Youngbae had fallen...hard.

Seungri had bowed his way away from the blanket that they had been having lunch on about twenty minutes or so ago. They had eaten a small amount of the food, making sure to leave some for the sleeping Jiyong, before Seungri had suddenly shaken his head and jumped up; saying that he should probably leave and get Gaho ready for the evening and finish his work.

Youngbae had just nodded, mildly surprised by Seungri’s energetic exit, and said goodbye. He was kind of sad to see the young man go, as he had been having fun asking questions, but at the same time he was kind of relieved. It had taken a lot more effort than he would have ever imagined to keep all of his focus on Seungri while Jiyong’s head was resting on his leg.

Jiyong’s face was pointed toward Youngbae’s exposed waist, and if Youngbae shifted just right (while reaching for a piece of bread, or just shifting his position), then Jiyong’s mouth would bump against his hip. It wasn’t just that, as Youngbae had quickly noticed that possibility and had fought to find a way around it; the shivers that traveled down his spine every time Jiyong’s mouth accidentally came into contact with his side were far too distracting. No, it was the tempting desire to move his hand from the ground beside Jiyong’s head so that he could run his fingers over Jiyong’s face; it was the magnetic pull that was dragging his eyes down to stare at Jiyong’s closed eyes and attractive profile.

Yes, Youngbae was glad that Seungri was gone because now he could stare at Jiyong’s face and muse over the fact that even while sleeping Jiyong had an immense amount of power over him. He had been sitting in the same position since Jiyong had laid down, but he was getting uncomfortable. As carefully as he could manage, he turns a little and lifts Jiyong’s head, settling it more fully onto his lap and stretching his legs out. He holds his breath as Jiyong makes a small noise and shifts his head so that he is facing up instead of toward Youngbae, but Jiyong doesn’t open his eyes, so Youngbae relaxes again.

“You’re so...” He breathes, unable to finish the sentence because of the innumerable amount of things that he could say about the man. He drags his fingers lightly and carefully over Jiyong’s face, starting at the eyes and tracing every feature. Youngbae smiles as he watches Jiyong’s mouth twitch at the light as air contact he’s making. “Beautiful...” he mutters, finishing his sentence with a word that he imagined would make Jiyong frown in protest but rather perfectly describes the man anyway.

Youngbae had fallen hard, and the only advice that Daesung had been able to give him on the matter was not helping.

“Keep your mind and heart open. If he feels the same...you have nothing to worry about. If he doesn’t...we will work on that if it comes to it.”

If. Youngbae liked the sounds of ‘if’, but it also scared him. It was definitely a possibility that Jiyong wouldn’t want to be with him forever, no matter the type of relationship. Youngbae would settle for best friends until death if only it meant that he could see Jiyong’s face every day and hear his voice and watch him move....But that wasn’t what he desperately wanted; and while he had never really felt this way about anyone else before...he knew that this was for real, and that this would last. If his friends had thought that he was bad after the first time that he saw Jiyong...then he wasn’t certain that anyone would be able to handle him after a lifetime.

Youngbae drops his hand to Jiyong’s hair, allowing a distracted smile to cross his face as he plays with the long strands. He moves his hand over to the shaved part on the opposite side an brushes his fingers across it. Jiyong makes a small noise and Youngbae sees his eyes flutter open.

“Good afternoon.” Youngbae says, a smile planted firmly on his face.

Jiyong returns the smile, a small amount of confusion crossing his features. “Did I fall asleep?” He asks. Youngbae just nods and Jiyong turns his head to the side, trying to look around. “Where’s Seungri?” He asks, and Youngbae is certain there is a little bit of guarded disdain leaking into his voice.

“He left a little while ago.” Youngbae says, and Jiyong smiles. “He said he needed to get Gaho ready for the evening...what does that mean?” Jiyong lets out a short laugh and waits for a couple of seconds before sitting up, ducking under Youngbae’s arm so that he doesn’t hit his head.

“Gaho likes to go on walks, especially at night.” Jiyong says, fixing his hair before turning to face Youngbae. “Of course, it doesn’t take very long to get him ready, so Seungri probably had other things that he needed to do as well.” Youngbae smiles before reaching forward and fixing a wayward piece of hair for Jiyong.

“Oh. Well I’m glad he’s gone.” Youngbae says softly. “I enjoyed talking to him, but it was hard to concentrate when all I wanted to do was watch you sleep.” He blushes lightly and Jiyong’s heart feels like it’s trying to beat out of his chest. “Is that weird? I probably shouldn’t have said that.” He says, looking down slightly and shaking his head.

“No!” Jiyong half-shouts, startling both himself and Youngbae and causing him to burn red with embarrassment as well. “No, it’s..it’s fine.” Jiyong says, much more calmly than before. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you like that...It was terribly rude of me.” Youngbae shakes his head.

“No, no, it’s perfectly fine!” he says, and Jiyong can see that Youngbae is getting nervous again.

“What was for lunch, I’m starving.” He says, getting up and moving around the blanket to sit where Seungri had been. Youngbae throws him a smile, and Jiyong smiles back while he digs through the bag.

“Seungri said that you would like the fruit...” Youngbae says, trying to come up with something to say. He points at one of the bowls that Jiyong had pulled out, and Jiyong looks up at him with a smile.

“Seungri was right.” He says, and Youngbae isn’t sure why that smile was making him feel light-headed, but it was and he was almost glad when Jiyong looked back down.

Youngbae had been happy when Jiyong had changed the topic to eating, but now that Jiyong was actually going to be eating, Youngbae wasn’t sure that he was going to be able to handle it. If he didn’t know better, he would think that Jiyong was doing it on purpose. Every item of food was inspected briefly before being brought slowly up to his mouth, where he would either put it in (slowly and a little distractedly, like he was paying more attention to Youngbae’s words than eating) or he would pause, leaving the food in front of his mouth as he spoke. Both were torture as they brought an immense amount of attention to Jiyong’s lips and fingers, and Youngbae couldn’t count the number of times he had lost track of what he was saying because of it.

He knew that Jiyong had caught him staring a couple of times; the way that he tilted up one corner of his mouth in a brief but definitely smug smile was evidence enough of that. But, he couldn’t stop, and he was starting to believe that Jiyong was most definitely eating like this on purpose.

“Stop it.” Youngbae says suddenly, interrupting a short lull in their conversation. Jiyong had picked up a grape from the dish in front of him and rolled it slowly between his thumb and forefinger before slowly pushing it into his mouth, a small smile curving his lips as he bit down. Youngbae hadn’t been able to do anything but watch, and he just knew that Jiyong knew what he was doing.

“Stop what?” Jiyong asks, his face a mask of innocence as he reaches forward for another grape. “Are you alright? You’ve been rather distracted...” He asks, trying to cover his small smile with the grape that he was getting ready to put into his mouth.

Youngbae grits his teeth and swallows hard as he watches Jiyong. It’s as the grape is pushed into Jiyong’s mouth that Youngbae can’t take it anymore and he pushes himself forward, grabbing Jiyong by the upper arm and the back of the head as he presses their lips together.

Jiyong’s mouth had still been partially open, but the gasp of surprise opened it further, allowing Youngbae better access and giving him the chance to dart his tongue inside to steal the grape. Jiyong had barely recovered from his shock, one hand trying to find its way into Youngbae’s hair, when Youngbae pulls back. He was breathing rather heavily, but he had triumphant smile on his face and Jiyong noticed the grape briefly appear between Youngbae’s lips before it disappeared again and Youngbae was picking up the food that had spilled because of his attack.

“What did...” Jiyong says, his eyes open wide and the ability to speak eluding him. “That was my grape!” He says, finding that pretending to be angry made it easier for him to think of things to say.

“Was it?” Youngbae asks, sitting back on his heels and looking up at Jiyong with a small smile. “Because it seemed to me that you were practically begging for me to take it.” He wasn’t certain where this confidence was coming from, though it was probably being fueled by Jiyong’s feigned anger. He was feeling a little tight, and he knew that it was because of Jiyong.

Jiyong raises his eyebrows, a tinge of pink brushing his cheeks as he tries to think of a way to respond. He looks away from Youngbae a moment, unable to think rationally when the fact that the man had just kissed him while shirtless was staring him rather directly in the face. There was really nothing for it, Jiyong thinks, before he pushes the neatly re-filled dishes rather haphazardly out of his way and inches forward toward Youngbae on his knees.

“Or maybe I was begging for something else?” He says, and Youngbae can’t help but wonder how it was even possible for Jiyong’s eyes to get darker than they already were, or for Jiyong’s voice become even more attractive.

Jiyong smiles, glad to be back in control as he sees Youngbae freeze; his gaze lowering to Jiyong’s lips. He waits only a single heartbeat longer before closing the distance between them, his mouth landing firmly on top of Youngbae’s and his hands traveling up Youngbae’s back before stopping at his shoulder blades. Youngbae brings one of his hands up to cup the back of Jiyong’s head while the other holds them up as the force of Jiyong pressing into him had caused Youngbae to lean back.

He breaks the kiss for long enough to change positions so that his legs are out in front of him and Jiyong’s are wrapped around his waist, and then Youngbae presses their mouths back together, wondering why they hadn’t done this before. It was better than breathing, it was better than all of the new sensations he had come to crave from the dry world; it was Jiyong and it was perfect and though he’s having a hard time thinking of anything but the taste of Jiyong’s mouth, he can’t help but to imagine briefly how awful his life would be without Jiyong in it.

Jiyong breaks the kiss this time, and presses his forehead against Youngbae’s, his breathing hard and coming out in rough gasps. They were close enough that their chests would occasionally bump while expanding on a harsh intake of breath. Jiyong works on controlling his breathing, his eyes closed as he concentrates, allowing the feeling of Youngbae’s arms around him and Youngbae’s breath fanning across his face to fill him up.

With his breathing finally in some semblance of proper working order, he takes a deep breath. “I want to sit with you here, forever.” He mutters, tightening his grip on Youngbae’s shoulders.

Youngbae lets out a soft sigh, running his hand up into Jiyong’s hair. “Don’t tempt me.” He says softly. Jiyong can’t help but to allow a small laugh to escape his lips as he sits back to look at Youngbae better.

“I thought that I already had.” He asks, a smirk making its way onto his face.

“Yes,” Youngbae says, smiling and letting out a deep sigh, “Yes you most certainly have.” He says, and Jiyong wonders if Youngbae is talking about more than just the kiss.

It’s a few short hours later, and they are at the dock. Jiyong is sitting with his feet skimming the water and Youngbae is floating in front of him, his arms resting on Jiyong’s knees.

“Will you come back tomorrow?” Jiyong asks, tilting his head to the side as he idly rolls one of the shells attached to Youngbae’s braids between his fingers.

“I would come back every day if it meant that I could see you.” He mutters, his eyes closed. Jiyong smiles, dropping the shell in his hand in favor of running his hand over the top of Youngbae’s head.

Jiyong sighs, “I wish that I could see you whenever I wanted to.” He says it idly, almost without thought. He keeps his eyes trained on the horizon, hoping that Youngbae couldn’t hear his desperation; he also hoped that Youngbae didn’t think him selfish for wanting that.

Youngbae opens his eyes at Jiyong’s words. He casts his gaze up at Jiyong’s face, only to see the underside of his chin as Jiyong was looking out over the sea. How could he tell Jiyong that he was ready and more than willing to spend the rest of his life on land with him, without sounding desperate and rash? He sighs and moves one of his hands so that he can play with the hem of Jiyong’s shirt.

“I would stay if you asked.” Youngbae says, trying to sound as light and nonchalant as Jiyong had. “I would come back tomorrow, prepared to stay.” He says, his voice only cracking slightly at the thought of leaving his friends and the life he knew forever.

Jiyong brings his hand up to caress the back of Youngbae’s head. “I would feel guilty for asking you to stay with me....” He says, and Youngbae tries not to read it as the rejection that it feels like. “But I would ask anyway because I am selfish. I’m needy too.” He says, looking down finally and lifting Youngbae’s head up to look him in the eye. “I’m selfish, needy and whiny. I change my hair after you tell me that you like it the way that it is, and if I didn’t have the prospect of seeing you down here early in the morning, I wouldn’t wake up until noon.”

Youngbae smiles, and shifts his head to press a kiss on Jiyong’s palm. “I wouldn’t feel whole if I weren’t around you.” He whispers, turning his gaze back up to Jiyong’s face. “I would spend the time that you were sleeping late, down here with my friends. I would learn how to dance like Seungri was telling me you liked. I don’t care, Jiyong. Being around you as often as possible is all that matters to me. I don’t know what will happen. I don’t know how it will work...”

Jiyong lets out a short laugh. “I can picture your fin coming back as you try to shower in the bathroom.” He laughs a little more and leans forward, pressing a kiss to Youngbae’s forehead. “I want this so desperately, Youngbae. Don’t tease me with the possibility. I want this to work.”

Youngbae smiles up at him, determination written clear across his face. “It will work out.”

“Come back tomorrow and tell me then.” Jiyong says, trying his hardest not to haul Youngbae back up onto the dock so that he can drag him up to the castle right then and there.

Youngbae laughs and pushes himself back and off of Jiyong’s knees so that only his head and neck are above water. “I will be back bright and early tomorrow morning...I can’t promise I will be alone...but I can promise that if you ask me again tomorrow, the answer that you get will be the final one.”

Jiyong nods and leans forward, his elbows on his knees. “I await your return with baited breath.” He says, before winking and blowing a kiss.

Youngbae bites his lip, trying to stop a smile as he shakes his head. He raises a hand in a short wave before dipping below the surface and disappearing from sight.

Jiyong sighs, feeling ridiculously happy. He should probably alert his parents to the possibility of a new house guest, he thinks, a rather wicked grin crossing his face. If Youngbae does decide to stay in the ocean, he wouldn’t blame him, but he probably wouldn’t be able to function properly. His world was beginning to revolve around Youngbae, and while he knows how bad that could be, he can’t help but to think that there could be worse things that he revolved around.