The small beach was bathed in sunlight, and as the water became shallower, Jiyong was able to walk out of the water and up onto the dry sand. He turns to watch Youngbae, who was hesitating just off shore.

“Come on!” Jiyong yells, trying not to think about the fact that he’s only wearing his underwear...his wet underwear. He shakes his head and walks slowly back into the water when it becomes clear that Youngbae was going to need a little bit of prodding to get going.

“What if it doesn’t work?” Youngbae mutters quietly, making his way slowly forward until his arms can hold his head up above the water while touching the ground.

“Why don’t you try just...just coming up?” Jiyong asks, and Youngbae notices that he is standing next to him; the water coming up to about his knees.

Youngbae nods mutely and starts making his way slowly toward shore. When he is almost completely above water, with Jiyong standing in front of him, ogling his orange, green and shimmering fin (and, secretly, Youngbae’s back and arms), he stops and turns so that he can sit on the ground. He’s still partially in the water, maybe about an inch or so, with the small waves lapping up around him. He takes a minute to look down at his fin, realizing how terribly inconvenient it is; at least Jiyong can both swim and walk.

Jiyong stays standing in front of him, his hands on his hips and his head cocked to the side. “You probably have to be completely out of the water.” He says, his eyes lingering on the slowly disappearing scales on Youngbae’s stomach.

Youngbae follows Jiyong’s gaze down to his stomach and watches with fascination as the few lingering scales fade away. He chews lightly on his bottom lip, trying to decide what to do; should he drag himself all the way to shore? or would his fin slowly change, from the top down like his scales?

“Here,” Jiyong says, moving forward when he notices Youngbae hesitate. “Why don’t I help you get up onto the sand and then we will see what happens?” He doesn’t wait for Youngbae to agree before walking around behind him and leaning forward. “I’ll help pull you up...OK?” Jiyong asks, his face close enough to Youngbae’s ear that the merman shivered at the closeness.

“OK.” Youngbae says quietly, wishing there were an easier way to do this, or at least that Jiyong weren’t witnessing his difficulties.

With a determined smile, Jiyong grips Youngbae by the armpits and lifts him just high enough that he can effectively drag him out of the few inches of water and up onto the dry sand. He settles Youngbae down and moves around to sit next to him, both of them facing the ocean.

“Can you feel it change?” Jiyong asks, leaning back on his hands and squinting out over the water. “Like when your scales change into skin?”

Youngbae is quiet for a moment. “Well, no. I don’t really feel those. It’s like...it’s like a light itch.” He says, and Jiyong turns to look at him. “Like a small feeling that doesn’t really bother me.”

“How about your fin...How does it feel?” Jiyong asks, trying not to look down. He wanted more than anything for Youngbae to be able to walk around on land. He wasn’t entirely certain why, aside from the fact that the way that Youngbae spoke made him feel dizzy and whenever Youngbae looked at him he felt happier than he had any real right to.

Youngbae looks down at his fin, noting how in the places that it was starting to dry off he could see skin. “A light tingling.” He says while reaching forward to rub at the drying patches. “But mostly it feels warm, like too much sunshine.”

Jiyong smiles, and Youngbae is certain that that smile could put the sun to shame. “You can never have too much sunshine.” He says, before turning to look back out over the water. “How’s it looking?” He asks.

Youngbae looks down at what used to be his fin but was now a pair of still-scaly legs. His eyes widen in shock and he leans forward to touch them. He’s surprised by how he didn’t feel them changing; a warm feeling being the only thing that indicated that something was going on. He flicks his eyes over to Jiyong, and realizes that part of the reason he didn’t feel anything was probably because he was distracted by Jiyong.

Jiyong was trying hard not to sneak a peek at Youngbae’s lower body parts. He desperately wanted to know if Youngbae’s fin would turn into a pair of well-toned legs (if his upper-body were anything to go by, then they very well should be), but he didn’t want to be disappointed or make Youngbae feel uncomfortable. He feels a hand on his shoulder, and turns his head to see Youngbae smiling at him and trying to stand up.

“Oh! I’ll help you!” Jiyong says, his eyes going wide as he realizes that Youngbae is now in possession of a pair of well-toned legs. He stands up and moves around in front of Youngbae, offering his hands.

Youngbae smiles appreciatively and grabs Jiyong’s hands, and with his help, Youngbae is able to stand up. He’s a little shaky on his new legs, which still had scales in some places, and so Jiyong moves closer, making sure to hold him steady as they slowly start to walk. The sheer excitement of it all causes Youngbae to falter far more often than his lack of ability. Remembering what it looked like when Jiyong was walking, he focused on copying the movements he had been so fascinated by.

Jiyong was trying his hardest to keep looking forward. He should have realized that Youngbae would be completely lacking in all forms of clothing. He feels himself turning a deep shade of red as Youngbae stumbles slightly into him and he can’t help but to look down. Yeah, Youngbae would need some clothing.

“This isn’t so bad.” Youngbae says, and Jiyong can practically hear the smile in his voice.

“No, you’re doing pretty well for someone who’s never walked before.” He responds, loosening his grip on Youngbae’s arm just enough that he can slide his hand down to Youngbae’s.

Youngbae smiles brightly and  looks around them, lacing his fingers with Jiyong’s before tugging him toward a small copse of trees. “What are these?” he asks, running his hand over the bark, marvelling at the texture.

“Palm trees.” Jiyong says, a laugh threatening to spill out as he watches Youngbae stare up at the tree with wide-eyes and an innocent expression.

“Palm? Hmm.” He mutters, running his hand along the trunk again before shifting his focus to the rest of the area.

There wasn’t much to see. The small copse of palm trees ran into the cliff that closed in the small cove. To their left was a ridge of rocks that separated the beach they were on from the dock; and to their right was the the sheer wall of the cliff. Youngbae’s smile never faltered though. He turns back to Jiyong and notices that he has to look up just a little to see into his eyes.

“You’re higher than me.” He says, moving closer so that he can see just how much taller Jiyong was.

“Taller.” Jiyong corrects before allowing a small smirk to play across his mouth. “Yes, yes I am.”

“I like your hair.” Youngbae says, tilting his head to the side before reaching up to touch it. “It’s soft.” He says, a small smile on his lips as he focuses his whole attention on Jiyong’s hair.

Jiyong in a breath and fights to keep his blush down and his calm exterior up. “I was thinking of cutting it. I’m not sure I like it anymore.” He says, allowing his eyes to travel over Youngbae’s face and neck before resting on the man’s hair.

“Why would you do that?” Youngbae asks, running his fingers through Jiyong’s hair, confusion trying to edge out the smile.

“I dunno,” Jiyong says, shrugging his shoulders and reaching out a hand to touch Youngbae’s hair. “I don’t like to stay the same; and recently I’ve been influenced by the ocean...” He runs his hand over the top of Youngbae’s head, feeling the ridges caused by the tight rows of braids. He flicks his gaze downward and sees Youngbae bite his lip.
“Ahh, well...I like it the way that it is.” Youngbae says, feeling a little lame for not having anything more eloquent to say.

“I shall take that into account.” Jiyong says, a warm smile curving across his lips; he somehow knew that Youngbae would like his hair no matter what he did with it.

Youngbae shakes his head, causing the shells to clatter against each other and Jiyong to smile. “You’re going to change it anyway.” He says, and Jiyong’s smile widens. “But that’s alright, because I’m sure whatever you will do will suit you.” Jiyong watches in slight amusement as Youngbae’s cheeks become tinged with pink.

“Thank you.” Jiyong says, running his hand over Youngbae’s braids once more before backing up. “Now let’s go put some clothes on you. We can’t have you running around all indecently when one of my servants could show up at any moment and think the worst of me.” He tugs at Youngbae’s hand, and they start off toward the ridge of rocks.

“Why would they think the worst of you?” Youngbae asks, struggling to keep up.

“Well, we are both rather less than clothed, so they would think something was going on.” He turns to check Youngbae’s understanding, and sees that the man is still rather innocently confused. “Are you allowed alone with a female who you aren’t dating?”

Youngbae shakes his head. “Not really, no. Not in a..Oh.” His cheeks go red again and Jiyong smiles, tugging at his hand again.

“Mmm. Come on, let’s just get over these rocks, I have extra clothes.” Youngbae nods mutely, trying to will away the embarrassment that he was feeling.

They make it across the rocks and Jiyong leads the way to the boat, where he pulls out a bag and throws a pair of pants in Youngbae’s direction.

“I hope that they fit.” Jiyong says. “You’re a little more muscular than me.” Youngbae shrugs and pulls them on. He notices the change in Jiyong’s countenance immediately; the man finally actually looks at him directly.

Jiyong pulls on his clothes from earlier and motions for Youngbae to come and sit next to him on the dock. They spend a while just talking and laughing. The sun is starting to go down before either of them realizes how long they’ve been there. Youngbae looks around suddenly and curses.

“What? What’s the matter?” Jiyong asks, sitting up straighter and leaning forward with one of his hands on Youngbae’s thigh.

“Nothing, I just, I should probably go back. My brother will probably be looking for me and who knows what types of horrible things Seunghyun has accidentally said to Daesung.” Jiyong laughs lightly and pats Youngbae’s thigh.

“No, it’s no problem! I’d almost forgotten that you didn’t live up here...” Jiyong’s smile becomes fixed as he realizes that all of his moments with Youngbae would probably end like this...if there were more.

“I’m sorry I’m such trouble...” Youngbae says, shrugging his shoulders and looking down at his hands.

“No! You’re no trouble at all! I’m the one who can’t return the favor and come down to visit you in the ocean.” Youngbae nods, a smile starting across his face.

“No, but I enjoy coming up here to be with you.” He says before standing up. He waits for Jiyong to get up as well before he moves up onto the dock and over to the edge. He sits down and shimmies off the pants before folding them nicely and slowly slipping into the water.

Jiyong smiles at him and sits down on the edge. “When can you next come to visit?” he asks, swatting at Youngbae’s head as the man pretends to splash him.

“Ahh...” He says, leaning back in the water, allowing Jiyong to see that he already had his fin back. “I have to clean up after the festival tomorrow...The day after?” He asks, suddenly worried by the possibility that Jiyong won’t want to wait that long.

“Alright, that’s good. I think I have some type of lesson tomorrow or something anyway.” He smiles brightly at Youngbae. “I will be down here all day the day after waiting for you and practicing my rowing.”

Youngbae smiles and nods. “Alright, see you then!” He says, backing away slowly before dipping completely below the surface and disappearing from Jiyong’s sight.

Jiyong leans back with a deep sigh. He’s not certain how he will handle waiting an entire day to see Youngbae again, but he doesn’t really have a choice. He lies down on the dock and stares up at the sky.

“Is it selfish of me to want you to stay up here with me? Forever?” He asks softly. He sighs again and forces himself to get up. He would head up to the castle and find something to keep his mind off of everything.

Youngbae couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face. He had spent the whole afternoon on land talking with Jiyong and it had been perfect. He found himself swimming in lazy zig-zags through the kelp fields and stopped, shaking his head to clear it. It had been a wonderful day, and he was going to see Jiyong again...but he needed to get a hold of himself. The only way that he could ever spend as much time with Jiyong as he truly wanted would be for him to stay on land. He grabs onto the nearest rock for support and shakes his head again.

“I would do it.” he says out loud. He stares out into the great expanse of the kelp fields, eyes wide as he lets that thought sink in.

He would spend the rest of his days on land, possibly with a normal human lifespan, if it meant that he could spend all of those moments with Jiyong. He shakes his head again, unable to believe that in such a short amount of time he was able to decide such a ridiculously delicate matter.

He needed to talk to Daesung.