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Jungkook has always been drawn to the ocean, maybe it’s because he was raised only a few minutes’ walk from the huge expanse of blue, or maybe it’s because the crashing of the waves was almost hypnotizing in the way it drew his attention like an arrow piercing through his chest. Jungkook didn’t know exactly what caused him to have such a strong affinity for the sea, but he’s perfectly content with being called to the ocean almost every day, it coming to point of being a daily ritual for him. Today however, felt slightly different. There was an air of anticipation, of waiting for something to happen, and Jungkook just didn’t know what that thing was.
Jungkook was peacefully standing on the rocky cliff above the vast sea he always chooses as his spot, basking in the comforting warmth of the sun reflecting off the water, when he saw it. He had no idea what it was, but from what he could make out through the shimmer of the suns light, it seemed to be a shock of bright orange hair. Human hair. Jungkook’s first thought was that someone was drowning, his eyes widening in panic and his mouth shooting open to call out to the person, but as soon as he saw the unnatural colored hair, it was gone beneath the waves. Jungkook squeezed his fists in a slight moment of mental preparation, before crouching and jumping off the low cliff into the water below without a second thought. He broke through the surface of the sea, the pale colors of the land morphing into pure green, the cool water engulfing him like a hug and contrasting the warmth of his body. He’s jumped from the cliff before, when he was a child, so that wasn’t what was causing the knot of anxiety in his stomach, it was that the head of orange hair was still nowhere to be found in the endless expanse of undulating water surrounding him. It was only after a few minutes franticly trying to search for the bright shock of orange while also trying to hold his breath for as long as possible that Jungkook saw something else. This time it was silver, with the unmistakable sparkle of the sun glinting off scales. Jungkook quickly propelled himself to the surface, gulping in air while trying to scan the water for some kind of fish, for anything. When he saw nothing after squinting his still watery eyes for a minute, Jungkook took a final large breath and sunk back into the ocean, praying he wasn’t too late to save whoever he saw. But then he almost became the one needing saving when the first thing he sees after he opens his eyes again after submerging back into the blue-green water is a boy, hovering still as a statue right in front of his face, a boy with a certain head of orange hair. Jungkook’s eyes bulged in surprise as he took in the boy’s unreadable, almost confused expression, as if he was unsure why Jungkook was there in the first place. Jungkook opened his mouth to talk to the boy, before realizing he was well, underwater, his mouth then staying open in quite an unflattering manner as he belatedly took notice of how beautiful the boy is. Besides the feathery looking orange hair, which was somehow staying perfectly in place as if the boy was still on land, he has lightly sun-kissed skin and exquisite features that almost didn’t seem human. But the most intriguing thing about the mysterious boy, who also seems to not need to breath, is his eyes. They were large, and almost seemed pure black, and were boring into Jungkook with such intensity he would be racked with shivers if he wasn’t underwater. And with that thought it also dawned on Jungkook he was underwater, and becoming entranced by this strange boy’s beauty was a one way ticket to himself drowning, so he quickly pointed up, motioning for the boy to follow him to the surface.
When Jungkook broke the surface, the gasp of air intake ripping from his throat almost hurt, before the other boy’s torso gracefully rose out of the water a few seconds later. “Are you ok?” the boy asked calmly, his expression seeming to soften slightly as he took in Jungkook’s still huffing figure. His voice was light, and sweet, and slightly reminded Jungkook of the sun’s rays hitting him directly in the face. “Am-am I ok? Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” Jungkook asked, voice more out of breath than he would’ve liked, looking at the boy in confusion. “Why would I not be ok?” the boy said again after a few seconds of quiet contemplation, tilting his head to the side like a puppy. “Weren’t you like, drowning?” Jungkook asked back, voice thankfully steadier, reaching a hand out of the water to push back some of his drenched hair. “Me, drowning? I don’t think that’s even possible, but thank you for your concern.” The boy said with a light chuckle, a fond glow taking up residence in his dark eyes, a small smile pulling at his pink lips for the first time since their strange meeting. “Why would that not be possib—” Jungkook started, still slightly confused from the boys choice of words, yet he couldn’t deny his relief that the boy was indeed ok. But his calm was short lived as his words suddenly got caught in his throat as he saw that same silver glint from beneath the surface again, however, Jungkook then realized in disbelief that the large, silver, tail was connected to the boy. Jungkook’s eyes grew what must be ten times their size, his heart rate spiking as he unconsciously dipped his head beneath the surface of the water, the blue-green tint of ocean giving the silver of the large tail an almost lilac hue. A tail. The mysterious boy with orange hair has a tail. It was about as long as a human’s pair of legs, covered with what must be millions of crystal like scales, and ended with an ivory fan-like fin, the scales lessening and lessening the higher on the boy’s body they went before bleeding into the boy’s bronze skin. As he continued to stare at the appendage that was idly swaying in a graceful manner from under the water, the boy’s words rang in his head. Me, drowning? I don’t think that’s even possible. Jungkook slowly brought his head of the sea, droplets of water sliding into his eyes as he looked at the boy again, who was still peacefully looking at him, his mind screaming one thing at him; a mermaid. What felt like years of silence between the two passed until Jungkook got the courage to ask the ethereal boy bobbing up and down with the waves in front of him the one big question replaying in his mind. “Are you really a mermaid?” Jungkook asked the boy dazedly, unsure if he was alive or really did drown and was hallucinating in his final moments. The boy tossed his hair, the orange strands gracefully moving like the waves rolling into their torsos. “I prefer merman actually, and yes I am. My name is Jimin, and may I have the name of the boy who so valiantly tried to save me?” the merman, or Jimin said with mock haughtiness, a playful smirk coming to his plump lips as he looked at Jungkook’s still stunned expression. “J-Jungkook. My name is Jungkook.” Jungkook said quietly after a minute of the two of them continuing to gently bob in the waves. Jimin shouldn’t exist, merpeople just don’t exist, Jungkook tried to reason with himself, swallowing thickly. But the more he looked at the orange haired merman, and as he noticed the fond light still in Jimin’s eyes, the more his heart swelled like the ocean at high tide, his mind coming to the conclusion with finality that hey, merpeople do exist, and this one is adorable. “Well, Jungkook,” Jimin said with newfound cheeriness, “how would you like to go swimming with me?” he continued with a blinding smile, Jungkook’s heart squeezing at the sight, the merman’s eyes seeming to sparkle with happiness. Jungkook didn’t know how he can swim with Jimin for more than a minute or two at a time, or if this is just some kind of merperson trick to drown unwitting humans, but honestly he didn’t care, his mind racing to answer at the proposition of spending more time with Jimin. “I would love to, but how?” he said with a small smile of his own, his eyes meeting Jimin’s. Jimin just smiled again, Jungkook realizing with another painful squeeze of his heart that he was becoming more and more enraptured by the merman as each second passed. “Just follow me, and trust me ok? You’ll be fine, I promise.” Jimin said calmly before reaching a dainty hand out through the water under them to gently grab Jungkook’s. Jungkook stiffened from the sudden contact, but just as soon had to stop himself from melting at the feeling of Jimin’s soft hand grasping his. Trust me; Jimin’s words echoed in Jungkook’s head, and he couldn’t tell if it was because of the intimacy of his choice of words, or the tender way he took Jungkook’s hand, but he did trust Jimin, he trusted him with his entire being.
Jimin gave him another warm smile, before sinking below the surface of the water, taking Jungkook along with him. Once they were back underneath the sea, the sun’s rays being cast through the ocean lit up Jimin’s face, making him seem like an undersea angel, gliding through the water like his counterpart would in the sky. Like before, Jimin’s hair was still as perfectly in place as it was above water, contrary to Jungkook, who could feel his hair loosely swaying around his head. It’s only been about a minute, but Jungkook could feel his lungs starting to burn, his already blurred vision from the water becoming even fuzzier as he mentally hoped that whatever Jimin was doing would happen quickly. Jimin squeezed Jungkook’s hand before bringing his unused one up to his mouth, blowing into his palm, then putting his hand flat out and gently blowing a crystalline bubble towards Jungkook, said bubble seeming to come from nowhere. When the bubble popped right in Jungkook’s face, it was like he was woken out of dream. He suddenly sucked in a breath, looking up at Jimin in disbelief. He could breath. He could breathe like he was on land, his lungs filling with air again as a huge smile broke out on his lips. “See, told you you’d be ok.” Jimin said with yet another dazzling smile, lessening his grip on Jungkook’s hand, almost like he was relieved whatever he did worked. “This-this is amazing, how did you do that Jimin?” Jungkook said, still in a state of buzzing astonishment, not even realizing fully that he was hearing and talking perfectly underwater. Not to mention his vision was now crystal clear, thankful he could see Jimin’s beauty without the filter of the water blurring him. “It’s an old merpeople trick to let humans breath underwater too, but I’ve never done it before so I was kinda worried it wouldn’t work.” Jimin said bashfully, reaching his free hand up to rub at the back of his neck, a slight pink hue coloring his cheeks still visible even in the teal colored water. “Well it’s incredible, thank you, Jimin. Honestly I feel like I’m dreaming, this is so surreal.” Jungkook said softly, looking up to see waves billowing above their heads, the same wide smile still stuck on his lips. Jimin just smiled at him again, quietly mumbling a shy “I’m glad.” his eyes darting from Jungkook to the dark abyss of the sea bottom below their floating forms. It was only during this comfortable silence that Jungkook noticed Jimin’s tail swishing a little more rapidly, the movement translating into the taut muscle of his human hips swaying as well, making Jungkook gulp for a completely different reason, trying not to let his fiery blush show as his eyes unwillingly glued themselves to Jimin’s perfectly muscled stomach. It was only when Jungkook was, inspecting, Jimin that he noticed the three slits on each of Jimin’s sides, gently moving with the slow heaving of his chest. Gills Jungkook realized with a small shock, unconsciously mouthing an amazed wow as he continued to look at Jimin’s body. “So,” Jimin suddenly said, shocking Jungkook out of his trance, a sly, knowing smile on his lips as he pulled Jungkook’s hand, the water around him seeming to push him towards Jimin with gentle hands. “Wanna go on that swim now?” he continued, the playful lilt to his voice still present as he affectionately looked at Jungkook. Jungkook didn’t need to think, tightening his interlaced grip with Jimin’s hand and nodding, saying with captivated fondness “I thought you’d never ask.”
And so the two did just that, their hands appearing glued together indefinitely, Jimin gracefully using his tail to propel them through the water, Jungkook content to be pulled along for the ride, looking between Jimin and the endless ocean blurring past them. Hours must have passed, the most exhilarating hours of Jungkook’s life, a smile constantly stretched across his lips and his heart feeling like it was soaring in his chest. Before they knew it, it was sunset, the pink and yellow hues of the setting sun lighting up the ocean with ethereal pastel shades. As they both gently floated along with the current, basking in the orange color now filtering through the surface of the water, Jungkook looked over at Jimin, taking in his beauty for what must be the millionth time since their meeting, before softly saying “the water, it matches your hair.” Jimin smiled at the comment, but there was a spark of sadness glinting in his eyes that Jungkook unfortunately didn’t miss. “Yeah, I guess it does, doesn’t it.” Jimin replied back in a whisper, before he leaned in and brushed his lips across Jungkook’s, and then everything went black.
It happened like waking up from a dream, Jungkook slowly opened his eyes to reveal the unblemished night sky above him, his clothes still freshly soaked, and his lips still vaguely numb from where Jimin had placed his velvety soft ones. Jimin Jungkook thought franticly as he jolted up from where he was lying down on the shore of the beach, frantically looking for that telltale sign of orange hair, but found nothing. His heart pounded in pain, swallowing thickly at the increasingly certain reality that he will never see Jimin again, or if Jimin even existed in the first place. But thankfully, before he could panic any further, Jungkook’s eyes were drawn to a disturbance in the otherwise flawless sand around him. Upon closer inspection in the faint light of the newly risen moon, Jungkook realized it was words neatly written in the sand next to his body. Come see me tomorrow? I would love to see the sunset with you again.