Work Text:
Tiptoe. Tiptoe. Tiptoe.
Glance. Left.Right.
Tiptoe. Tiptoe. Tiptoe.
Jimin sits his duffel bag gently down on one of the bleachers, looking around to double check if the coast was clear. Nobody. It was almost witching hour, and nobody was in this area of the campus at this time.
He looked up. The light of the moon filtered through the thin sheet of clouds, but the air was especially cold on an autumn night. A breeze ran through the compound.
Jimin lifted his shirt with fingers on the hem, then stripped himself of his board shorts, dropping them on his bag. Taking one last survey of his surroundings, Jimin dove headfirst into the pool, relishing the way the cold water against his bare skin.
He held himself up with hands on the ledge of the pool as he watched his legs morph into his fin, the white scales seeming silverish under the pale moonlight. A hand went to run along the pectoral fins of his tail, remembering how his brother, Junghyun, always said his fin was the prettiest he had ever seen.
He closes his eyes for a moment. Oh, how he misses his family and the sea. They had a little cottage by the sea, and Jimin and his brother went there to dip everyday, having fun with the local merpeople. Jimin missed those times.
Now he was in Seoul, away from the sea, away from his family. Whenever he was in the water he would think of those memories, the only way he could pretend they were still with him, and not three hundred kilometres away.
Turning and choosing to plunge into the quiet waters instead, Jimin watches the moon and the clouds from underwater, wondering if Junghyun is watching the same moon back at home.
After floundering around for a few more monents, Jimin remerges from the water, feeling the urge to sing.
No one should be here that late at night, so Jimin assumes that no one will listen to his siren song, the one that lures men and women alike toward him.
He imagines a melody in his mind, beautiful and meandering and starts out with a small hum. Gradually, the words come naturally, and he's serenading the silent night.
I want to breathe, I hate this night
I want to wake up, I hate this dream
I'm trapped inside of myself and I'm dead
Don't wanna be lonely
Just wanna be yours
Why is it so dark where you're not here
It's dangerous how wrecked I am
Save me because I can't get a grip on myself
Listen to my heartbeat
It calls you whenever it wants to
Because within this pitch black darkness
You are shining so brightly
Give me your hand save me save me
I need your love before I fall, fall
Give me your hand save me save me
I need your love before I fall, fall
Give me your hand save me save me
Give me your hand save me save me
Save me, save me
Today the moon shines brighter
on the blank spot in my memories
It swallowed me, this lunatic,
please save me tonight
(Please save me tonight,
please save me tonight)
Within this childish madness
you will save me tonight
I knew that your salvation
Is a part of my life
and the only helping hand that will embrase my pain
The best of me,
you're the only thing I have
Please raise your voice
so that I can laugh again
Play on
Listen to my heartbeat,
it calls you whenever it wants to
Because within this pitch black darkness,
you are shining so brightly
Give me your hand save me save me
I need your love before I fall, fall
Give me your hand save me save me
I need your love before I fall, fall
Give me your hand save me save me
Give me your hand save me save me
Thank you for letting me be me
For helping me fly
For giving me wings
For straightening me out
For waking me from being suffocated
For waking me from a dream which was all I was living in
When I think of you the sun comes out
So I gave my sadness to the dog
(Thank you. For being 'us')
Give me your hand save me save me
I need your love before I fall, fall
Give me your hand save me save me
I need your love before I fall, fall
He hadn't even noticed that he was crying. Saltwater drips from his eyes, falling into his mouth, and Jimin hiccups silently, until he is tired of crying and hoists himself out of the pool.
Struggling to drag his useless tail with his arms to his bag, he suddenly feels arms at his waist, lifting him up bridal-style. Jimin squeaks, struggling in futile attempt to escape the person.
He looks up, and is greeted with a handsome, smiling boy with a boxy grin.
"Who are you?" Jimin says as he is carried towards his bag.
"I'm Taehyung! I'm a reaper," Taehyung says, "I heard you singing,"
Jimin gapes. He's heard about reapers, of course, but none of them included 'not dressed in black', 'smiley', and 'helpful', and 'kind'.
There was, of course, a mini scythe chained to his belt loops, that made a tinkling sound as they moved.
"You were here all along?!" Jimin exclaims, embarassed.
"Yeah," Taehyung says, as if he has seen it a thousand times before.
Jimin buries his face into his hands, cheeks burning from mortification.
What he doesn't know is that Taehyung's heart is pounding against his ribcage, threatening to burst out from his chest.
"Thank you," Jimin says shyly as he is put gently onto a seat, and reaches for the towel in his bag to dry his fins off so they get the message and change back.
Once back in his legs, Jimin shrugs his clothes back on, smiling at the fact that Taehyung actually turned around for him. He taps the reaper's shoulder.
"I haven't met a reaper before," He said, in fact he hadn't even seen any other supernatural being other than his kind ever before.
"Well, not many people have other than when they're dead," Taehyung laughs, fingering his scythe.
"You're not...here for me, are you?" Jimin says, afraid that his time was up.
"No! Of course not!" Taehyung waves his hands, "My shift isn't until the day after,"
"Oh." Jimin says dumbly. What shift?
"We reapers have this system," Taehyung, sensing Jimin's confusion, says. "Each one of us is assigned to time shifts, and we rotate the reapers so it's fair. One shift lasts from one sunrise to the other, and mine is the day after,"
"Oh!" Jimin says in wonder. He didn't know there was such a thing.
Taehyun grins. "You have a beautiful tail,"
"Thanks," Jimin's cheeks turn pink, and he hopes the night covers it. Then his thoughts float to Junghyun, his smiling face replacing Taehyung's.
A bitter smile takes over his face, as he blinks, and Junghyun's face isn't there anymore.
Taehyung tilts his head in askance, silently curious as to why Jimin's expression had turned sour and why he was crying as he was singing.
"It's a long story," Jimin says, when he looks back up at Taehyung.
"Well, the isn't it great we're both immortal then?" Taehyung says, sitting down and patting the seat next to him.
Jimin laughs. "Yeah, it is," Before taking a breath.
"I'm from Busan," He starts, glancing back up at the moon. "My family and I lived by the beach, and I would always go out to swim with my brother, Junghyun. He always told me my tail was the prettiest,"
Taehyung listens intently, staring at the moon just as Jimin was.
"Then I had to go to college," Jimin continued. "And I kinda miss my family and the sea..."
"You're seasick," Taehyung said.
Jimin laughed. "Guess I am,"
"So here I am, stuck woth a chlorine filled swimming pool that just dries my skin," Jimin grouses, pout settled on his face.
God, Taehyung thinks, why does this merman have to be so cute? Well, minus the crying part, cause that just makes Taehyung want to kiss all those tears away.
And then Taehyung makes the biggest mistake in his entire existence. "You're so cute," He lets slip out from his lips, then covers his mouth like it'll prevent Jimin from hearing it.
Jimin looks startled. This is it, Taehyung thinks, this is the end of his immortal lifespan, goodbye mother, father, Soonshimie, the cause of my death is embarassment, he actually has tears in his eyes.
Then a giggle. Taehyung, surprised, looks up at Jimin, at the boy he could actually mistake for an angel. Jimmies' eyes are pinched up in little crescents, and Taheyung thinks that maybe embarrassing himself is worth it if Jimin is happy.
-
The next time they meet is when Taehyung brings it up upon himself to go check on Jimin three days later. Jimin had mentioned that he went to take a dip every three days so he wouldn't be water deprived.
He steps into the swimming pool complex, and is immediately overcome with the most beautiful voice he has ever heard. He has to restrain himself from letting the song take over his mind.
Although he trusts Jimin not to hurt him, Taehyung seriously didn't want his robes getting soaked, so he stiffly walks up to the olympic sized pool, stepping before the figure sitting on the ledge of the pool. Jimin stops when he sees Taehyung, and smiles apologetically.
"Sorry," Jimin says.
"It's fine, it wasn't directed at me, or I wouldn't have been able to resist," Taehyung teases.
Jimin blushes in the moonlight, then dives back into the water to swim towards Taehyung.
Taehyung spends the rest of the night watching Jimin splash about, seemingly happier than he was three days ago. His form shimmers in the soft moonbeams, tail glistening, longer than Jimin's torso. It's beautiful, Taehyung thinks.
Another thing Taehyung thought was beautiful about JImin was his voice. Well that wasn't much of a question, given Jimin's status as a mermaid and possibly a siren, but still. In fact, Taehyung has come across sirens that had horrible voices, but with their given power, they were still able to work their magic.
So as Jimin hoists himself out of the pool, and Taehyung picks him up, bridal style because there's really no other way, he tells Jimin that. And because Jimin is facing him, Taehyung spots the healthy flush that comes over Jimin's cheekbones.
"Thanks," Jimin says, and even that sounds like he's singing. "I'm a Shipsaver," He says it proudly, but Taehyung is confused.
"What's that?" He asks.
Jimin's mood doesn't seem to dampen, and he says, "I help ships through rough seas, it's pretty high ranking in the siren hierarchy,"
And it's kind of suitable, Taehyung thinks. He had a pretty useful skill, which was to be able to read people relatively accurately, and from what he knew of the merman he was nothing short of gentle and harmless, nothing like a man-eater.
Taehyung sets Jimin down on a seat, the situation is reminiscent of their last meeting, and Taehyung tries to bite back a smile at the way Jimin wiggles as he dries up his tail with a fluffy towel. Then, in an instant, Jimin's tail splits and morphs into legs.
Taehyung whips around in a flash, face burning. "Oh god, cover your junk," He says, but what he catches sight of leaves him blushing like a high school girl talking to her crush.
Jimin, oblivious to Taehyung's internal conflict, jumps into his shorts and puts on his shirt while humming a sweet tune.
"Oh yeah! I-I got this for you while I was reaping in Busan," Taehyung hands Jimin the paper bag.
Curiously, Jimin takes a peek into the bag and gasps. It's filled with those awesome hydrating body butter meant for the skin of merfolk, the ones that Jimin hasn't touched for close to four years.
Squealing, he launches himself at Taehyung, making little noises in place of words, in a language Taehyung can't decipher. But Taehyung gets the gist of it anyways, indulging Jimin in the skinship merfolk are known for.
"As for payment...I want a song," Taehyung says cheekily.
So Jimin sings. And seriously, even if Jimin wasn't a siren, Taehyung would have been mesmerised anyway.
The siren song is of home, and Taehyung can't help but fall in love with it.
-
It goes in an endless cycle, Taehyung and Jimin meeting up without agreeing to, and it becomes a ritual after a month. Subsequently, they both graduate from their college with respective degrees, and it isn't a question about whether they part, but when.
But Taehyung is surprised, however, when Jimin asks him if he wants to return to Busan with him, because he didn't think their relationship was that close. But in hindsight, they kind of just...clicked when they first met, so maybe there wasn't really a doubt in the first place.
So when they huddle up in the train bound for Busan, Jimin dozes off, his head dropping down onto Taehyung shoulder, Taehyung's face gives it all away, but he's lucky Jimin can't see him.
Taehyung follows suit after bare minutes, head resting on Jimin's, and in the eyes of everyone, they become a couple canoodling in the back of the train carriage.
-
"Hello!" Jimin's mother greets them both at the doorstep of the villa by the sea.
"Hi!" Taehyung replies, as Jimin flings himself at her with a "Omma!"
She laughs heartily, and beckons Taehyung in, asking them how their trip went.
When they enter the place, the warmth of the interior of the house astounds Taehyung. Jimin's brother bounds down the stairs, and hops down onto the landing of the house to tumble into Jimin, rolling him into a mess of 'I missed you's.
Then Jimin and his brother are shoving Taehyung into his swimming trunks and herding him towards the beach. Jim surges forward, shedding his clothes and diving into the clear blue ocean, brother following close behind.
Taehyung watches, as their legs turn into tails, laughing and splashing at each other with the water. So when they wave him over, he doesn't even hesitate before he steps into the clear water, and he is immediately doused with water by the brothers.
"Hey!" He says, as he tries to get back at them by dragging them underwater, but of course they are in their own element, so he's the one who gets pulled down in the end.
They spend an entire hour frolicking in the sea, but when they decide to head back to shore to have dinner, Taehyung drops his bracelet.
"Shit," Taehyung says, and immediately dives back to look for it, It was something given to him by his mother, and so, so, so very important to him, because she had died seconds after giving it to him.
"Taehyung!" Jimin says, but all lands on deaf ears as Taehyung blindly tries to grope around the seabed to try to locate it.
After a while, he stands up, and then resorts to locating it with his eyes. As Jimin and Jihyun try coaxing him to tell them what he lost, Taehyung is completely in his own world, the panic and terror of losing the only possesion left by his mother consuming him and blocking off Jimin.
Everything around Taehyung is blurry. He can't see anything, can't think of anything. No, no, no, I can't lose mom's bracelet.
"Tae!" Jimin yells, gripping Taehyung's arms. "Tae!"
No, Taehyung struggles in Jimin's grasp, shoving Jimin and whipping his head. He stumbles, and desperately walks further into the ocean.
Mom.
-
"Taehyung, Taehyung," A weak voice is pleading beside him. Who is that? "Taeyung, please,"
The sand beneath feels grainy on his back, and Taehyung tries to make a sound, but nothing comes out. He tries to pry his eyes open, but they remain sealed shut. As a last resort, he puts all the strength he has left into moving his fingers.
His index finger twitches, lightly skimming against something soft, and the rest of the fingers in Taehyung's right hand come alive, clinging on the warm surface-skin. He gives his all to make the rest of his body obey, and succeeds this time.
Taehyung's right eye eases open, then his left, and a croak escapes from his dried lips. He's presented with a blurry image, and the feeling of scales against his sides.
"Ji-Jimin," His dry throat manages.
"Tae!" A voice-Jimin's voice squeaks, "You scared the hell out of me!"
Soft fists pummel at Taehyung's chest weakly, and Taehyung manages a small groan.
The hits on his chest stop, and Taehyung's eyes finally focus on Jimin, sitting beside him.
"You scared the hell out of me," Jimin repeats, softer, a tear sliding off his lashes to solidify into a perfect, silken pearl.
"Don't cry," Taehyung coos.
"You drowned!" Jimin yelled at his ringing ears, "And you expect me to, what, just calmly try to hoist you out of the water and sing the water out of you?"
"I drowned?" Taehyung echoes. He can't recall anything. Why did he drown in the first place?
Oh, right, mom's bracelet.
Mom's bracelet!
Abruptly, Taehyung sits up, leaving his head spinning. He feels himself spiral out of control, but can't seem to reign himself back in because all that matters now is mom's bracelet.
But before he can stand up to sprint back towards the sea, Jimin wraps a firm hand around his arm. Taehyung twists in his hold again, but his strength has dwindled significantly, but he spots something glinting in Jimin's other hand.
"Is this what you were looking for?" Jimin asks, eyes blown wide.
Taehyung literally snatches the silver chain back, before he says, "Y-Yes!"
He doesn't even remember to say his thanks before he's slipping it back on, breathing out in relief.
-
"What was...that?" Jimin whispers as Taehyung lays himself down on Jimin's queen-sized bed.
"I-the bracelet was my mom's" Taehyung whispered back, not daring to say any more, for he knew he would tear up if he continued.
Jimin knew there was more, but of course, he also knew better than to pry. Taehyung would tell him all in time.
So he settled for rubbing a warm palm across Taehyung's back, then patting his lower back lightly to comfort Taehyung with the steady rhythm.
"Jiminie..." Taehyung said, without opening his eyes. Jimin hummed in response.
"Sing something," Taehyung pleads, desperate to hear something sung by Jimin; anything sung by Jimin.
Jimin smiles softly. He loved singing to Taehyung just as much as Taehyung loved hearing it. Wracking his brain, he settled on the one he always used to guide lost ships back to land.
Don't think about anything
Don't say anything
Just give me a smile
I still cannot believe this
All of this feels like a dream
Don't disappear
Is it true? Is it true?
You, you
You're so beautiful that I'm afraid
Won't you? Won't you?
You, you, you
Will you stay by my side?
Will you promise me?
If I land a finger on you, I'm afraid that you will fly away or break
I'm afraid, afraid, afraid
Will you stop the time if this moment passes?
I'm afraid that you'll forget me and act like nothing happened
I'm afraid, afraid
Butterfly like a butterfly
As if the butterfly, like the butterfly
Butterfly like a butterfly
As if the butterfly, like the butterfly
Just give me a smile
When Jimin finishes, Taehyung is already asleep. Tenderly, Jimin runs a hand through Taehyung's locks, pecks his forehead and drifts into dreamland as well.
-
When Taehyung awakens, the bed is warm, but there's nobody beside him. Jimin must've left not long ago. He tries to swallow down the disappointment, bunching up the sheets around him to warm himself up.
Just then, someone jumped into the bed, burrowing into his side and squirming into the sheets to join Taehyung. Taehyung remains dead still, a last minute reflex action to play dead.
"Aish, this kid," Jimin's melodious voice drifts into Taehyung's ears. "Hogging all the blankets in all the five minutes I've been gone,"
Warmth spreads in Taehyung's chest, feeling Jimin press up to him. But just as he decides to open his eyes, he feels movement and Jimin starts mumbling.
"Hey, Taehyung," Jimin starts, and taehyung knows he isn't supposed to be listening in if Jimin is saying this now. "I think I'm in love with you,"
Taehyung tries really hard. Really, really hard but as always, he fails. He stiffens up against Jimin, eyes shooting wide open. And of course Jimin, sensing the sudden movement, snaps his head upwards, wide-eyed.
"I-" Jimin is at a loss for words as Taehyung, also wordless, stares owlishly at him.
Taehyun blinks-once, twice, before grinning widely. "Really?" He whispers, not caring for his morning breath.
"Y-Yeah," Jimin says shyly, red fanning across his cheeks.
In the spur of the moment, Taehyung leans forward to peck Jimin's lips, then withdraws just as quickly as he surges forward, looking away.
"I'm in love with you too," Taehyung says then, because he doesn't know what else he can say.
And then Jimin is pulling him in for a kiss, one that Taehyung relaxes into, hands gently rubbing at Jimin's waist, the place where his skin gives way to his tail when he's in merman form.
-
So everyday, Jimin sings to Taehyung siren songs of joy and happiness, of love and home.