As the darkness began its inward desent over the land, the worry within Youngjae threatened to overwhelm him. After multiple attempts to move the man out of the tub, Youngjae had finally succeded with the help of a few buckets. But his joy from having accomplished that feat was whisked away with the sun's last rays, leaving behind a growing seed of unwanted thoughts.

Hours had passed since the man fainted and while Youngjae was sure it wasn't because of his fever, he began to have second thoughts of not having taken him to the hospital for proper examination. He was at 102 degrees the first time he checked directly after having planted him onto the couch and now was at a steady 100.2 degrees. Still. 

Maybe Youngjae's limited knowledge on fevers was a miscalculation. The time Yezi fainted sometime after having played in the snow gave Youngjae the impression that anything below 103 degrees was not high enough to send anyone to the hospital but enough to warrant concern by the looks of Mrs. Hoon's constant checking. 

Further research on his phone confirmed his assumptions that fevers typically only induce fainting when at or above 105 degrees. Still. 

He huffed. Seven hours since the man fainted were coming on strong and there was no sign that he would wake. Everything on him remained calm and unmoving but the steady rise and fall of his chest. At least his breathing no longer necessitated concern when compared to this morning. 

Youngjae let out an exasperated sigh. He reached over and placed the back of his hand to the man's cheek. It was hot but not burning.

He dipped the towel into the metal bucket at his feet. With numbing fingertips, he squeezed out as much of the icy cold water as his sore hands would allow before reaching over to place it on the man's forehead. 

The wind tore through the world outside, creating a loud howl that startled Youngjae. He turned to look out through his kitchen window  when something warm and heavy seized his knee. He used every ounce of his remaining willpower not to scream. 

Youngjae returned his attention to the mystery man before him. All his worrying had to come to naught. There, in the growing darkness, Youngjae met a pair of chocolate-colored eyes head-on. The two sat in silence for quite awhile until the man his lips, breaking the spell between them. Youngjae shot upright, his heart thrumming against his chest with the image of having been inches apart from his face. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

Youngjae hoped it would be his turn to faint soon. 

#

After Youngjae the ceiling lights, he helped the man roll over so he could check the bandages. There  was a red stain just below his shoulder bone. Youngjae slid his fingertips over the circle and the man gasped. 

"That hurts."

"How is it that you can form coherent sentences now when less then half a day ago you struggled to-"

The memory of him having glided his finger over his forehead to spell the word "cute" came hurtling forward. Youngjae pretended to scratch a nonexistent itch so he could hide the heat he felt coming onto the tips of his ears. 

"To breathe," he finished saying. 

The man frowned. "Sorry I couldn't say anything earlier. It takes a lot of energy getting used to having a set of lungs as opposed to my gills." 

The man started to roll over on his backside but Youngjae stopped him. 

"Let me check your temperature first." He leaned back to grab the thermometer off of the coffee table. He took ahold of the man's arm and lifted it up just high enough to slide the medical instrument in his armpit. 

As he waited for the numbers to stop on a definite answer, he took in the feel of his bicep. The skin was just as smooth and clear as it looked. Nothing like the fake pearls his mother used to try and sell on the side. 

The beep snapped him to attention. He slid the thermometer out and carefully read over the numbers. 99.8 degrees.

Youngjae rejoiced. There would be no death on his hands tonight. Although, he still had the worry of the man's wounds reopening. He had to keep him still to increase the probability that that wouldn't happen. 

"Are you not comfortable in this position?" 

The man moved his head in what Youngjae saw as a gesture between a nod and a shake. "No. It's strange to have something pressed up against your-" The man stopped. Youngjae thought to complete his sentence when he opened his mouth again. "What is this," he asked as he reached back inbetween his thighs for the long organ that lay limp against the couch.

"Don't touch it!" 

Surprised, the man dropped his hand to his side.

Youngjae placed his palm on the back of his neck and rubbed at it. "At least not while I'm around." Right? Because whatever he did with his body wasn't of any concern to him.

"Is it sacred?" 

"You don't know?"

"No. Knowledge over human anatomy never found its way to me."

"Good." 

"Because that is what you call a man's ia, right?" He smirked.

Youngjae froze. A frown etched itself onto his lips.

A boisterous laugh tore free from his lips. If it weren't for the howling wind outside, it would have been his voice setting the townsfolk on edge. 

"I've had a few encounters with the drawings of artist's who couldn't hold onto them when the wind picked up. Can't say I remember them detail by detail but from the ones that were neatly drawn, the was made to stand out."

Youngjae bit back the desire to send him on his way out through the front door. Dark outside or not, the man was still and Youngjae wasn't much of one to stand out. He enjoyed life knowing the days passed by without worry of tomorrow. 

"So, how do you know all that you do?" 

The man collected himself before flipping around in a single fluid motion. A terrible groan surfaced. His eyes drew in tight and his hand shot back to grasp onto his shoulder. Red half-circles appeared where his fingernails dug into flesh. 

"Now why did you do that!?"

"Because you wouldn't have let me if I'd told you what I had been planning to do." He peeled an eye open. Another grimace. 

Youngjae's jaw tightened. He reached over to grab the towel resting by his ear when he finished with: "And I want to see you while I talk."

Youngjae snatched the towel away. He quickly dropped it into the bucket before moving towards the other side of the couch. He fumbled with the items on top of the table in an attempt to come off like he was doing something productive but, in reality, he was trying to suppress the flutter of joy that had washed over him. When was the last time someone had said something so endearing? 

But he could just have easily said that to get a reaction; to play around with a human's heart before returning to the sea. Youngjae couldn't be sure of the sentence's intended meaning but he was positive about one thing.

His comment means nothing. 

Looking up into the circular mirror, he gave a faint nod before returning to the man's side. 

Tiny droplets of water splashed onto him as Youngjae planted the bucket back in its original place. 

"Don't do that again," he wanted to say but he liked to avoid conflict and what better time then right now, when there were so many unanswered questions left. 

"Are you going to answer my question or not," Youngjae asked as he reapplied the cool towel to the man's forehead. He tried not to look down, knowing that if he did, those chocolate-colored eyes would ensnare him like the time he first noticed their true hue. He couldn't let his resolve to get answers disintegrate. 

"You probably meant to ask how I don't not know these things."

Youngjae crossed his arms. 

The man took a deep breath in. "You'd be surprised at the amount of information you guys leave us. From lonely fishermen who whisper tales to the nighttime sky to people who think it appropriate to dump their written words into the sea, there's a treasure trove of knowledge we've retained over the centuries. A plethora of information almost nearly in conjunction with your species knowledge."

This was wild. Outlandish. Enough to get this man placed into a mental asylum but amidst the creeping shard of doubt, Youngjae was enthralled. It was everything like the bedtime stories his mother would recite to him and so much more. 

"Don't the words bleed out into the sea?"

There was a faint twinkle within the man's eyes but Youngjae dismissed it as nothing more then the light's reflection within his pupil. "You're right. And then they are ours to keep forever."

"Then that begs the question. Why are you here now?" 

"I do believe because you saved me?" 

Jokester. This guy was a real jokester. 

"Be serious. Why are you here now as a human? Aren't there repercussions for transforming into one? Aren't you slowly killing yourself with each passing second? Wasting energy?" 

The man smiled brightly as he looked up into Youngjae's eyes. "No. If I'm here now, it's because I willingly wanted to visit what's beyond reach of the ocean's surface." He laid his arm across his torso. Youngjae looked down but remembered he had no underwear on in time to flick his eyes right back up. 

"I'm glad you found me."