up next to Hongjoong.
The two sat in comfortable silence for sometime before the wildest thing happened. Hongjoong was about to open his mouth to speak when, in a spur of confidence, Seonghwa leaned in toward Hongjoong capturing his lips in a short yet sweet kiss before pulling a short distance away and looking at Hongjoong as the boy blushed from the sudden action. It took a few seconds for Hongjoong to process what had happened before meeting Seonghwa’s gaze and gently grabbing his cheeks, pulling him in for another kiss, this time deeper and more passionate.
Seonghwa squeaked at the initial contact but quickly melted in Hongjoong’s hold as their tongues intermingled and fought against one another. It wasn't long before Hongjoong found himself lying back with Seonghwa on top of him as their kiss only became deeper and messier, lasting for many long minutes.
After multiple squeaks, hums and soft moans escaped from the two boys, Seonghwa was the first to break the kiss, lightly panting as he pushed himself off of Hongjoong, too nervous to go any further.
Hongjoong quickly caught on to this behaviour and sat up, “What’s wrong, Hwa? Did I do something?”
There was a slight pause as Seonghwa processed the questions at hand before shaking his head, “N-nerves,,” The siren looked down, fiddling with his fingers and making a poor attempt at avoiding Hongjoong’s eyes.
“Oh, Hwa, my sweet, beautiful boy,” Hongjoong softly hummed, sitting up and moving closer to Seonghwa, cupping a cheek with his small hand and making the siren look up at him, “If you don’t want to, we can wait to go further. Besides, we’re two different beings so we need to learn and get more comfortable first, alright? you just have to tell me when you’re ready.”
Seonghwa nearly purred as his head rested on Hongjoong’s palm while the human spoke, allowing for a moment of silence for Seonghwa to process his words before he nodded in return, leaning in for another gentle kiss and meeting Hongjoong halfway before they shortly separated themselves, Seonghwa leaning his head on Hongjoong’s shoulder as the two sat in peace and each others’ comfort looking off into the horizon line in the distance where the ocean met the sky.
“Love Joong,” Seonghwa quietly purred, nuzzling closer to Hongjoong as his wet hair tickled his cheek.
Hongjoong softly smiled, wrapping an arm around Seonghwa’s bare shoulders as the siren lightly flicked his tail under the water in front of them in response to the touch, “I love you too, my beautiful, deep blue boy.”