Mi-young was nearly stampeded to death as she returned through the front door of Baekhyun’s lofty home.

The boys had been impatiently awaiting Baekhyun’s return, nibbling at their nails and hastily drawing the curtains aside every few minutes to peek out the window overlooking the driveway. Mi-young saw quite a few forms running to and fro inside the well-lit house when she had stepped outside of the car, and she even thought she could hear cries of delight seeping through the cracks. She heard Baekhyun mumble curses under his breath as he unlocked the door; he did not step aside in time, however, as Kris threw the door open to wrap Mi-young in an ecstatic hug. His hand still attached to the doorknob, poor Baekhyun had been flung into the hallway while the other nine boys ran past him, all attempting to get their hands on the bashful mermaid. Baekhyun just lay there with his face in the wood, fist pounding into the floor.

“I’ve only been gone for an hour,” Mi-young giggled as the boys fawned excessively over her. She managed to walk through the landing and close the door behind her, and looked down at the miserable Baekhyun on the wooden floor. “Baekhyun?” she inquired anxiously.

“Just peachy,” he groaned, rising to his feet. The boys stared as leftover sand sprinkled out of his hair and fell off his shoulders, and they turned in shock to Mi-young, who was also adorned with the fine, grainy substance.

“What did you two do?” D.O. asked accusingly as he brushed sand from Mi-young’s back. His dark glare was set on Baekhyun, who was frantically attempted to come up with some kind of elaborate lie.

“I took her to the beach, obviously,” he squeaked, unable to come up with anything more convincing than a portion of the truth.

“But why?” Chanyeol asked, his hand on his chin as he eyed him suspiciously. Baekhyun felt himself begin to break out into a cold sweat, feeling nervous with all the intensely condemning glares burning into him. “You guys didn’t do anything… dirty, did you?” the tall boy continued, leaning close to Baekhyun’s face as he peered at him with squinted eyes. The man in question blushed furiously, waving his hands furiously.

“What? No! Mi-young said she wanted to go to the beach to see the fishing boats, because she thought they were pretty from the road!” he spluttered, looking at the mermaid desperately for confirmation.

“That’s right! Then I pranked Baekhyun and dropped sand on his head, and we got into a sand fight that I won,” she testified cheerfully, practically radiating an innocent light. Upon her affirmation, the glaring boys dropped their allegations and continued flattering the cute mermaid. As she tipped her head to the side and asked, “What did you mean by ‘dirty,’ Chanyeol?” they suddenly recoiled, all eleven of their faces alight with fiery blushing. They were unable to compete with Baekhyun’s fire-engine red cheeks, however.

“Oh, God. Do we have to tell her about the birds and the bees?” Lay whispered.

“What are birds and bees?” the mermaid inquired, her head tipping further. The boys gasped and backed away from her, terrified glances shooting throughout the group as they struggled to explain the taboo concept to the adorably innocent and pure girl. “Please, I don’t remember,” she frowned.

“Well, Mi-young,” Tao sighed, sidling up beside the mermaid and throwing an arm around her shoulder. His hand was held up as if he were a professor demonstrating a lesson, but his expression was exceedingly awkward. “When a man and a woman love each other very much-“

“That’s enough!” Baekhyun cried, unable to take any more of the lunacy. “It’s late, and Mi-young is getting sleepy,” he sighed, motioning to the girl. Despite her curiosity, it was obvious; her eyelids were beginning to droop, and her face suddenly split into a loud yawn.

“But-“ Chen began to interject, but Baekhyun held up his hand for silence.

“I am tired. I’ll have to learn about this ‘birds and bees’ tomorrow,” the mermaid compromised sweetly. She seemed immensely confused when the boys grew uncomfortable once more, whimpering and whispering to themselves. Baekhyun was highly certain that he heard Luhan utter a prayer. Shaking his head, he pried Tao’s arm from her shoulders, and sea of idols parted to let them pass. Instinctively, he placed his hand on the small of Mi-young’s back to guide her through, and he flinched when D.O. shot him a glare and made the “I’m watching you” motions with his fingers. He hastily removed his hand from her back before it was forcibly detached from his wrist. He brought the mermaid down the hallway to his bedroom, and she looked around curiously as she stepped inside after Baekhyun flipped on the lights. “Is this your bedroom, Baekhyun?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he answered. It was a simple space, painted a soft blue with dark blue curtains and a matching bed set. There was a dresser against one wall, a dark brown wood that matched the aesthetic of the room quite well. A small TV stand was on the wall facing the bed, with a small wooden stand complete with a gaming console and a stack of games and movies. A small door led to the bathroom he shared with several of the other boys. Mi-young, however, was entranced by the large fish tank situated against the wall opposite the dresser. She ran over to it, peering into the small biome with wide, blue eyes.

“Fish!” she exclaimed. Slightly proud of his handiwork, Baekhyun smiled and walked over to stand beside her, arms crossed as he peered into the water. It was a saltwater tank that Baekhyun had filled himself, fifty gallons worth of his life’s work. The denizens were all little creatures that he had discovered in the tide pools, swimming and crawling through a small habitat of corals and seaweeds that he had dutifully grown and maintained. He kept all the rarest creatures, and in the tank he currently had a small brown seahorse clutching to a similarly colored seaweed, an assortment of small minnows, an eel, a tiny colony of shrimp, and a pink starfish that was currently against the side of the tank. “Did you collect these yourself?” the mermaid required, peeling her eyes away from the glass structure to look up at him in admiration.

“I sure did, most of them in the tide pools I found you in,” he remarked. She giggled and watched the fish swim for a while, but her exhaustion soon overpowered the sudden burst of energy she had received from the fascination of the tank. She stretched her arms above her head in a yawn and scratched the side of her head, looking around blankly in tiredness.

“Are we sleeping in here together?” she asked innocently. Baekhyun heard a choking sound come from the hall, and he glanced at the door just in time to see the gangling bunch of boys hurriedly attempt to hide themselves in the hall. He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to remain calm for the naïve mermaid’s sake. I really hope they didn’t hear that last comment, but I could play it off, he thought anxiously. Mi-young continued to stare at him expectantly.

“No, Mi-young, we will not be sleeping in here together,” he answered patiently.

“Why? The bed is certainly big enough,” she frowned in confusion, gesturing to the queen-size bed. Baekhyun blushed slightly, his inner ert screaming to give in while his chivalrous side chased it around his brain beating it with a giant stick. That’s what it felt like, with the never-ending headache encroaching upon him once more.

“Mi-young, it’s inappropriate for a boy and a girl to sleep in the same bed when they barely know each other,” he continued.

“Does this have to do with the birds and the bees?” Mi-young blinked. Fits of giggles erupted in the hall, while Baekhyun blushed madly and ran his hands through his hair, a nervous wreck.

“Look, Mi-young, you are going to sleep in here while I sleep in the living room on the couch,” he finished. He then ducked his head out of the bedroom door with a menacing glare, screaming, “Go to bed, morons!” The eleven eavesdropping idols scrambled into their respective rooms, not eager to be on the receiving end of Baekhyun’s wrath. Sighing heavily, he closed the door behind him and turned back to the mermaid. She stared sleepily at him, and he felt himself blushing, captivated by her cuteness. Come on, Baekhyun, put her to bed before you do something you’ll regret, he reminded himself bitterly, walking over to the dresser and opening up a drawer. He had stored the mermaid’s clothing items there just in case she was somehow roped into staying, and he a removed a soft white nightgown from the drawer and held it out to her.

“Go into the bathroom to change, okay?” he instructed softly, and the mermaid nodded slowly, yawning as she clutched the article in her hands and tottered over to the bathroom, rubbing her eyes as she closed the door behind her. She disrobed with some struggle, still unaccustomed to the zippers and clasps. However, she managed to get herself down to her underwear before slipping the dress over her head, admiring the way the fabric swished about her knees. She opened the door, open to comment on the clothing article, but the words died in as her eyes landed on Baekhyun.

He had discarded his own clothes for a pair of soft, plush pants, but was currently from the waist-up. Mi-young was surprised, and surprisingly delighted, to find that Baekhyun had a rather sculpted body. She was overcome with the sudden urge to feel his muscles, much to her own mortification. She blushed slightly and closed as he looked up from tossing his clothes into a small hamper behind the door.

“What?” he asked, walking over. As he approached, she found her heart beating more rapidly inside her chest.

“N-nothing,” she stammered shyly. He frowned slightly, and she flinched as he suddenly reached up to slip a finger underneath her bra strap.

“You know you can take that off now, right? You don’t have to sleep with it,” he remarked, and she jumped as the elastic band slapped against her skin. Little did she know that as Baekhyun turned his back to her that he was attempting not to have a fit, as he was losing his mind over how adorable the mermaid looked in the simple nightgown. Mi-young blushed darker and finagled her way out of the uncomfortable undergarment, somehow managing to pull it out through her sleeve once she had unhooked it. Baekhyun turned around just in time to see it, and he thought he was going to faint from the incredibly y maneuver that the mermaid had unwittingly just pulled. He actually had to lean against the bedpost. The two avoided eye contact, both their faces a dark shade of pink.

“U-um, so I’m going to go to bed now,” she stammered finally, jarring Baekhyun from his trance of awkwardness. He clapped his hands together, pulling back the thick comforter and backing away so the mermaid could crawl onto the large bed. She pulled the comforter over herself, snuggling into the soft, cozy fabric with a happy smile. The gentle warmth lulled her to sleep almost immediately, and before Baekhyun could say anything else to her, he heard her breathing fall into a slow, deep rhythm. He chuckled softly and pulled the comforter over her exposed feet, walking over to the wall to flip off the lights.

“Goodnight, Mi-young,” he murmured softly as he left the room. The other boys had taken the hint, finally, and had remained in their rooms while he had been preparing the mermaid for bed. He walked down the hallway, grabbing a spare pillow and blanket from a small closet, before wandering into the living room. After the excitement of the day, the house seemed strangely quiet. He couldn’t even hear cars zooming by in the street, although he occasionally saw a flash of yellow filter through the window. With a heavy sigh, he flopped down on his back on the couch and threw the blanket over himself, glancing down at his watch as he undid the strap. It was 12:45.

Thank goodness tomorrow’s Saturday, he thought with a yawn, setting the watch down on the coffee table before rolling over and attempting to drift off to sleep. It wasn’t much later that the rain started, a gentle tinkling on the windows that escalated into a raging storm, with the wind shaking the windows and the rain beating down against the roof with a fury. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled overhead, and amidst all the noise, Baekhyun heard a soft pitter-pattering of feet down the hallway. He lifted his head, and a bolt of lightning illuminated the form of Mi-young, her eyes wide with fear and her skin pale white.

“I’m scared,” she murmured after the thunder faded away. “Is the sky falling?” she whispered. Baekhyun chuckled softly and rolled onto his other side, gesturing for the mermaid to walk over.

“No, Mi-young, it’s just a thunderstorm,” he explained gently. She seemed relieved.

“Oh, a thunderstorm. I’ve never seen one up close. The waves are always too violent,” she murmured, then screamed and clutched onto Baekhyun as a particularly loud boom of thunder assaulted her ears. He gently comforted the quivering girl, lifting up the blanket so she could slip underneath. She pressed her body against his, her hands drawn to her chest and her head buried into his neck as the storm continued to rage outside. With Baekhyun’s reassuring presence, she gradually relaxed and slipped back into sleep. Baekhyun stared down at her, eyes tracing over her soft features. She slept with slightly parted, and her head was tilted slightly as it rested on his shoulder. He felt his heart skip a beat as she scooted closer to him, murmuring something incomprehensible. She looked so beautiful in that moment that Baekhyun could not resist leaning down, drawing his lips closer to hers. As their faces were mere centimeters apart, he-

He woke up to the sound of shrill beeping.

It took him a moment to regain his bearings, looking around at the unfamiliar landscape in confusion. Night had turned into day; sunlight was filtering through the window, still splattered with raindrops. His watch alarm had gone off, and was continuing to beep repeatedly until he reached out to shut it off. He sat up, sighing heavily and rubbing his eyes tiredly. He felt like he hadn’t slept at all. In fact, he didn’t realize that he had fallen asleep in the first place, as the dream had felt so undeniably vivid. He then tensed.

He had been dreaming… about kissing Mi-young.