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“Hey, hyung! Wanna hear a story?” Was the first thing that Yoongi heard when he walked through the doors and into the playroom for the fourth time. Taehyung was standing in front of him, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet and wagging his tail wildly behind him.
“Of course, Taehyung,” Yoongi said, letting the puppy hybrid pull him over to what was becoming their regular couch, and push him down into a seat. “Where's Jimin though?” He asked, looking around for the kitty hybrid that usually was attached to Taehyung’s side.
“Jiminnie is getting an examination right now.” Taehyung explained, settling into the couch next to Yoongi and getting ready to tell what Yoongi was sure would be the biggest, most important story in a lifetime. The elder smiled secretly to himself and got comfortable as well, casually tucking his sneakered feet up under his body. “Are you ready, Hyung?”
Yoongi nodded, and Taehyung’s face grew serious. “Once upon a time, a long time ago, long before humans ruled over the earth as the dominant species, magical creatures wandered the lands. Creatures of every shape and sort lurked among the trees and below the ground, deep within caves, and below the crashing waves, there were even some that lived among the humans, all unique in their own ways, some friendly and others… Not so much.”
Yoongi listened curiously, slipping into the story spilling from Taehyung’s lips, admiring the boy’s talent for craftsmanship when it came to spinning a tale, and the admirable imagination too.
“Amongst all of the creatures upon the earth, there were none so rare as the merpeople who swam in the deep sea, and eventually as the years went by, due to lack of spotting of the creatures, people stopped believing that they had ever existed at all.
“But one day a young sailor who had set out from his home in search of adventure was thrown from the ship he was sailing on during a violent storm in the middle of the ocean, and washed up, barely alive on the shore of a deserted island. He couldn't remember what had happened after he hit the water, and began to wander the island with a soft whisper in his ears…”
How long had it been since he had washed ashore? The young man, calling himself nothing more than Taehyung, thought to himself as his eyes scanned the all-too-familiar landscape of trees and rocks and sand. He didn't know how many days he had wandered the surprisingly large island, scraping along with whatever fruit he could find in order to survive. He spent more than one night, curled up next to a tiny fire and shaking quietly with repressed sobs as tears streaked down his face.
Occasionally he would hear something, something that he was sure was a voice, calling out to him on the wind, and he would run; he would follow the voice until it died out and he was panting heavily, body aching and his mind fraying at the edges while he tried to hold onto the sanity that he still had.
It had been days since he had washed ashore, the sun and moon had passed by more times than he'd like to count. His clothes were ragged tatters on his body, nothing but his pants surviving more than a few days of sweltering days and cold nights. He was walking the shore and found a small cave that seemed as if it lead into a mountain. Curious, the boy entered, having to hunch slightly to be able to walk on both feet.
Unlike the short, dead-end cavern that the boy expected, the tunnel got larger as he walked further, getting taller and wider, and instead of the crushing darkness that he had also expected, the walls were nearly glowing, giving off enough faint light to keep his pathway easy to see. The tunnel stretched on and on, it's sides slowly getting larger and smaller, breaking off into other tunnels occasionally, weirdly different colored glowing coming from each new branch, from a violet, to scarlet, and even gold, but the boy stayed on his path down the main tunnel that glowed with a light blue color.
He suspected that faeries lived in the tunnels, the enchanting pixie creatures that still inhabited much of the earth, but preferred to be hidden away within the bowels of the world, the darkness the perfect companion to their sweet glow.
Just when the young sailor thought that he might be walking forever, the sound of running water filled his ears and his whole being flooded with excitement, his feet moving faster along the floors, his steps turning into leaps and bounds of running, dry thumps turning into wet smacks of his feet hitting the ground as the cave grew damp, the walls wet with condensation and the floor swimming in a centimeter of water.
The blue glow of the walls grew until it was overpowering the dark, wet black of the stone beneath, lighting everything up as the tunnel ended and the mouth opened up into a giant cavern that glowed eerie blue all along the walls and the ceiling.
The boy’s eyes widened at the scene set out before him, his mouth fallen open in wonderment. Waterfalls of many different sizes fed into a giant pool that seemed to take up most of the cavern, the calming sound of the rushing water seeming to feed his hungry soul. The pool was large and wide, and it seemed to be nestled directly in the center of the mountain, no visible entry or exit point aside from the tunnel that had led him there. The room was quite quiet, aside from the sound of the rushing water, that in itself had a chill chasing down the boy’s spine, the room was literally glowing with magic and yet there was no sign of the source of that magic. It was unnerving.
Though the room was beautiful, and the aura it gave off was very calming, the sailor took a step back towards the tunnel that had brought him there, knowing that he wasn't safe, and it would be best if he left soon. But when he took yet another step back and his back met hard stone, his heart dropped to his stomach as dread curled up his spine. He looked over his shoulder, and yes, his only means of escape had closed up behind him, trapping him within the room. And that's when he heard the music.
It wasn't like anything that the boy had heard before, the undercurrent that was smooth and clean, but with a beat that popped and waved, flowing up and down like the waves of the sea. He couldn't identify a source of the enchanting sound, but when the voice joined in, nothing else seemed to matter anymore. Husky, and rough, yet smooth and silky even in the ways that it broke and joined together the words it created, the voice enchanted him. Curiosity got the better of the terrified young sailor, and he let his eyes flit back to the pool, his whole body stiffening and his eyes going wide at the vision before him.
It was a man. Or something that was somewhat like a man, the air it gave off, and the obvious magical aura was anything but human. Eyes like sapphires burned at him through a fringe of mint green hair, skin as pale as moonlight shone wet in the blue glow, lips rose petal pink, plump and desirable, twisted to form undecipherable words spilled off of a red, red tongue.
The boy would have moved had he not been shocked into stiffened silence. His frozen state was not a side effect of fear, but rather being completely stunned by the ethereal beauty that the creature possessed. He stood, leaning heavily against the wall as the creature approached, silver song still pouring from it’s mouth like a unique serenade in a foreign tongue.
Like all good things, the song eventually came to an end, and the creature was now leaning against the edge of the natural pool, arms folded on the stone surface and those sapphire eyes staring directly into the sailor’s, it's lips curling into a disarming smile, only a hint of razor sharp teeth were flashed before they were again hidden behind soft lips.
Bewitched by the beauty, the boy felt his body taking himself closer to the edge of the safety granted to him by solid ground. He couldn't stop his limbs from moving until he felt the hard press of stone against his knees, and he was within arms reach of the unknown being. With little else to do, his body not wanting to cooperate with his mind, his merely whispered a small “Hello?” His voice sounded weak and timid even to his own ears, a blow to pride that he barely had anymore, too many nights of crying himself to sleep with fear of not waking up the next morning stripping him of it.
“Greetings, Human.” The creature spoke, it's voice softer now, lacking the gruff, growling that it had held during it’s song. “What brings you to my place of rest?”
It took a moment for the boy to understand that the creature was asking him a question, but when he realized it, he sputtered out a quick “I-I’m lost. I was washed off of my ship and washed ashore here. I've been wandering for days when I found this cave, I didn't mean to disturb you.” The sailor said, trying to be as sincere as possible in hopes that the creature would release him.
“So you didn't come looking for me?” The creature sounded genuinely surprised, it's eyes widening slightly, a moment of vulnerability and confusion crossing it's face that made the sailor rethink everything that he had written in his mind about the interesting being. “What is your name, human?” It asked eventually, placing a delicate, webbed hand on the boy’s knee.
“My name is Taehyung.” The boy whispered, his voice rough with nerves.
“Taehyung.” The creature rolled it around in his mouth and let it spill off his tongue like a delicious morsel. “Taehyung, you must stay and nourish yourself,” it said suddenly. “After you are fed, you will be allowed to leave, if you desire to do so.”
Any fear that had remained in the sailor boy’s mind was vanished, a boxy smile stretching his own lips and his eyes crinkling into small crescents. “And if I choose not to leave?” He asked, a smirk soon teasing the corners of his mouth.
An answering smirk had a chill running up his spine. “Well then,” the creature said, his tone dipping deep and making Taehyung shiver. “Then you shall have to get used to living with a siren.”
The boy’s eyes sparkled with excitement at the challenge in the merman’s voice. “I think I can deal with that just fine,” he said, moving in the few inches between them and joining their lips in a heated kiss. Their mouths melted together, tongues battling for dominance as their hands found each other's bodies and wandered across torsos and then lower-
“Wait a minute!” Yoongi interrupted the story by clamping his hand firmly over Taehyung’s mouth, an apprehensive look on his face that masked his internal amusement. “First off, why are they kissing? Only one knows the other’s name, and they just barely met. Secondly, that sounded like it was going somewhere rated for eighteen plus audiences and I know that there are younger ones around, so let's not finish that story, okay?”
Yoongi uncovered Taehyung’s mouth and the hybrid started giggling. “What's wrong with them kissing after they just met?” He asked, scooting almost uncomfortably closer to the human. “That's how it always happens in the books.”
“What kind of books do you even read?” Yoongi sounded exasperated, which only served to amuse Taehyung even.
“The noonas let me read their comic books when they watch after me,” the puppy explained, scratching behind his ear. “They call them y-yaoi? I think that's it? Yeah! Yaoi mangas!”
Yoongi nearly choked. Oh boy did he have a lot to learn about these boys.