The seahorse races were in full swing down at the festival grounds as Youngbae bids Seunghyun and his brother, Hyunbae, goodbye.

“But you love the seahorse races!” Youngbae’s brother says.

Youngbae raises an eyebrow, “No I don’t. You do. Why on earth would I enjoy watching little animals that can barely swim properly try to race?”

His brother makes a face and then tries again, “What do you even have to do that could be more important than spending the afternoon with me?” Youngbae forces himself not to feel guilty; he spends most everyday with his brother, one afternoon wouldn’t hurt him.

“Oh come on, we’ll have fun without him! And besides, I think Daesung is going to come out this afternoon. We can entertain him.” Seunghyun says, putting his hand on Hyunbae's shoulder.

“Yeah, you guys can keep Daesung company. It’s not a big deal Hyunbae, we spend most every afternoon together anyway. I’ll see you later.” He spins himself around and heads off, throwing a quick wave at them over his shoulder, before making his way to the cove.

He hears Seunghyun shout something about being careful at his back as he leaves, and he chuckles to himself; pushing himself to move faster as he is anxious to see Jiyong again. He doesn’t pause until he makes it all the way to the cove. He stops just on the outside and takes a deep breath, feeling his insides getting a little jittery. He hadn’t really considered what this next meeting would entail, being so excited for it to just occur. What if Jiyong wanted him to get out of the water? What if there were other people there?

He shakes his head and takes another deep breath, forcing himself to keep going and stop thinking distressing thoughts. He decides to swim around close to the bottom until he sees Jiyong’s boat, and so heads off in the direction of the dock, hoping to find him quickly. He pauses frequently to look up above him, scanning for any signs of the boat. When he makes it to the dock, he waits for a couple of seconds, feeling severely disappointed that Jiyong wasn’t already there. He weaves around the thick pieces of wood holding the dock up, trying to work off the thought that maybe Jiyong wasn’t coming. He hears something on the dock, and stops, keeping his ears tuned to the sound. It was a fairly steady rhythm, and he decides that it must be Jiyong, so he slowly makes his way to the surface.

He comes up right in front of the boat and when his eyesight clears, he searches the docks for any sign of Jiyong. He spots him pulling two long pieces of wood out from under the dock on the beach, and once Youngbae is certain that Jiyong is alone, he moves so that he is in front of the dock. He pulls himself up and rests his head on his arms, which he had laid on the dock, and watches as Jiyong works.

Jiyong had his back to Youngbae, and so Youngbae took the chance to admire the way that Jiyong moved. Legs were fascinating, and Youngbae found the way that Jiyong walked to be graceful and rhythmic. He wondered at what it must be like to walk; to need to propel yourself using the ground instead of the water. He was contemplating why Jiyong had fabric covering his legs when Jiyong turned around and started toward him, carrying the pieces of wood.

“What are those?” He asks, forgetting that Jiyong was unaware of his presence. Jiyong stops for a moment, his eyes searching for the source of the voice before they land on Youngbae’s curious face looking up at him from the dock. Jiyong smiles brightly and walks closer, setting them down in front of Youngbae and squatting behind them.

“Oars. I use them in the boat.” He his head to the side, seemingly amused by Youngbae’s question.

“Oars.” Youngbae repeats, before reaching a hand out to touch one. “Why don’t you just swim?” He asks, slowly bringing his gaze up to meet Jiyong’s.

“Well, because I would get my clothes wet, and I would get tired really quickly.” Jiyong says, moving so that he’s sitting next to Youngbae, his legs dangling over the edge of the dock.

Youngbae tilts his head to the side, his braids tumbling off of his back making the shells clack against each other. “Can you swim?”

“Yes, but not as good as you. And since I can’t breathe underwater, it takes a lot of energy.” Youngbae nods, taking in Jiyong’s profile as the man turns his head away to look out over the cove.

Youngbae closes his eyes for a moment, enjoying the companionable silence. The sun was warm against his skin and it was a new sensation that he found himself quite fond of. He twitches his fin up and out of the water for a moment, just lazily moving it around. He isn’t aware that he’s doing it until he hears a small intake of breath from Jiyong.

“What is it?” Youngbae asks, opening his eyes and lifting up his head to look at Jiyong.

“You...your fin.” He says, his voice coming out in a hoarse whisper. Youngbae turns his head, trying to see if there was something wrong with it.

“Is something the matter with it?” He asks, frowning and getting ready to move back into the water, suddenly self-conscious.

“No!” Jiyong half-shouts, bringing a hand up to his mouth afterward and turning red. “No, nothing is wrong with it. It just looks different in the sunlight...and out of the water.” Youngbae looks over at him and blinks slowly, trying to process if that was really a good thing.

He decides that it must have been when Jiyong reaches forward and touches Youngbae’s back, dragging his hand down until it met the water and Jiyong couldn’t lean any further without falling in. The skin on Youngbae’s back tingles where Jiyong’s warm and soft hand had touched him, and he fights back a shiver.

“Your back feels like normal skin...” Jiyong says, awe etched into his face and words. Youngbae hopes that his skin is similar to Jiyong’s, because he really likes the way that Jiyong’s skin feels.

Youngbae watches Jiyong’s eyes travel down his back and over his fin in the water. He can practically feel Jiyong’s gaze as it travels over his skin. He fights a shudder and returns his gaze to the dock, knowing that his face was probably turning a lovely shade of red.

"How do you...have you always had a fin?" Jiyong asks, his voice a little louder than before as if he was trying to make himself sound confident. Youngbae his head to the side and gives Jiyong a puzzled frown.

“Have you always had legs?” Youngbae asks, and Jiyong can’t decide if he wants to hit Youngbae for being smart with him or just die from embarrassment.

“Of course. Sorry...I’m just still getting used to.. Is your whole body normally covered in scales?” Jiyong was having trouble coming up with good questions. He had wanted so desperately to see Youngbae during the day, but he hadn’t really thought of what they could talk about, or do.

Youngbae tilts his head to the side, trying to decide how best to answer. “I can show you.” He says, slowly lowering his top half back into the water. Jiyong watches, fascinated, as Youngbae slowly dips beneath the surface.

Right before his eyes he watches as the skin on Youngbae’s smooth and tanned back becomes distorted by the water and then small groups of scales pop up; more prevalent near his hips, where the fin starts. Youngbae moves back from the dock, his head still above the water, and looks at Jiyong for a second before dipping below the surface and swimming slowly around in a small circle.

Jiyong thanks the heavens that the water was so clear. He watches, completely enraptured, as Youngbae moves almost fluidly through the water. The orange and green scales sparkle in the sunlight and Jiyong can’t help but to marvel at the fact that the ones on Youngbae’s torso seem to disappear when he’s out of the water. He watches as Youngbae stops swimming in circles and starts moving closer; the stories about mermaids that the sailors in town always told starting to make their way into his consciousness.

Youngbae decides to come back up and see Jiyong’s reaction. He couldn’t really explain it, but he wanted so badly for Jiyong to find him interesting and special. He moves in front of Jiyong and slowly starts to surface, as he comes up he reaches out to grab onto the edge of the dock directly next to Jiyong.

Jiyong watches as Youngbae’s head appears directly in front of him. The image takes his breath away. As beautiful and fascinating as Jiyong found Youngbae while he was swimming below the surface, the way he looked as he broke the surface was even more arresting. Youngbae’s eyes were closed, as if he were adjusting to the difference between water and air, and he had used one strong arm to grip the dock directly next to Jiyong’s leg. As Youngbae wiped the water from his face with his free hand, Jiyong wondered if the stories about Mermaids also applied to the men; were they just as tricky? Were they also sent to trick men to their deaths in the ocean? He couldn’t imagine it. Though he hadn’t known Youngbae for long, he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Youngbae would never hurt anyone intentionally; and most especially not for just the fun of it.

“Are you OK?” Youngbae asks, pulling himself closer to the dock, and so closer to Jiyong’s legs.

“Ahh, yes. Fine.” Jiyong says, trying to gather his thoughts as Youngbae moves forward. “You’re beautiful.” He says on a breath, almost without thinking.

Youngbae looks up at Jiyong for a moment, slightly surprised by the compliment. He fights the blush he can feel crawling up his torso, and decides to focus on something less embarrassing. His eyes land on Jiyong’s leg, covered in a dark blue fabric. He reaches forward with his free hand and grabs it where it opens at Jiyong’s ankle.

Jiyong leans forward to see what Youngbae is doing just as Youngbae looks up. “Why do you wear this?” he asks, tugging on it for emphasis.

Jiyong tilts his head to the side and frowns slightly. “Because it would be indecent not to. Don’t you wear clothes?” He asks, but immediately regrets it as he realizes that he is assuming that when Youngbae isn’t around him, he wears a shirt and some type of modified trousers.

Youngbae just shakes his head and tugs again. “But don’t they get in the way?” he asks, truly curious as to their function.

“Only when I’m too tired to change.” Jiyong says, waving his hand in front of him like it’s unimportant. “What would they get in the way of, anyway?”

Youngbae looks down at the cloth trapped between his fingertips. “I don’t know...moving?” He suggests.

Jiyong laughs. “Only if they don’t fit! They get in the way when I’m in the water because they get heavy and they don’t move with my body.” Youngbae nods, hesitates for a moment, and then lets go of the fabric.
“I think I can get out of the water...But I’m afraid.” He says, his voice steady but low. Jiyong nods, staying quiet for a moment and fighting the urge to reach out and touch Youngbae’s hair.

“Would you be able to move around? But you don’t have legs!” Jiyong says, leaning back looking at Youngbae with confusion.

“Well, I can breathe and speak above water...and my skin changes...” Jiyong mentally hits himself in the forehead for being so stupid. “Daesung thinks that  I can get out of the water, that maybe I’ll even have legs. But he’s not sure because no one is really allowed out of the water and everything that says that we can is all stupid childish myths and stories.” Youngbae looks down at the water while he speaks, moving his hand around the surface. Jiyong is quiet for a moment, and Youngbae is worried that he has said too much.

“Who’s Daesung?” Jiyong asks, in a tone that Youngbae isn’t entirely familiar with. He looks up at Jiyong and shrugs.

“He’s a friend of mine.” Jiyong’s face, which had been set in a rather forced-looking smile, relaxes at those words, but stays slightly guarded. “He was gifted with extreme wisdom, so much so that the court advisors proclaimed it. Everyone goes to see him if they are having problems.” Jiyong nods, noting that it was probably because of this ‘Daesung’ that Youngbae had come back to see him at all.

“Ah.” Jiyong says, nodding. “So you have stories about mermaids becoming human?”

Youngbae shakes his head. “Sort of.” He sighs and moves so that his back is against the dock and he lifts his other arm up so that he’s being held up by his elbows. “There are some who have moved onto dry land to be with humans...but they are never actually human. They can still swim in the water, their legs being exchanged for a fin once in the water.” Youngbae swishes his fin under the surface, watching it move. “There are also some who come up and fall in love and then try to bring their lover underwater with them. And still more where the human tricks them into coming out of the water so that they can put them on display, or use them in some other way.” He pauses and Jiyong suddenly feels awful for immediately assuming that all of the stories that the fishermen told were the only way that it could work.

“We have stories about mermaids...I’ve never heard any about mermen before.” Jiyong pauses for a short moment. “They are pretty awful though.” Youngbae nods, and Jiyong wishes that he could see the man’s face; not because he wants to see a reaction, but just because he likes to look at it.

“I’m afraid that my fin won’t change.” Youngbae says in a whisper. Jiyong bites his lip and looks out over the cove.

“We can go over to the beach over there.” Jiyong says suddenly, turning and pointing off to the side where there was a small beach-like area, shielded from view by a cluster of trees. Youngbae hesitates for a short moment before nodding. “Great...” He says, before standing up to make his way off of the dock and around onto the beach.

“It would be faster if you swam...” Youngbae says as he slips his arms off of the dock and dips deeper into the water. Jiyong hesitates for a moment, biting his lip and squinting down at the water. Youngbae decides that Jiyong’s hesitation face is one of his favorites.

“Oh alright.” He says, causing Youngbae to smile. “Just give me a second to get ready.” Youngbae arches an eyebrow at him in confusion before Jiyong starts to remove his shirt and Youngbae understands.

He watches, enthralled, as Jiyong slowly takes off his shirt and folds it carefully before placing it on the dock beside him. Then he shimmies out of his pants and folds them as well, setting them carefully on top of his shirt. Jiyong’s skin was paler than Youngbae’s, and his body was generally slimmer. But, just as Youngbae had imagined from their previous meeting, there was more to him than he at first looked. Slim, yes, but weak? No, Youngbae would never say that Jiyong looked weak. His slim body was toned and held a strength that wasn’t as overtly obvious as Youngbae’s, but it was still there.

Jiyong moves over to the edge of the dock and bends down, getting ready to drop into the water. “Wait,” Youngbae says, his eyebrows furrowed, “You forgot some of your clothes.” Jiyong tilts his head to the side before looking down at himself; he was still wearing his underwear.

“Well, yes, and they’re going to stay on. Now move so I can get in.” Youngbae is still confused but he move out of the way as Jiyong lowers himself into the water. “It’s cold! You said last night it was warm!” Jiyong says on a whine as he splashes Youngbae lightly.

Youngbae laughs and shakes his head to get rid of the water. “You just aren’t used to it. Come on.” Jiyong grumbles lightly but follows after Youngbae.

It strikes Youngbae suddenly, as he slows down to swim beside Jiyong, that he's not as afraid as he thought he was. He's surprised by how much he likes Jiyong; and how different this 'like' is from the way he likes Seunghyun and Daesung.