Chapter Text
Hoseok has been staring out the window, as he always did when days were slow at school. He watched as waves crashed against the rock side not too far away from his school. Hoseok lived in a quiet town in Gunsan, right by the ocean. He attended school like everyone else did watching as his day went by slowly, he had rather be outside by the sea than sitting in a dull classroom. But that's not how it works. He had to get his education if he ever wanted to move out of this quiet town and do something better for his life. He just wishes that the days didn't bleed together as much as they did…
“Hey… Hoseokie! Do you have an extra pencil? Mine just fell into the void, I called the classroom floor, it rolled somewhere and I have no idea where it is…”
Hoseok looked at his friend Jimin, and then rummage threw his bag to grab some pins and pencils. He handed them over to his friend.
“Thanks, you're a lifesaver…”
“No problem…”
Hoseok said without looking away from the window. Yup today was another dull boring day. Just in that moment, someone came bursting through the classroom door and everybody turned around to look at them. A young boy came through, his dark brown hair was soaked. His eyes were half litted and it looked as if he had ran all the way to school. There was water dripping from him as he walked more into the classroom, soaking the floor as he stepped.
“Yoongi… what did I say about you showing up with your hair wet?”
The boy walked up to her desk and started to shake off… “sorry, forgot to dry it again.”
The teacher's side as if she heard that excuse a thousand times. “Alright just take your seat…”
Yoongi sat on the other side of the room opposite of Hoseok. Hoseok started to stare at him. I guess his day wouldn't be so boring. Because Yoongi was now here. Min Yoongi was an interesting character to Hoseok.
He had transferred to their school about a year ago. Hoseok always thought Yoongi was interesting, because in his first week there he acted weird. On his first day, Hoseok ran into him trying to enter the school building. He was dragging his feet along the wall as if he couldn't walk. Hoseok ended up walking Yoongi all the way to the office, even carrying him on his back halfway there. That behavior continued for a few weeks until he got the hang of it. He acted like a baby taking its first steps, like he had never walked before.
Along with that, he didn't really talk to anybody. He sometimes had a chat with Seokjin, but that's it. Every time they walked outside to do some kind of activity. He always seemed to be staring off into space. Staring out at the ocean view as if he belong there. And the last thing his hair always seemed to be wet, every morning without fail, Yoongi would come in with soaking wet hair. As if he just finished taking a dip in the ocean… all these things interested Hoseok.
He thought Yoongi was cool and mysterious, Hoseok just didn't have the courage to talk to him. Though Yoongi was cool he seemed kind of intimidating… all he could really do was watch him from afar, and casually asked his friends about him…
Hoseok was sitting in the courtyard during lunch hour, he watched as Yoongi read a book from the other side of the courtyard. Jin was sitting next to Hoseok, casually fixing his hair with a mirror he had tucked into his bag. Hoseok then ask jin a question.
“Hey… Hyung? What do you think about Yoongi?”
“Yoongi?”
Jin look up from what he was doing to see Yoongi on the other side of the courtyard. Jin just shrugged.
“I don't know… he's okay I guess, we don't talk much, why you ask?”
Hoseok then just shrugged himself.
“I don't know, he just… seems interesting to me.”
Jin then wiggled his eyebrows at Hoseok.
“Ooo, sounds like you have a little crush.”
Jin scooted closer to him, Hoseok backed up a bit embarrassed.
“No!? It- it's not like that… it's more like, he's really interesting. As if he's not from here, like you and me. Like he's not human… something else entirely… i wonder what his world is like.”
Jin cocked back his eyebrow and looked at him bewildered.
“Okay you got to lay off the energy drinks. You're starting to sound like tae with his weird conspiracy theorys…”
Hoseok stared at him.
“Just forget it, forget I said anything.”
Hoseok started to stare up at the sky as the dark clouds started to roll in.
“I guess it's going to rain…”
He said quietly, jin agreed with him.
“Hopefully, it's not raining too bad by the time we get out of here.”
By the time the bell had ring for the day, the rain was coming down bad. It was pouring outside, the wind was picking up fast, and students started to run to their cars and rush home as fast as they could. Hoseok was running through the rain as fast as he could, he had forgotten his umbrella that day, and no one had an extra. Just his luck. As he was running, he spotted a black beanie, flowing through the wind. it went past his face fast. For a second, he didn't see it, that's until he saw Yoongi running after it. He didn't know what kicked in for him, but Yoongi seemed to be struggling. In a moment's notice, he started to run after the beanie himself.
Soon enough, Hoseok was able to catch it. He grabbed the beanie, and squeezed it out, though that didn't do much for how wet it was. He than walked it back over to Yoongi. Yoongi looks down at the beanie. He squaws it out a little more. He placed it back on his head. Hoseok didn't know what to do at this point. He wanted to say something, but Yoongi was already turning around. I guess that was his interaction with Yoongi until they graduate.
The next day, Hoseok was bewildered. The rest of his friends were also confused.
“Wow it seems like the rock surprise gifter is back…” Jimin said amused.
Sitting on Hoseok's desk was three shiny pebbles. One of which was all white with a glistening shine. The other two were brown with intricate patterns on them. Hoseok looked over at Yoongi, who was already in the classroom, and staring at the wall as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. This phenomenon happened one other time, when Yoongi first transfer to their school and Hoseok helped him to the office. He didn't have clear evidence, but he thinks Yoongi is the one leaving them. It just made sense, but he had no idea why? What's significance did pebbles have for him? Was it some kind of thank you give for catching his beanie? He didn't understand it not at all, he hated the fact that he was starting to sound like Taehyung with his conspiracy theories, but he had to get to the bottom of it… he didn't understand it but he wanted to, he wanted to understand…
Hoseok spent the rest of the week kind of following Yoongi. He didn't want to seem like a stalker, but that's what he was kind of doing. He just wondered where he got the rocks from. The rocks were too beautiful for him to just be picking them off the ground. He had to get them from somewhere. he had to be meticulously finding those rocks. He had even thought about setting up a situation where he could be nice to Yoongi, so he can find out where he was getting the rocks. He decided against it, thinking that was a little too malicious, just to set something up so he could stalk him.
Instead, he just followed him a few times a week just to see where he went. His friends were starting to become worried about him… but he really wanted to know where Yoongi was going. Yoongi always seemed to disappear after school. Nobody saw him around town, and nobody saw his parents. He was strange, he was interesting, Hoseok just wanted to know, then he would drop it and never pick it up again. Hopefully he didn't find anything crazy, like Yoongi was some kind of serial killer or an alien. Like Taehyung theorized.
Hoseok would follow him every other day. Going a little further pass the point of no return, he didn't want to follow Yoongi all the way home. That would just be weird, but the more he followed him, the more he realized he wasn't heading in a direction where any houses were. Hoseok decided he would follow him all the way.
One day after school, he followed him until he didn't see him anymore. Going a long way down a road with no houses and just shops along the side. Yoongi suddenly turn down into a ditch, and disappeared. Hoseok waited to see if Yoongi would come back up, but he didn't. That's when Hoseok decided to follow where he went. He walked down into the ditch to see a shoreline tunnel… Hoseok was confused? Where did Yoongi go?
The shoreline tunnels were huge gutters that regulated water into their town, because they were surrounded by ocean, it was very easy for a storm to flood the town… with the shoreline tunnels they're able to regulate how close the shoreline got to the town. When it rained heavily, the shoreline's tunnel vows were closed. Hoseok peered inside and didn't see anything… he didn't even see Yoongi. He hadn't emerged yet…
Though he was a bit skeptical, Hoseok decided to go in. He took off his bag and shoes and started to head down into the tunnel. He used his phone flashlight to see if he could see anything or anyone, still no sign of Yoongi. it was like he disappeared from thin air, where could he have gone. Hoseok knows that deeper in this tunnel just leads to the ocean. Soon enough Hoseok feet will become waterlogged if he goes anydeeper. He decided to press on. He went farther into the tunnel.The light on the other end became more scarce, as the water started to reach his knees. He still hadn't found Yoongi. Maybe he was mistaken? Maybe Yoongi never went inside the tunnel, and he just thought he did. Hoseok felt silly, all he did was ruin his clothes.
Hoseok started to turn around in the tunnel, and went back from the way he came. That's when he heard it… three distinct beeps. Before the rush of water came. They were letting in the shoreline. The tunnel workers could let in the shoreline to be closer to the town when they saw fit. It seems as if they were letting it in now. Not before long Hoseok could be swept away by the water. He tried to move as fast as he could to get out of the tunnel, but his legs were already knee deep in water. Before he knew it water was pushing up his back and his head went under.
In the commotion he dropped his phone. He was cold, it was dark, and it was wet. He couldn't see, he couldn't hear, he couldn't breathe. He felt as water started to fill up his lungs fast. as more water pushed him aside as it went up the tunnel. Was this how he was going to die? He really thought so, no one knew where he was. There was no way someone was going to save him. At least that's what he thought. As he started to lose his consciousness, he felt something brush against his whole body.
Suddenly with a full force tug. His body was moving not outside the tunnel, but further in it, all the way into the ocean. It was lighter in the ocean. Hoseok felt his body being tugged up, up, and up. Until his head burst out of the water. He still felt dizzy, his lungs still felt as if they were filled with water, his vision was blurry. He could sense him moving. Soon enough his back hit a solid ground.
Something or someone was standing over him. He could barely see… he then felt something warm pressing against his mouth, it felt… comforting, and familiar? Suddenly it felt as if all the water was leaving his lungs at once. Out of nowhere, his eyes shot opened, and he turned over to cough up the rest of the water.
“Cough* cough* huff* huff* W-what… what the…!? What happened!?”
Hoseok looked around to see himself on the rocky side of the shoreline somewhere on the edge of town. It was starting to become dark… he was soaked and afraid. He almost died. But somehow, he survived. He started to wonder how, not before long, he felt somebody hit him in the back of his head.
“Ow!?”
“ARE YOU INSANE!? DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH OR SOMETHING!? WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU GO THROUGH THE SHORELINE TUNNEL??”
Hoseok looked over to see Yoongi yelling at him.
“Will I saw you AND-”
Hoseok stopped dead in his tracks. It was Yoongi, but he looked completely different. His dark brown hair was now a vibrant light mint green color. His skin glistened like a beautiful pearl, and his legs, his legs were no longer there. Replacing them were fins. he had a tail connecting from his torso all the way down. As if he was half fish, his tail was a beautiful shiny black with mint green undertones. Hoseok couldn't believe it.
“You're… your… you're a MERMAID!?”
Yoongi scrunched his nose in defiance. Hoseok immediately back tracked.
“I'm sorry, I mean… merman?”
Yoongi still looks discrunchalled.
“Where did humans get that term from, mermaid, merman… it's not like where manatees or something. We're closer to fish than anything else. We come from the sea… we prefer seafolk… or seapeople. Mermaid is just stupid… go or even Merfolk, if that's what you really want…”
Hoseok looked at him.
“I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend you.”
Yoongi looked at him.
“Why were you in that tunnel anyway? it is super dangerous and you almost died. You're lucky I saw you in time.”
Hoseok started to run his hand through his wet hair.
“I'm sorry… I saw you and-. I thought… I'm sorry, I shouldn't have followed you.”
Yoongi's side exasperately. “I knew something felt off. I should have checked my surroundings.”
Yoongi then directly looked at Hoseok.
“Hobi… go home, your parents are probably worried sick about you.”
Hoseok looked up at the sky, it was completely dark now. He had lost his phone in the commotion, his book bag and shoes probably got swip away by the sea as well. Yoongi was right, he had to go home before his parents called the police. Right when Hoseok started to get up, Yoongi made his way back into the water. He looked at Hoseok.
“Hoseok… don't you dare tell a soul about this okay…”
Hoseok gulps involuntarily, he just nodded, as Yoongi swam his way back into the ocean. The next day Hoseok wasn't allowed to go to school. His parents became too worried when he came home soaked, missing his shoes and book bag and phone. They thought for sure he had been jumped and was ready to call the police. It took everything in Hoseok's power to get them not to call. His friends had even visited him at home. Thinking that he was hurt.
Hoseok's stuff was replaced by his parents and then he was allowed to go back to school. Once he got back, he noticed Yoongi wasn't in school. He asked his friends about it.
“Yoongi?? He hasn't been in school for the last few days. He stopped going around the same time you were gone. did Something happened?” Jin asked
Hoseok just shook his head, he didn't want to say anything. He was a terrible liar, and didn't want the truth to come spilling out. He just kept a look out for Yoongi. A few days had passed and he was hanging out with his friends in front of the school. From the corner of his eye, Hoseok saw him. Yoongi was walking up to the school, his hair soaked as always. Without another word, he ran up to the boy. His friends became confused.
“When did Hoseok become close with Yoongi?” Taehyung asked
Jimin just shook his head as Jungkook whistled. Hoseok ran up to him, he didn't really think it through. Yoongi just stared at him.
“What…?” he asked.
Hoseok, with nothing else to say, just answered. “… nothing…”
Yoongi walked past him and went into the building. Now he felt like a fool. What was he going to do now…