Three days later, Jin found himself leaving his new bedroom and walking down the hall towards where he thought Y/n's office was in hopes of having something to do. Jin was more than grateful for the way that Namjoon and Y/n had been accommodating him but his new bedroom was bare as bones and he desperately wanted something to do. Namjoon hadn’t visited him today for swim lessons as Jin had mastered the basics and simply needed to swim. Jin barely even knew how to get around the massive home he was now inhabiting. Given, he had grown to better understand how the place Namjoon and Y/n lived in was organized. At one point, he even met Namjoon's siblings who also lived in the volcanic rock majesty. The home was large and winding. Even three days spent learning how to swim and exploring left the place left Jin utterly confused when he was somewhere other than his room and Y/n’s office. That was how he met Yoongi, a siren who Jin found when he accidentally wandered into the basement and up to Yoongi's third eye... which happened to give the basement a dim glow of light. In Jin’s defence, he was almost positive that it was a light in some sort of underwater wine cellar. He had half a thought of the home being carved out from some inactive underwater volcano before Taehyung, one of Namjoon's younger siblings, explained how the sirens often use volcanic rock for building. Taehyung was big in architecture, something Jin quickly latched onto and the two found themselves having a near hour long conversation about it. Luckily, Jin found Y/n's office without getting lost this time. When Jin entered, he saw her hunched over some sort of cauldron, purple bubbles floating above it and getting stuck in the ceiling. There was a large cloud of purple simply sitting on the ceiling that seemed to swirl with different shades of purple slowly. It was something that Jin’s eyes kept going to.

"Hello Jin! Good seeing you here." Y/n said, barely looking up from the cauldron, her hands gripping some stick she was using to stir the cauldron with.

"Hello, Y/n. How are you today?" He asked, slowly swimming towards one of the chairs at Y/n's desk.

“I am decent...well, I am tired. Would you be willing to go for a little swim with me in a few minutes? I could use the break." Y/n asked, this time slowly turning her head to look Jin in the eyes while she asked.

"I think that could be really nice. I still don't really know what the castle grounds look like and walking with you sounds fun." Jin said, slowly looking around the desk as he waited for Y/n to do whatever she had to do before they could swim. He had all the time in the world when it came to waiting for Y/n.

In the time waiting, Jin somehow managed to figure out the equivalent of pen and paper (kelp and a sharpened stone) and had started doodling. He was never a decent artist (the work he did in his architecture classes could never be classified as art) but soon enough, he found himself getting carried away with his drawing. It wasn't a good drawing by any means but if he was still in his architecture class, it would have awarded him an A+. Looking back, Jin barely remembered his college years where he got multiple degrees in both architecture and business. His whole time in college passed with him barely even making friends. He was too busy studying to do much with his life. A small huff left Jin's mouth as he tried to shade his drawing before accidentally tearing a large hole through the kelp as a whole.

"Looks like you pressed too hard, Jin." Y/n laughed as Jin looked up at her. 

She stood over him now, gently gesturing towards the door. Jin got up, the two of them quickly leaving Y/n's office to meander around the home. Y/n and Jin walked slowly, Y/n seeming to guide the two silently towards an unknown location. Eventually the two made it to an outdoor area, a large rock archway separating the inside of the castle and the outside. The outdoor area was magical to Jin. He hadn’t been outside since becoming a siren and finally getting to see it took his breath away, even if they were only in some garden or courtyard. 

Looking up, Jin could see just how deep underwater he was now living, only faint and distant sunbeams casting the garden in a faint and almost eerie light. The occasional lamp post made of some sort of dead coral emitted a bright yellow light, allowing Jin to properly see the garden. Next to him, Jin noticed Y/n almost deflate in relief as her head turned to and fro, her white hair gently flowing in the air. For now Jin decided not to ask her about all the stress she was carrying, opting to look around instead. There was kelp and coral and some other types of plants that Jin flat out didn't know existed before then. The more and more Jin looked around, the more he was amazed at how well kept the garden was, but what took Jin's breath away was Y/n and how at home she seemed in the outdoors. She was slowly bouncing up and down in the water as her bristled tail moved languidly through the water. The dim sunbeams and lamp light shining down on her face and making her look ethereal. For a second too long, Jin forgot that he shouldn't stare at her.

"This was my favorite place to be as a child. I could play out here for hours and never get bored." Y/n said, her voice quiet as she crouched down and inspected an unknown plant, "Before they realized that I was a sea witch. I wasn't supposed to interact with Namjoon and his brothers after they realized what I was, but they still did every once in a while." A fond smile was growing on her face as she continued to speak about her childhood growing up. 

Before long, Y/n started to go around the garden and animatedly explain the different plants and their uses with the potions she makes. All the while, Jin was struck with a feeling of awe at her passion, his heart skipping a beat every time she looked up at him and smiled. Before long, the lamps started to glow a brighter and whiter light as the faint sunbeams dissipated into nothingness. Without the sunbeams, the garden seemed to drop in temperature. It was then, as Jin and Y/n went back inside, that Jin learned that the sea folk told time in almost the same way that humans did: according to the sun. 

They walked slowly around the castle for a little bit more before the two retreated to their respective rooms for the night. Jin barely slept a wink. His mind was too occupied with images of his interactions with Y/n. A deep blush stained his cheeks, images of what could be playing through his mind. There was so much about her that he still didn’t know but the more he learned, the more he grew to like her. He didn’t even know if he could do anything romantic or if she could, but by now his mind was already running rampid at the ideas. At some unknown time, Jin did fall asleep only to be rudely awoken by someone banging loudly on his door. With a groan, Jin slowly got up and made his way over to his bedroom door although mentally he was still in his bed.

When Jin swung it open, he was met with Namjoon's youngest brother: Jungkook who immediately started talking, "Jin! Good to see you again! I wanted to see if you wanted to play a game of hit the moss? Some of my brothers and I are going to play and I thought that it could be fun to involve you since you’re now living with us. It is ok if you don't want to, you're probably very busy but--"

"I would love to join, Jungkook... but is there anything I need to wear for it?" Jin asked, a small laugh leaving him at Jungkook's shyness.

"No. There isn't anything you need to wear now come on! We want to start soon!" Jungkook said excitedly, a large smile growing on his face as he started to pull Jin through the water. 

Soon enough, the two of them exited the building only to be greeted by Jimin, Yoongi, Taehyung, and Hoseok who lead the way to a large and empty field with a tall net cutting it in half. 

"Are you ready to play?" Yoongi shouted, bouncing around the field excitedly while throwing some large ball of moss around. 

"I don't even know how to play!" Jin said while everyone else started yelling excitedly. 

"Toss me the ball, Yoongi!" Jungkook shouted, hands outstretched for the moss ball which came soaring through the air. 

Jungkook swiftly caught the ball and brought it close to his body, "So Jin, the general goal of the game is to hit the ball over the net and onto the other team's sand. You can use your arms, hands, and head, but you can't hold the ball. A rule that we had to put in since many of us have powers is that we can't use magic to get the ball to hit the other side's ground." 

Jin nodded, thinking back to high school gym, he remembers playing volleyball which sounded somewhat similar, "I think I have it. It seems to be a human game that I have played a couple times in the past." 

"That could be true. We learned of this game from watching some humans play on sand." Jungkook nodded.

"Don't say we! I was not part of that human watching attempt and neither was Hoseok! I don’t want to be grouped in with your stupid and dangerous antics." Yoongi shouted, signaling for Jungkook to pass the ball back, which he did. 

"Why don't we decide who will play on which side? I want to start asap." Taehyung whined, intercepting a throw Yoongi made of the moss ball to Hoseok.

"I call playing on Jin's side! Since he hasn't played before his team should have me on it!" Jungkook said, looping his arm with Jin's. Their tails rubbed together awkwardly, Jin having not fully figured out how to manage his tail more minutely. 

Soon enough, the teams were set (Jin being on a team with Jungkook and Yoongi) and the six started playing. Jin struggled to no end with the game, having to twirl in the water and move about quickly and swiftly wasn't something that he was good at but Jungkook and Yoongi seemed to pick up the slack as best as they could. Very quickly the six of them seemed to fall into a pattern. Jungkook would serve, Hoseok would bump, Jimin would spike, Jin would bump (occasionally spike if he maneuvered properly), Yoongi would spike, Taehyung would spike back, Jungkook would bump, and so forth. If it wasn't for someone occasionally missing a hit and the ball hitting the ground, Jin would have almost forgotten that he was even playing a competitive game. Even though Jin didn't know exactly what marked a win, he somehow lost. The moss ball hit the ground one final time on his side and Taehyung immediately started celebrating, a large and happy smile plastered on his face as Jimin and him spun around.

"I can't believe that we lost!" Jungkook cried, grabbing the moss ball and throwing it down on the ground angrily. 

"I'm sorry, Jungkook. If it wasn't for me, you probably would have won." Jin said, attempting to calm Jungkook (which was an intimidating task since he was a large and muscular siren and Jin hadn't been a siren for long). 

"It's really no big deal, Jin. We play for fun. Jungkook is just a baby who likes winning." Jimin said with a laugh, swimming over and putting Jungkook in a headlock, "Isn't that right... our little baby?" Jimin cooed. 

"Wait-- How old are you Jungkook?" Jin asked, eyebrows raised. Jin thought that Jungkook was older than him but then again, these were different creatures. 

"I am 75 years old! It's like... a quarter of how long I am going to live... How old are you Jin?" Jungkook asked, already leading everyone back inside the house.

"I am 27." Jin said, quietly following as everyone swam to some unknown destination (well, to Jin it was unknown).

"Ahhh! Finally someone I am older than!" Jungkook shouted happily, spinning around and laughing.

"But that is human years, right?" Hoseok asked, spinning around to look at Jin as he spoke. The six of them were swimming to a cleaner and more put together part of the house that soon enough Jin recognized as where many sirens who didn't live here often meandered around. 

"Yeah."

"So you could be 27 as a siren... but I am going to bet that you're more likely 78 as a siren." Hoseok said as the six of them walked into the main dining hall. Its ceiling rose high into the water, peaking in a dome and all over it seemed to be deep red tonal sketches of what looked to be sirens. Jin wanted to rise up and look at them more closely but the second he looked around the room, he knew that would be a very bad thing to do. Not only was Namjoon there but also two other, much older sirens, who looked almost regal in comparison to every other siren Jin had met thus far. Jin had now idea how the new sirens might react if he suddenly swam up to look at the artwork and he didn't want to test it. 

"Mom, Dad, Meet our newest resident, Kim Seokjin." Namjoon said, gesturing towards Jin who blushed and gently bowed. He wasn't used to acting formally. This was almost unnatural to him now even though he grew up acting formal all the time.

"I am so glad that we got to meet you Seokjin!" Namjoon's mom said, a large smile growing on her face as she swam over, "I am Queen Jieun and my husband is King Eudes. Welcome to the family! Feel free to call me Mom or Jieun, but please don't call me anything royal."

Jieun quickly pulled Jin into a hug, Jin's tail limply hitting her tail lightly. From the corner of Jin's eye, he saw Namjoon and Yoongi laughing at the interaction as well as Eudes coming close to Jin. Deep down, Jin hoped that he wouldn't try to hug Jin. He's been hugged or pulled close so many times today and he really didn't want to feel another tail rubbing his. 

Luckily, Eudes simply bowed and smiled at Jin, "I am so glad to finally meet you, Seokjin. We've been very busy but the second Namjoon and Y/n told us we had a visitor, we wanted to meet you." 

By now, Jieun was guiding everyone towards the table where a large spread of different types of food was laid out, "Stop saying visitor! From what I have heard, you are wonderfully kind. Besides, after all you've been through, it is the least we can do to include you in our royal family."

"It doesn't help that people are now wondering who the new siren with a silver tail is." Eudes said, serving himself a large helping of food. 

"Is silver not a common color for tails?" Jin asked, taking more time to look at the different colored tails that people had: there were blues, purples, and greens, but all were very dark colored. He hadn't really noticed too much but it made sense that sirens would have darker tails to blend into their surroundings.

"Extremely uncommon." Taehyung said in between shoving large spoonfuls of some kelp like food into his mouth.

"I could imagine it being either a side effect of the curse or who turned you. She too had a somewhat unique tail." Namjoon said, gently pushing his food around his plate.

"I don't remember it. All I remember is her screaming into the air and then her pulling me down." Jin sighed, looking down at his tail. He hadn't really thought of how he had gotten into what he now assumes is a palace since the day he first woke up on Y/n's workbench. Now that he had started thinking about it, his life had completely changed because of all of this and he could never return to the world that he once knew. Deep down though, he kept thinking about how the woman laughed at him as she dragged him deeper and deeper. His lungs felt like they were burning from a lack of air once again.

"That must have been very scary. I am sorry you had to experience that." Hoseok said, his hand rubbing against Jin's shoulder. 

Jin nodded, opting to be silent for the rest of the time everyone was eating, which took much more time than Jin originally thought it would. Part way through, some large roasted fish was carried out and then even later some sort of desert was brought out as well. While Jin was sitting and simply listening, he learned that Namjoon was the heir to the throne. That was why Jin almost never saw him around and something deep in Jin connected at that.

In the end, Jin somehow made it out of the meal and thoughtlessly meandered towards where he thought his room was. His mind was elsewhere, thinking about Namjoon as the heir. The idea of him having to shoulder the weight of the throne all alone, or with a partner, made Jin sad. He never even wanted to manage his dad's company and it always lead to so much stress on him as a child. His dad had a lot of stress too. Jin disappearing and never returning to land again is going to cause even more stress for his dad. 

Jin's heart dropped at that thought. Luckily, he had made it to his room by the time that the tears started flowing. Until now, Jin must have been in denial because now he was mourning the whole life he unwittingly abandoned. He had no pets. He had no friends. He had almost nothing but he had an extremely loving family. A home. Degrees. The ability to make change. 

He had so much that he could have possibly done with his life. With those around him. With the privilege he had. Yet Jin did nothing but think about fake friends. He thought that he had something with his ex... but he clearly didn't. 

At some point or another Jin drifted off into a restless and dreamless sleep.